STUDENTS GARNER HONORS WORKING TOWARD CAREERS.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Daily News Staff Writer

Eddie Baghdasarian is the kind of automotive technician who'll fix what's wrong with your car, regardless of whether it's written on the repair form.

So when someone brought a vehicle to the 18-year-old Burbank High School student for an oil change, Baghdasarian didn't stop there. By putting in some extra effort, the vocational education student found a warped bolt and replaced it, he said.

``I'm a hard worker,'' Baghdasarian said. ``The harder you work, the more money you make. And the more hours you work, the better grades you get.''

Baghdasarian is one of 198 students from Burbank, Glendale and La Canada unified school districts whose accomplishments in career education were recognized Monday at the 20th annual Industry Education Council awards banquet at the Burbank Airport Hilton Hotel.

The council awarded middle and high school students for their successes in accounting, banking, computer applications, home economics, industrial technology, photography and television production, said Sue Boegh, public information officer for Burbank schools.

The council promotes career education, transition to work programs and postsecondary education.

Recipients included 89 students from Burbank, 24 from La Canada Flintridge and 85 from Glendale, Boegh said.

The purpose of vocational education is to provide students with working knowledge in a field they might go right into after high school graduation, said Carolee Wiles, a business education teacher at Burbank High. Such skills also would ready students for college courses, she said.

Baghdasarian, a senior, will be sponsored by a dealership next year as he attends Cerritos College, he said. His goal is to work full time as an automotive technician at a dealership, the Burbank resident said, adding that working on cars has been his main interest since he was a child.