HOUSTON -- A Houston-area nonprofit program is teaching high school technical skills needed to work for major corporations, KPRC Local 2, Your Education Station, reported Wednesday.

Luis DeLeon went from working at a fast-food restaurant to a job in the I.T. department of Continental Airlines while he was still a junior in high school.

"It's actually a big-time accomplishment knowing I'm able to work in corporate America and make something of it," DeLeon said.

DeLeon is a graduate of the Genesys Works program, which pairs high school students, mostly from low-income communities, with jobs in corporate I.T. departments.

Students are taught I.T. skills that corporations need.

Using donated computers, the students learn to take them apart and put them back together.

They build confidence while building computers.

The students are also taught professional communication skills.

"How to speak in person, how to speak with a huge amount of people in front of you," said Hugo Alaniz, a Genesys Works student.

Attending college is the goal. Ninety percent of Genesys Works graduates go on to college. The program walks them through the application process.

"With me being the first one to graduate, my parents aren't really familiar with it and I wasn't familiar, so I wouldn't know where to start or where to even go. And with Genesys, it has really helped me," said Michael Briones, a Genesys Works student.

"We give them the tools they need to succeed -- support, encouragement, one-on-one -- and very important, the opportunity they step up to the plate and run with it and become successful," said Rafael Alvarez, the founder of Genesys Works.

The training program is considered intense. Students are required to attend five days a week for eight weeks in the summer before their senior year in high school.

For more on the Genesys Works program, visit www.genesysworks.org.