Volunteer mentor Wendy Baez talks to Salem Middle School students participating in the Passport to Education program. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Steven Rivera was just 19 years old when he started selling cars at an automobile dealership in Queens and Long Island, N.Y. Two years later, Rivera was managing the dealership’s used car division.
Rivera’s love for cars, along with his drive and enthusiasm, helped him pay his way through college at Baruch College, part of New York’s CUNY system. But he credits several mentors whom he met “as a kid playing in an adult world” for teaching him much-needed lessons that continue to this day.
“By having the owner of the dealership work with me, it made me want to have my business,” says Rivera. “I had a lot to overcome. I was less than half the ages of my employees. They didn’t like that at all. But the thing about it is I had that great training. [My boss] would take time to talk to me and encourage me. It felt great.”
Rivera’s perseverance paid off. After switching from selling cars to selling auto insurance in 2004, Rivera, 40, now owns an Allstate Insurance agency in Chesterfield County.
As a member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Rivera, who is Puerto Rican, recalls telling his story to Lisa Zajur, director and coordinator of the organization's Passport to Education program. After hearing Zajur describe the program, Rivera knew he wanted to get involved and become a mentor and role model for its students.
Mentor Michael Baez (second from right) works with Salem Middle School students including (from left) Diana Lelada, Andrea Carisas and Tatiana Juarez. (Photo by Jay Paul)
The 12-week Passport to Education is designed to help Hispanic students who are at risk of dropping out of school go on to college after high school and land solid careers and jobs.
Passport to Education also aims to ensure that Hispanic students learn valuable skills and life lessons. So, once a week throughout the school year, local business leaders make time for these young people.
“Being successful is what I wanted to share with students, ” says Rivera, who notes that many of his clients are Hispanic. It’s important that students know to follow the right habits, set goals and be more assertive, he adds.
“It’s so rewarding just to know that the students look forward to us coming,” says Rivera.
On a quiet Tuesday morning, nearly two dozen students from Chesterfield County’s Salem Church Middle School wrap up a 20-minute yoga session. The students — some almost too relaxed — then sit at long tables where peanut butter crackers and miniature chocolate candy bars help re-energize them.
Today’s topic, good and bad habits, is discussed in English, Spanish or sometimes both languages, depending on the mentor.
For Jaylyn Jimenez Garcia, an eighth grader at Salem Middle, the program has made her think more about her long-term career goal of becoming an anesthesiologist, she says. As a child she underwent surgery for her throat and became intrigued with the idea of anesthesiology. Jaylyn loves the yoga, too.
Zajur developed a curriculum for Passport to Education and led its pilot version at the former Elkhardt Middle School (now Elkhardt Thompson Middle) in 2013. Since then, the program has expanded to Salem Middle and L.C. Bird High School in Chesterfield County, and Greene and J.L. Francis elementary schools in Richmond.
The focus on mentoring Hispanic and Latino youth results from recent Pew Research Center reports that Hispanic and Latino students, while dropping out of high school in smaller numbers (12 percent dropout rate during the 2013-14 academic year), still have the highest high school dropout rate out of any subgroup in the U.S. In Chesterfield County, where Hispanics are 8 percent of the population, 2,617 (approximately 4 percent) of the school system's 59,174 students are Hispanic or Latino. Salem Church Middle has 791 students, with about one fourth of that population reported as being Hispanic or Latino.
Lisa Zajur and her husband, Michel Zajur, CEO and founder of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, have long believed that having the support of a caring adult can help students be more successful in school. Local business partners such as Dominion, Genworth and SunTrust have also been helpful by encouraging their employees to volunteer with the program.
“[The mentors] relate to students by expressing their own experiences as youth,” says Lisa.
Lisa Zajur talks to Salem 8th grader Jack Diaz. Jack says, for him, one of the most important lessons from the program has been respect and how you need to treat others with respect if you want to receive it. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Bryce L. Robertson, an attorney with the Dyer Immigration Law Group, wears a boyish smile while coaching a student on how to develop good habits. Robertson, a graduate of Cornell and Villanova universities, speaks English, Spanish, French, German and Swedish. (Some Richmonders may recall a much younger Robertson, who developed and ran his own web solutions and design consulting company while still in high school and college.)
Admitting that he sometimes spends time on his computer, watching television and talking to friends at night, Robertson nonetheless stressed to the students the importance of a getting a good night’s sleep and developing healthy eating and exercise habits.
“What’s important is being conscientious,” he adds. “When doing so, people will respect you your entire life. It can help knock out bad habits. That one time you don’t take notes in class is the one time you will need them.”
Salem Middle School social worker Ted Price sees the influence that the program has had. “Mentors can say, 'Everything I have achieved, so can you. I’m living proof.' "
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