The Santa Clarita Valley International Charter School held its inaugural Touch-a-Truck and Career Festival, open to the public on Saturday.
Hosted by SCVi’s Parent, Teacher and Student Association, also known as PTSA, the event aimed at not only bringing the community together for a morning on campus with fun vehicles, but to also give older learnersinsight on career avenues and speak directly with representatives of the agencies present.
“Our main objective here is to build community and give back to the kids,” said PTSA President Ever Mazza. “Because we’re a K through 12th grade, we incorporated a career fair. Everyone who drives these trucks, utilizesthem, can also talk about careers that go with it.”
The career festival portion of the event was to help inspire learners who may be interested in career avenues they could pursue that can lead to promising job positions such as the United States Postal Office, the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
Some parents of the SCVi community even brought their business-owned vehicles to share with learners and engage with the student population to foster connections.
“It’s proven that when parents are involved in the school community, your children do better in school. Kids are a more well-rounded person coming out of school if they know that their parents cared about them and are more present for their education,” Mazza added.
Other entities present for the touch-a-truck included the Santa Clarita Valley’s Search and Rescue team, the U.S. Air Force and even some Hollywood film vehicles from the Fast and Furious franchise and Jumanji.
The event saw approximately 200 people coming and going, according to Mazza, who has three children enrolled at SCVi.
She said the charter school, which has about 500 students, often called learners, has given her children a chance to thrive in ways they couldn’t when attending public schools.
“They’re more of a creative brain. They had a hard time sitting still really conforming to like the traditional form of education. Here it’s very project-based, collaborative, and they’re open to students taking the lead and taking action,” she said.
PTSA secretary and chair of the event, Alexis Rasmussen, worked behind the scenes to gather local partners to join in on the event to help increase community outreach and let residents know about SCVi and what it has to offer.
Rasmussen made the transition from public to charter for her daughter, and Rasmussen has witnessed her “come out of her shell” embracing her artistic abilities and creating friends that helped her thrive and not feel shy about it, Rassmussen said.
“Come visit us. Come take a tour anytime we’re putting on fun events,” Rassmussen said. “We’d love to have everybody. Just come as a community. We really want to make everybody feel welcome here.”
