By Kaylyn Amigon

Designed by both education and business leaders NAFTrack offers a certification for special high school seniors who demonstrate that they are ready for college and careers. Why should students bother with this?

A NAFTrack certifications is designed to demonstrate to possible employers and colleges that a student is career-focused and ready to get to work. They assess student performance through the completion of courses, internship assessments and high school graduation.

Seniors Anuj Gandhi, Abigail Huitzil, Ashley Rivera, and Axel Lagunas have all completed this finance certification this year and will certainly stand out from the pool of possible job candidates. They had to take fours semesters of NAFTrack approved career-cluster courses and a required performance-based assessments, that thankfully have been offered here at PHS.

They also had to complete a qualifying internship. This experience of 80 hours is under the close supervision of a supervisory adult who must certify their ability. Last but not least, they must complete all work to graduate.

Many students find difficulty completing the career-focused courses, but due to PHS’s mission to provide dual enrollment course, these students were able to complete the program.

Now that they have the certification, Anuj, Ashley, Abigail and Axel will rise above other students without certification and through corporate partners, begin a new journey. They will certainly make us proud as they go on to succeed in their future careers.

NAFTrack alumni get the benefits of paid college internship opportunities, an email publication (Career Insider) that shares opportunities from NAF corporate partners, exclusive programs for this young talent, and even local NAF events to help foster networking of business professionals.

Axel Lagunas, a senior, said, “I am glad that I have this opportunity, I feel like I have really accomplished something here.”

Students and faculty of PHS think so too.