Students Shadow City Employees for a Day

Seventeen-year-old Lina Kim already has been accepted to MIT.

Still, the Dougherty Valley High School senior has no idea what career path to take.

But after shadowing some city employees Tuesday, she gleaned some insight that may point her in the right direction.

Lina was one of a couple dozen high schoolers who tagged along with city engineers, lawyers, fire fighters and other civic employees to get an inside look at careers. It was the first-ever government job shadow day organized by the San Ramon Teen Council.

The program aims to give college-bound juniors and seniors the chance to spend a day with a city employee.

Even if a student is unsure about what to do for a living, the daylong field trip gave them a chance to check out some careers and get inside info from a professional who has years of experience in that field.

As a bonus, students got a close-up look at the inner workings of city government.

“I think our hope is to give kids an opportunity to follow their passion while they’re in high school,” said Nitin Yenigalla, Teen Council member and organizer of the event. “[We’re] giving kids an early opportunity – a head start on their careers.”

Students met city staff at the start of the workday. After a brief introduction, they broke into small groups to shadow city workers and take tours of city offices.

Students shared what they learned over lunch at the .

Many of the students said that they came away more educated and with a little more direction for their future.

“This was a really great idea,” said Cal High senior Adam Lamantia, 18. “A lot of people got some real world experience.”

Adam, who's headed to Cal Poly to study psychology, already knows what he wants to do. But he said his favorite part of the day was touring a fire station with John Duggan, San Ramon Valley Fire Department division chief.

Cal High senior Brandon Lee, 17, is headed to UC Davis to study engineering. But he's unsure what type of engineering to pursue.

Lucky for Brandon, he spent his day shadowing Theresa Peterson, San Ramon Engineering Services Department associate engineer. She gave him advice and explained the differences between a civil  and mechanical engineer.

“I thought it was great,” he said. “I really got insight into what these people do on a daily basis [and] I enjoyed seeing what an engineer really does.”