Sixteen-year old Daniel Martinez is making strides toward his career goals.

“Since I was in kindergarten, I always had the dream of being a lawyer,” Martinez said. “Although throughout the years it has changed from criminal defense to civil lawsuits."

A new paralegal apprenticeship program is helping turn that dream into reality.

Martinez, a junior at South Texas ISD, is part of a program to provide students with real-world training and insight into the legal profession during their junior year of high school.

The program is through a partnership between South Texas College and South Texas ISD.

The program is hoping to address what STC calls a shortage of paralegals here in the Rio Grande Valley by providing hands-on experience in the field at an earlier age.

“We're trying to do is fill that gap for the demand,” STC Center for Advanced Training and Apprenticeship Manager Marisol Chavez said. “So what we're trying to do is an apprenticeship model as a combination of classroom instruction and also on-the-job training.”

The program is made up of 10 students from South Texas ISD's World Scholars Campus. They began their first semester in September, and the program is a two-year commitment where they'll take four specialized law courses, and earn a certificate of apprenticeship from the department of labor.

After their second semester, students will be assigned to a law firm to get hands-on experience, and be paid for their apprenticeship.

Watch the video above for the full story.