On Sept. 18, UNITE-LA convened education and workforce leaders from across the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative for an immersive visit to the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) F.E. Weymouth Water Treatment Plant and Water Quality Lab in La Verne. The session brought together K-12, community college and university career technical education administrators with workforce development specialists, and featured a guided facilities tour, a briefing from MWD leaders and a skills-and-opportunities discussion highlighting how the computer science (CS) and engineering pathways power one of California’s most essential industries. Participants experienced a clearer view of in-demand technical and soft skills, potential internship and employment pathways and concrete ideas for connecting classroom learning to real-world applications across regional CS and engineering pathways.

The experience expanded for K-16 partners on how these pathways translate directly into careers, demonstrating that fields like water management depend not only on engineers and scientists but also on technicians, operators and data specialists. The tour also highlighted that pursuing CS and engineering coursework can open doors to meaningful, well-paying roles for students in a critical industry that they might not have known about or sought out initially, from instrumentation and control technicians to water quality specialists and plant operators, reinforcing the importance of making these pathways and connections visible and accessible across the region.

This session is a part of the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative’s ongoing work in building capacity for campus partners to strengthen employer engagement. Participants not only met directly with MWD leaders to understand opportunities for student learning and processes related to engineering and CS, but also gained practical insight into how to engage regional employers in offering student-centered experiences, helping education partners further bridge the gap between classrooms and careers. The cross-subregion attendance also broadened the collaborative’s knowledge base and strengthened its collective ability to design and expand high-quality work-based learning experiences for students, as insights gained from the visit will be applied in future programming to enhance education and workforce connections across the region. MWD is the nation’s largest wholesale water provider with 26 member agencies and a service area of 19 million people, 5,200 square miles and six counties.

For more information, please reach out to Andrew Giang, Manager of Postsecondary Strategy & Policy, at [email protected], and read more on the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative website.