Coakley receives up-close look at Tech program

LYNN – Lynn Vocational Technical Institute showed off its best during a visit from state Attorney General Martha Coakley, who met cooperative studies students and toured the school’s specialty shops.”We have one of the highest standards of rigor for cooperatives,” Principal Diane Paradis told Coakley during the visit on Friday.Coakley is running for governor as a Democrat and outlined her views on improving public school 21st-century education during her visit.”We have to teach all of our kids computer skills – not learning computer skills is like not learning to read,” she said.Coop student Guelmi Espinal told Coakley how he has combined his computer abilities with his longtime participation in local art learning program Raw Art Works.”To go from being a Raw Art kid to an intern is amazing,” he said.Cooperatives give students experience doing jobs they learn about in courses they take at Tech. Only 25 percent of Tech’s nearly 700 students meet the academic standards and other requirements allowing them to participate in cooperative programs.Coop student Erica Nil works with seniors who attend a day program on Kernwood Drive, and Garry Torres works with children enrolled in a Catholic Charities program. He is interested in a criminal justice career, but Torres said his cooperative experience is building on lessons he learned in Tech’s early children education classes.”All the kids call me Mr. Torres,” he told Coakley.Coakley asked for the students’ electronic mail addresses and offered to help find ways to overcome the challenge Paradis said students face in arranging transportation from school to cooperative positions.