Yuma City Hall hosts career day for local high school students

More than 30 students from Educational Opportunity Center Charter High School spent Career Day inside Yuma City Hall, where department heads laid out what city employees actually do, the skills those jobs demand and the education paths that can lead there. The visit turned municipal work into something concrete for teenagers weighing whether to stay local, continue school or move straight into the workforce.

In a city of 103,559 residents, with 25.5% under age 18 and 60.8% identified as Hispanic or Latino in U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the pipeline matters. Yuma describes itself as a full-service, council-manager government, with operations that include police, fire, water and wastewater utilities, public works, solid waste services, parks and recreation, and arts and culture. For students, that made City Hall less like a political building and more like a window into dozens of real jobs.

John Horvath, the school’s counselor and teacher, said students learned about public works, parks and recreation, communications and other city functions. He said City Hall opened its doors so students could understand the different phases of local government and see how departments fit together to serve residents. That kind of exposure is especially important in a city where many young people are deciding whether the next step is college, technical training or work close to home.

The City of Yuma says it looks for people who value professionalism, accountability, integrity and responsiveness. Its careers page also outlines equal employment policies and veteran hiring preference under Arizona law. Those standards matter for students because they show that public service jobs are not abstract civic slogans; they are paid positions with expectations, application processes and pathways that can lead to long-term local employment.

EOC Charter High School, part of Yuma Private Industry Council, says enrollment is finalized in person at 3810 West 16th Street in Yuma. The school says it serves students seeking an alternative education in a safe, caring, supportive environment, making the City Hall visit part of a broader effort to connect education with employment.

The outreach was not isolated. The City of Yuma hosted a career fair at the Yuma Civic Center on Jan. 29, 2024, and Yuma County Public Works held a third annual Career and Technical Education Career Day in January 2025 with Yuma Union High School District and the Center for the Future of Arizona. Taken together, those efforts show Yuma’s public sector using schools as a recruiting ground for the next generation of city workers who will keep the community running.