Utah students eager to earn as they learn By Lisa Carricaburu The Salt Lake Tribune Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News   WEST VALLEY CITY, UT - Grades are not everything to Hunter High School junior Dustin Crump, but one A+ he hopes to earn this summer really matters. Crump's success on the Computing Technology Industry Association A+certification exam he is preparing to take will qualify him for immediatework in the computer industry as an entry-level customer-service representative, lab technician or field repairman. It also will earn him a guaranteed interview with Packard Bell NEC, which is expanding its 1,300-employee customer-service center in Magna. A+ certified employees earn a starting wage of $9 an hour. ``Computers are the future, and this is a good place for me to start,'' he said. Crump is a participant in a school-to-work program through which Packard Bell has joined with the Granite, Salt Lake, Murray, Park City and Tooele school districts to enhance high-tech course offerings. The Sacramento, CA-based company has donated networked personal computers, technical- support training curriculum and technical personnel that Hunter is using to prepare students to pass the industry-recognized A+ certification exam in June. Similar programs are being set up at Central High School and Horizonte Learning Center, both in Salt Lake City. Packard Bell said each student participant is receiving technical training that costs up to $20,000 at private technical and trade schools. Students gain competency in technologies such as Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 operating systems and PC hardware troubleshooting, said David McWilliams, Packard Bell manager of training of public relations. ``This is an example of a publiand private-sector collaboration where everyone wins,'' said Bo Hall executive director of Wasatch Front South Educational Consortium, a group set up to improve technical-training opportunities for students across the Wasatch Front. ``The student receives valuable training, the school gets new computers and curriculum and the employers get a trained work force prepared by our schools.'' Public-private partnerships like the one involving Packard Bell are becoming more common in Utah as the state's high-tech industry takes measures to ensure it will have a qualified work force from which to draw. An Information Technologies Association of America report released in February warned that the number of U.S. students graduating with four-year degrees in computer science, engineering and other technical fields is decreasing just as the U.S. economy's reliance on people with those skills is increasing. Javier Torres, Packard Bell technical instructor, said programs like the one he is teaching at Hunter are a way of snagging students early and familiarizing them with a lucrative career field that Money magazine's ``Money Forecast '96'' lists among the nation's top 10 careers. ``In essence, we're farming our own employees,'' he said. Orem-based Novell Inc. also participates in a school-to-work program with Utah schools through which students may gain certified Novell administrator (CNA) certification. CNAs are trained to handle day-to-day administration of Novell computer-networking software programs such as NetWare and GroupWise, said Laura Kvinge, Novell Education spokeswoman. The Novell Education Academic Partner (NEAP) program began in 1992 in colleges, universities and trade schools before being expanded last year to high schools. Hunter and 170 other schools in North America participate in the NEAP program. Once he earns his A+ certification, Crump will enroll next fall in a class where he will complete requirements to become a CNA. ``It pays to learn this stuff now,'' he said. ``I'll be able to graduate from high school making pretty good money.'' Visit Utah Online, the World Wide Web site of The Salt Lake Tribune.