PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Ten Illinois high school students signed a contract with Caterpillar to be full-time employees or part of their college internship program Tuesday.

Students from Manuel, East Peoria and Morton high schools signed offer letters to kick-start their Caterpillar careers.

Each student has completed the “Essentials for Life” training. For the last year, each student has spent part of their school day shadowing a Caterpillar employee to learn about the job.

Chance Smith will go to Bradley University for his degree in mechanical engineering while interning with Caterpillar.

“Going to this internship really is basically just like a job and a career. So it really made me focus on my attendance and make sure I am where I need to be at all times,” said Smith.

Caterpillar added East Peoria High School to the Essentials for Life program and is looking to add more local high schools.

“Knowing that they’ve got a job that they’re coming to every day. They need to be on time. They need to do good-quality work. And the mentors have helped them with that, obviously. Right. But the growth of them over the course of the year, knowing that they’re going out in the real world and going to have a job. It’s been really good to see that growth with them,” said Caterpillar Director of Operations Tim Young.