Nike mentors give Latino youth a career boost

College scholars practice their job skills in program

The Forest Grove News-Times, Aug 5, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Jonathan House / Pamplin Media Group

Ezequiel Lopez Jr. of Cornelius is one of seven college-bound students teaming up with mentors from Nike.

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Seven Latino students at Portland Community College’s Rock Creek campus are getting a jolt of business savvy from Nike workers, one meeting and piece of advice at a time.

As part of a mentoring program that partners the Nike Latino and Friends Network with students from the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP), each of the students – all first-generation college scholars from migrant-worker backgrounds – work with a Nike employee at honing crucial job skills and creating networking opportunities.

The mentoring program officially kicked off June 18.

The seven students who made it through the application and interview process include Sandra Soto, Maria Rebolledo Salgado and Ezequiel Lopez Jr. of Cornelius; Jose Lopez of Forest Grove; Roy Gomez of Beaverton; Isidro Interian of Aloha; and Juan Ramirez Alonso of Hillsboro.

Students involved with the program say that, even halfway through, the partnership is already paying huge dividends.

“Before, I only had an idea of what the corporate world was like,” Lopez Jr. said. “I’ve learned the reality now.”

The summer mentorship program will end in September. Along the way, students will use their mentors’ professional knowledge to work on skills such as presen-tation giving, resumé and cover letter writing, and interview tactics.

Students spent the first part of the program preparing a presentation to introduce themselves to the Latino and Friends Network.

“My presentation skills have definitely improved,” Soto said. “That was overwhelming because I’ve never given a presentation like that before.”

The Nike partnership is the brainchild of Teresa Alonso, Rock Creek’s CAMP director. She said that a mentor program like this had been in her mind since starting her position but didn’t come to fruition until she met Cynthia Escamilla, chairwoman of Nike’s Latino and Friends Network, at the El Poder de la Mujer (The Power of Woman) conference in February 2008.

Like-minded mentors

After presenting a proposal to the Nike organization, Alonso went about launching the program. Last April, nine students applied to be in the program, and seven were selected and matched with like-minded mentors.

“I wanted to help create a program that was going to help our students not only with retention but to help their career development skills at a very young age,” Alonso said. “It would either help them get more passion for what they were studying, or they would decide, ‘That’s not what I want to do.’”

Alonso said she hopes to expand the mentorship opportunities next year, both at Nike and, hopefully, with other businesses.

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