SF teens intern at Muni's bus maintenance yard hoping for future jobs: 'AI can't replicate this'
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- At the SFMTA maintenance yard, teenagers have been learning how to make the Muni buses run through an internship that involves welding and repairing.
Michael Castro is one of 10 San Francisco high school students interning at the maintenance yard. A dream for many.
"My parents were really proud of me," said Castro.
Getting accepted into this six-week program is "very competitive," said Mailei Maloa, SFMTA's Automotive Mechanic Assistant Supervisor. "One of our rotations is like the Body Shop. So, they're exposed to bodywork to painting. We have one of our rotations, which is heavy duty and preventative maintenance."
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Maloa is not only making sure these students are safe but also seeing who is standing out.
"We start seeing who's really good with stuff, and we have kept in contact with a lot of the people that we would really like to keep and that pick up very fast," said Maloa.
Part of this internship also includes going under the Muni buses and performing safety inspections and changing the oil filters.
This is all part of San Francisco's Unified School district's paid summer internship program. It's a program that may be in limbo for next summer because of budget cuts, but for now the mission remains the same.
"In our post surveys, we see increased self-confidence, easier to talk to adults, a clear understanding of what they want to do. And we have a lot of kids understanding why they go to school now," said Mark D'Acquisto, an SFUSD Teacher on special assignment.
"This is a this is a great option for me, said Adonis Cariaso, one of the interns. "It's a good career from the many people I've heard of."
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that over 500,000 skilled trade jobs are vacant, something that makes jobs like these more appealing.
"This is one of those fields where like as of right now, AI can't replicate this," said Castro. "It just makes me happy going on a bus that I possibly fixed or helped make a part for. That just helps me feel accomplished."
SFUSD also sends students to other places to get experience like UCSF, the Veterans Hospital, and smaller internship sites like local design and engineering firms.
