18-year-old Anna holds a piece of paper that she thinks holds the key to achieving her career goals.

“I’m just happy that I finally got a job.”

The paper is from Nordstrom, informing her that she’ll be called in a few days with details about her position.

“I will be working everywhere at the beginning so they will be training me at different spots like cashier, floor, the back room, the men’s the women’s, everything. That’s just the beginning and then I’ll try to go higher!”

Anna heard the words “You’re hired” at the 100k Opportunities Initiative Job Fair in Seattle. The one day event brings together more than 30 employers looking to fill positions with more than one-thousand youth looking for employment opportunities.

Some 15-thousand youth ages 16 to 21 have left high school without graduating and don’t have stable employment. United Way of King County is invested in making sure students graduate. That’s why we support 100k Opportunities Initiative and other programs which reconnect youth to their education.

Anna says she wants to work and further her education.

“I want to finish online school and then go into college at Green River. Then I want to become a detective later on. That’s my long-term goal but for now, I just want to have some sort of income so I can help my family out.”

Anna had planned on looking for work sooner while finishing high school, but a friend’s illness shifted her priorities.

“My best friend had cancer so I was kind of helping her go through that, and I didn’t have time because it takes a lot of time to help your best friend deal with something like that. I decided that after she was done with something like that, her chemotherapies, I’d look for a job.”

Mission accomplished.