EVERGREEN PARK, IL – Senior Angelo Flores has become the first Evergreen Park Community High School student to be awarded an apprenticeship with the Seneca Foundation, which creates deliberate, early on-ramps into the tech industry for Black and Latinx recent high school graduates via paid software development apprenticeships.

“It’s pretty cool, honestly,” Flores said of his distinction as the first EPCHS student to ever be accepted into the program. “It’s an honor to hopefully help open up opportunities for other kids interested in pursuing this as a career.”

Seneca Foundation apprenticeships provide coding training for 6+ hours a day, including professional development education, real-world software development experience, college application assistance and college tuition, all while being paid above minimum wage.

Flores was accepted, in part, due to a glowing letter of recommendation written by David Pierce, one of his teachers at EPCHS. Pierce first connected with a Seneca Foundation program director just in time to encourage Flores and other students he thought would be good fits for the program to apply.

“This is pretty awesome for Angelo,” said Pierce, who has taught Flores in web page design and computer concepts classes and coached him in football and wrestling at EPCHS.  

“He’s one of our really hard-working students and a very good kid.”

Upon graduation from EPCHS, Flores will begin a 12-month program with Seneca in which they will help him land a full-time job in the industry upon completion.

“I’m looking forward to gaining some experience in coding, having lots of fun meeting new people, and working with them to pursue my career in coding and developing software,” Flores said.

Pierce said Flores’ new opportunity is the result of when teachers “get to know their students, ask what their plans are and if they are open to other opportunities that do not include the traditional college route.”