Tuscaloosa students ready to work

Tuscaloosa, AL (WBRC) - Adult hood is coming quickly for some Tuscaloosa area students.

This week dozens of them signed on the dotted line for full-time jobs before they even graduate from high school.

West Alabama Works held a Regional Signing day for students like Levi Nelson.

"It's a pretty awesome opportunity and it opened up a lot of jobs. It was probably 50 or more people who signed up today and basically they have a great job when they get out of school," Nelson told Kelvin Reynolds.

Nelson was one of more than 60 teenagers who signed on to work for a company after graduating high school.

"I'm Levi Nelson and I'm going to be a welder for Brion Hardin Construction," he'd go on to say.

The students, their families and supporters, packed the Tuscaloosa Career and Technology Academy Thursday.

Gary Nichols, Board Chairman for West Alabama Works, said they showed many of the kids how to chart a career path without going to a four-year college.

"How do we measure the success of education? You measure it by the quality of the job you get after you graduate," Nichols explained.

More than 15 companies offered apprenticeships or opportunities in ready to work programs to kids from 7 West Alabama school systems. “I’m excited. New beginnings, a great company, I like the feel of it,” Jarod Jones expressed about starting at Mercedes.

“We put a lot of time into school and they say hard work pays off and it does,” Nelson said.

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