Many young people enter the workplace unprepared.
Either they have dropped out from school or have neglected basic academics that provide the necessary skills needed for success. Vital Link helps students and teachers make the link between classroom skills and work place success. Working with professionals on the job, participants receive experience in banking, accounting, hotel management, engineering, medicine, county and city government, the arts, communications, education, non-profit agencies, retailing, printing, manufacturing, museum operations, law enforcement, the legal profession, and others. They learn the importance of math and communications skills, problem solving, teamwork, computer literacy, and creativity and originality. Evaluation results from 1992 and 1993 indicate students who participated in Vital Link activities enrolled in more advanced courses and performed better on state mandated tests than a matched group of students who did not participate.