The San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk (ARCC) office recently participated in a Junior Achievement of San Diego (JA San Diego) program that featured real-world, career experiences for high school students.

As part of JA’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), ARCC hosted two high school students for a four-week, paid internship program from June 17 to July 12.

The students, Levi Johnson, 15, a junior at San Diego High School, and Vinayak Venugopal, a sophomore at Mission Bay High School who prefers “Vinny” as a first name, spent about 40 hours working as interns at the ARCC headquarters at the San Diego County Administration Center on Pacific Highway, San Diego.

“We were delighted to host Levi and Vinny and share with them the intricacies of our office,” said Jordan Z. Marks, San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk. “The students were impressed with our operation and were intrigued with the range of different services we provide to San Diego County taxpayers.”

Johnson learned about the taxpayer benefits ARCC offers in county property assessments, including the Homeowners' Exemption that reduces $7,000 off the assessed value of a residence, resulting in an annual property tax savings of approximately $70.

He also became acquainted with the Disabled Veterans' Exemption, which is available for qualified veterans or the unmarried surviving spouse of the veteran to reduce their property taxes.

“Before this experience, I didn’t have a clue about the ARCC office and the programs that benefit taxpayers and how the office serves so many San Diego County residents,” said Johnson. “It was a cool experience to work there, especially getting paid. I’m depositing 75% of my salary into savings.”

Venugopal said he learned about the ARCC’s recording services, including providing the public with birth certificates, death certificates and marriage certificates, commonly referred as “vital documents.”

“Overall, it was a pleasant experience helping people with the vitals they needed,” said Venugopal. “I learned a lot and was able to improve my people skills. Sitting at the front desk, I interacted with the public and referred them to the right people who could help them. The staff here is very nice and very eager to help the public. ”

The ARCC office is responsible for issuing marriage licenses, birth and death certificates, as well as registering business names and recording all legal real estate documents. On average, the office sells nearly 25,000 marriage licenses, performs more than 11,000 weddings and issues more than 100,000 birth certificates annually. The office also oversees assessing the value of real estate and personal property, which in San Diego includes planes and boats. Property taxes constitute the largest share of revenue for the county.

Venugopal said some customers asked about apostille services, which is the process that certifies the authenticity of signatures typically needed for international business.

Currently, the California Secretary of State is the only state department that provides apostille services at its Los Angeles and Sacramento offices. However, the ARCC office is planning to host Secretary of State officials for an Apostille Pop-Up Shop event in November. At the ARCC offices at the San Diego County Administration Center, Apostille services will be provided for various documents for international use, including birth, death and marriage certificates, educational documents required for university students’ international travel, military documents and other documents required for business on the border.

Both students said they plan to mention their ARCC internship in college applications. Johnson said he is considering a career in finance or accounting. Venugopal said he is thinking about jobs in science, mathematics and law

JA San Diego launched its inaugural SYEP in alignment with the County Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas' Youth Employment Initiative. More than 150 local high school juniors and seniors from Chula Vista Learning Community Charter, Lincoln High in Southeast San Diego, and Morse High were connected to paid work experiences with leading San Diego industries to develop their skillsets and build their professional networks in career-bound pathways.

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About Junior Achievement of San Diego County

Junior Achievement of San Diego (JA) has been inspiring and equipping San Diego youth to achieve economic success by planning for their futures and making informed academic and career choices since 1950. By deploying proven, experiential programs, JA also reaches more than 30,000 students annually through programs such as BizTown, Finance Park, and the JA Company program which help students build financial literacy, work-readiness, and entrepreneurship skills. Annually, more than 4,000 volunteers serve as role models and enable JA to deliver experiential programs to students across 36 county school districts.

About San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk (ARCC)

The San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk (ARCC) Office, with more than 450 employees and five offices in San Diego County, oversees assessing the value of real estate and personal property, which in San Diego includes aircraft and boats. Property taxes constitute the largest share of revenue for the county. Jordan Z. Marks was elected San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk in November 2022 to oversee the fifth largest Assessor jurisdiction in the United States. Marks has ushered in award-winning community outreach and education programs that have resulted in record-high property tax relief saving millions of dollars for veterans, homeowners, and seniors. He also has modernized systems adding more online services and reducing paper waste. Marks was awarded the 2024 San Diego County Taxpayer Watchdog award for saving taxpayers millions of dollars in property taxes. Marks is a California Certified Property Tax Appraiser, a California licensed attorney, and a certified cybersecurity executive from the University of San Diego. To contact the ARCC office, visit www.sdarcc.gov, or call 619-531-6130.

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Are you a full-time student seeking real-world office experience? Join the San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk team and elevate your skills today! Please share this opportunity with your favorite San Diego Student!

Apply by emailing your resume to ARCCPayrollPersonnel.FGG@sdcounty.ca.gov