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David Gachuz is just one of the LEAP (Logistics Education and Pathways) program’s latest success stories. The high school senior, who is days away from graduation, has always wanted to work for Delta Airlines. Accordingly, he signed up for and completed the first of four LEAP courses, Supply Chain Management Principles, when he heard it could help him get a job at Delta.

“I knew it would look good on my resume, and I think it got Delta’s attention,” Gachuz recalled in a recent conversation. “After I submitted my application, they called me back about a job two days later.”

Gachuz has been working for Delta for several weeks now as a ramp agent, which means he helps with loading and unloading baggage and cargo from the planes, as well as occasionally guiding planes into and out of gateways.

He also plans to continue with the other three LEAP courses and will complete the certification program. When asked what he learned from the first course, Gachuz said, “I didn’t know much about logistics before I started. Now I do. I also learned how to present myself, and how to use the terminology.”

The LEAP program is housed in Georgia Tech’s Supply Chain & Logistics Institute (SCL) and is supported by a $350,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase & Co. Additional funding has been provided by Schneider National, Inc. The certification is designed to attract a younger workforce and prepare them for successful careers in supply chain and logistics.

The program is currently tuition-free for 16-24 year olds in metro Atlanta counties, as well as active-duty service members. The four courses with the LEAP program are the aforementioned Supply Chain Management Principles, Warehousing Operations, Transportation Operations, and Customer Service Operations.

For more information on the LEAP program, visit https://www.scl.gatech.edu/LEAP.

To apply to the LEAP program, visit https://www.scl.gatech.edu/LEAP/apply.