What happens when you give a teenager a summer job? A 15-year-old girl learns to fit in with her co-workers. An 18-year-old boy makes new friends from around the world. A mother watches her 16-year-old daughter learn the value of hard work, and their relationship is transformed. Puente’s Youth Leadership and Employment Program has always reached beyond giving young people the chance to earn an hourly wage. It’s also about exposing them to the world of adulthood, building a vision for college, giving them marketable job skills, and improving their academic performance at school. Puente youth also go on several tailor-made summer field trips, which are both fun and educational. This summer, Puente took the group to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, to Genentech, to the capitol building in Sacramento, and to San Francisco’s Chinatown, Flood Buidling, Coit Tower, De Young Art Museum, and Fisherman’s Wharf. Some also toured Facebook. The experience transforms the youth in unexpected ways. Back in June, Sofia Betteo, 15, was feeling like a fish out of water at Puente’s summer youth program orientation. She and her mom had just moved to the South Coast from Belmont, a city on the Bayside, and she was preparing to switch from a high school of 3,000 students to one of 95. She didn’t really speak to anyone during an … Continue reading Puente youth travel bridge to adulthood in just one summer