SAN JOSE, Calif., February 17, 2005 - On February 18, 2005, more than 100 Cisco Networking Academy students from across Northern California will be exploring their future careers when they "shadow" workplace mentors at the Cisco Systems, Inc. San Jose campus as part of the company's third annual Groundhog Job Shadow Day.

"Job shadowing is a year-long national effort to enrich the lives of students and give them real life exposure to the IT profession," said Kate DCamp, senior vice president of Human Resources at Cisco. "By hosting the job shadow day events, Cisco aims to bridge the gap between the classroom and the workplace. Mentoring students in this way helps ignite their interest in technology and is an important way to help students explore future career opportunities."

Students from Job Corp centers, high schools and colleges throughout Northern California will attend the Job Shadow Day event in San Jose, including: Treasure Island Job Corps; Live Oak High School; Sacramento Job Corp Center; Oakland Technical High School; and Cabrillo College. Designed to encourage students to participate in careers and pursue educational opportunities in IT, the Job Shadow Day will feature technology demos, facility tours and the opportunity for students to hear directly from a variety of technology professionals about what a career in IT entails on a day-to-day basis. Technology professionals will also provide presentations, and students will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with professional mentors during lunchtime roundtables and throughout the day.

National job shadowing is a coordinated effort of America's Promise, Junior Achievement, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Labor. The Cisco Networking Academy held its 2005 Job Shadow Day launch event in Chicago, IL on February 2, 2005 and will continue to host events at over 65 locations nationally through February and March.

The U.S. Department of Labor honored Cisco as a Gold Partner for the last two years as a result of Cisco's Job Shadow Day efforts. Cisco employees devote hundreds of hours to Job Shadow Day activities, and as a result, Cisco provides a matching donation to Junior Achievement.

"In addition to the on-site activities being held throughout the country, we have also created virtual fieldtrips that are available to students," said Peter Joyce, workforce development manager at Cisco. "By making this available by Webcast, Job Shadow Day allows anyone to take part in the program, even when they are unable to travel to one of the physical locations."

For more information about the Cisco Networking Academy Program, visit: http://www.cisco.com/go/netacad