LAUSD hosts a two-day career expo that offers education and well-paid trade jobs

More than 2,000 students attended the 2025 LA Career Expo on Friday. Among them was Jaden Garcia, who was very interested in some of the trade careers presented on site. The 10th grader is already thinking on what to do after he graduates high school and he said he chooses a trade school over a four-year college because he wants to get to work right away. 

“I work in construction with my dad and I like that you get hands-on, and I like that experience,” he said.

Garcia had the opportunity to briefly speak with LAUSD Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho. He told him he was grateful that the district provides this event to open the students’ minds to careers that they may not even think about. 

LAUSD student Cesar Rojas was also at the expo, attempting to drive a truck simulator. He was struggling and the instructor taught him how to handle the gears. 

“This one is more difficult because I know how to drive stick shift, which has five or six gears and this one [the truck] has 10,” he said. 

Rojas said he sees himself doing a trade career mainly because he is not interested in classroom learning, but he enjoys the physical labor more. He said he was also interested in the automotive, welding and barbering careers. 

“I feel this is a good opportunity to look around and see what we want to do in our next step,” said Rojas. 

Dozens of options to choose from

The 2025 LA Career Expo is a two-day event, hosted by LAUSD’s Division of Adult and Career Education (DACE) at The Beehive in Los Angeles’ historic Goodyear Tract. DACE offers students the Career Technical Education (CTE) program for entry-level employment, career advancement, and industry certification. 

The CTE program serves adults and concurrently enrolled high school students. Individuals with disabilities and special needs are also encouraged to participate.

Mauricio Reyes, with the LAUSD Slawson Southeast Occupational Center, was teaching the students about the welding trade. He said students learn about manual, semi-automatic and fully automatic welding. 

“We are showcasing our robots that came out this year with us. We are showing off the fact that we have high tech equipment that the students are going to be using in the industry,” he said. 

Reyes said programs like welding take between nine to 12 months, depending on attendance and the type of certification the student is interested in. 

Jennifer Ayon with the LAUSD X-ray program said they offer courses in the trades of X-ray technician and radiologic technologist.

“The programs are about a year each, starting in August,” she said. 

Other booths included dental care aid, construction, culinary arts, cosmetology, graphic design, medical assistant, vocational nurse and many more. 

After welcoming the students to the expo, LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said it is equally important to talk about post-secondary education, whether it is at a four-year college or a trade school. 

“If the end goal is for us to provide a post secondary future that leads to a job earning high wages, then we cannot limit students only to college and university. We need to  also consider career and technical programs,” he said. 

Carvalho said at LAUSD, there are two reasons why students are interested in the trade jobs.  One is because of the need for immediate economic support for them and their families. Or because students are not interested in a college career. They are more interested in building, or fixing or working with their hands. 

“So we ought to understand what kids want and deliver that in a process,” he said. 

Education for all adults

The two-day event is also connecting participants with LAUSD job opportunities and local state-registered apprenticeships. It also provides real-time counseling and enrollment support for prospective students.

Carvalho said that DACE is not just for students who recently graduated high school but also for their parents and all the adult learners in the community who want new opportunities and higher wages. 

The superintendent said the vast majority of programs are free to students. There are subsidies and state support available as well. Up until now, there has been federal funding, but it is unknown if this will continue. 

He also highlighted that in LAUSD, they never ask or maintain records of immigration status on the students they serve. 

“They are all the same and we treat them all the same. We protect them all, educate them and it makes no difference to us what their immigration status is,” he said. “Let’s be very careful about who we leave outside of the door of opportunity.”

The 2025 L.A. Career Expo will open to the general public on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The Beehive is located at 961 E. 61st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90001. Admission is free.