Viridiana's Take on Success

Raised in Big Bear Lake, California, Viridiana Salinas has proven that you can stay in your hometown and continue to be successful. She is twenty two years old, currently attending college, working two jobs, and starting up her own business.She is a determined individual and plans to achieve every single goal she sets her mind to. One of these goals that she is achieving already is paying for college on her own. Viridiana is working towards an Associate's Degree in Business Administration, and plans to continue towards her Bachelor's.Viri likes going to the community college courses offered at the high school in Big Bear and she feels very lucky that they are available. She works as a server part-time at a well known restaurant called Jasper's Smokehouse, and is an Office Aide for the Career Center of Big Bear. Working both jobs is time-consuming, but she wouldn't trade the memories she's made with her co-workers, and the customers and students she's been able to help for anything in the world. With excellent customer service and organizational skills, she handles both of these jobs with ease. As an Office Aide of the Career Center, and an assistant to our NUA Teacher Colin Schour, she helps with the enrollment process of each student, as well as keeping up with all the documents that need to be turned to in for each student each month and end of semester.Along with all that, she is also now officially a business owner! She just obtained her license to Melody's Cleaning Service! Viri feels confident that her business will shine in Big Bear. This is her beginning chapter into the business world, and she hopes one day to own a second business in the food or sales industry. An adventurous and tenacious entrepreneur making her mark in Big Bear, Viridiana is a definition of success.

Leadership Connection is Right Around the Corner..

The Thursdays of the month of April were slated to be our Leadership Connection Planning Meetings. Dezi and I, along with our Career Mentor,Cheryl, had been meeting with the Big Bear Chamber of Commerce to discuss and plan out our May Leadership Connection. We had been figuring out who our speakers will be, where we will be touring, and what aspects of small town careers we want to focus on. At our last meeting, with Teresa attending, we had finally come up with a complete schedule! Our Leadership Connection this year will start off with a Boat Tour and Lunch on the Lake! We will get a tour of the lake and some good food to go with it! Then, off to the Fire Department we go for our next Leadership Connection meet-up, where we get to see the inner workings of the Department and what working with them is like. Our third stop will be the Radio Station, where we will learn all about what it takes to sell, promote, and work with music. Last but not least, we will be having our tour at the Big Bear Hospital and hosting our Completion Dinner. I am so excited to see the final result of all of our planning! I believe that our WIA Students this year are going to have a blast! I cannot thank the local businesses and Big Bearians enough for their kindness and willingness to help us help our youth! I look forward to seeing the local leaders inspire the future ones! More posts about this coming soon! 

-Sarah Avignone and Dezi Guillen

Student Outreach

Career Institute Barstow teamed up with Barstow Community College to reach out to the high school students of Barstow high Baker high and Silver Valley.  A total of 300 high school students attended the event which is a great turn out. 

Leaders: The Whip or the Carrot?

           

(From left to right, Jennifer Martinez, Denise Cummins, Jana Shearer)  

It’s true what Maya Angelou said, people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. On April 11, 2014, Loma Linda University (LLU) Medical Center hosted a tour of their facility’s third floor. The Leadership Connection program from the Apple Valley and Rancho Cucamonga offices teamed up and enjoyed presentations from a variety of health care professionals from the LLU Medical Center.

             Denise Cummins, a supervisor/nurse practitioner told us her story and how she became the nurse she is today. She became a nurse out of necessity; she just needed a job. She told us, “I never wanted to be a nurse… [but] I fell in love with it along the way.” However, she didn’t fall in love with it immediately. She’s been working as a nurse for more than 15 years, but she told a story from when she first started; a story from when she’d been working for less than a year. It still brought tears to her eyes. (And to the eyes of many of the students in her audience).

When she first started, she was not the best nurse. She was doing the best she could in a job she never wanted. One day, she was in the break room, talking with her coworkers and making jokes. She heard a nurse at one of the tables behind her make a comment about ‘the new, useless nurse’, and Denise knew that she was talking about her. She was stricken. She was ready to give up. But she didn’t. Instead, she strived to become better. She sought out more training. More certifications. She told us “I thought, well maybe if I was good [in one area] I would be better”. 

            And all this, she still remembers more than a decade later. The emotions from that day remain burned into her memory. Who is a leader? At some point in our lives, all of us, whether we lead a Girl Scout troop or an army. The nurse in the break room was a leader and there are many ways to lead people. Much of it boils down to, do you wish to lead with a whip or a carrot? Some leaders choose to lead people by their hair or the scruff of their neck. Some leaders choose to lead people by the hand. 

           Today, I challenge you to be a different kind of leader. Lead with a vision. And choose to lead people by showing them who they could be, not tearing them down for who they are not. 

Student Success Story: Stephanie Saiz

    Stephanie Saiz

Stephanie Saiz

Stephanie Saiz was born and raised in Barstow, California. She was in band for most of her life playing the flute and the piccolo. Stephanie is currently attending Barstow Community College perusing a degree in Social Science and hopes to find a career in helping others. Stephanie is also Career Mentor Melissa Matteson’s Student Assistant and current participate in the WIA program in Barstow. I asked Stephanie what her definition of success was, she stated that she believed that the true meaning of success for her was to “be happy and make others happy”. I also asked her if she felt that she has reached happiness in which to she replied “I think I’m close, but not quite there”. Stephanie is extremely grateful for being able to be a part of the Career Institute because it’s helping her prepare the youth in the community how to be responsible and confident by helping them with resumes, work experience and find a job. 

A Helping Hand

This month success story is on David Macias, a graduate from the Career Institute's Financial Freedom  program and is current student of Citrus College. Like many students after high school, David was unsure what career path he envisioned in his future and has worked from sales in retail stores to a greeter in restaurants.With the help of the Career Institute, he was able to take on a different path in his field by achieving a certificate in Personal Care Aid.Upon receiving the experience of a personal care assistant, David was able to join the Right at Home assistant living team where he is now in charge of providing Seniors with a secure living space and assisting them maintain a healthy lifestyle.David states that this opportunity has assured him that the medical field is the right track for him and that the reward for helping out those in need of a hand is priceless.His future goals consist of transferring to Loma Linda University for his bachelors in Medicine and also pursue his certified nursing certificate.

Success Story Julie Aldaraca

Julie feels she is in a great place compared to three years ago because of the personal and social changes in her life. She sets goals with herself and try’s to stick with them. One goal being to set herself up with school which has already been a life changer for her. She sees herself progressively making positive changes and seeing benefits daily. Her biggest accomplishments have been situating her future goals and knowing what she has to work for to accomplish her goal of becoming a physical therapist. She has also accomplished staying focus, balancing her social life, maintaining a steady job, and being a responsible independent young adult. She is currently putting all her energies towards her education and staying positive; always looking forward to her successful future. The Career Institute helped her in ways to accomplish time management, organization skills, communication skills, and financial education. While her journey with the Career Institute, she “received excellent support from the staff and still ongoing support when I need it. The staff is very helpful and resourceful. I find them to be very efficient I'm very grateful to be part of the program.” Julie has become a hardworking young adult that has a path and successful future ahead of her.

“I want to really express how much the Leadership program, through the Career Institute has helped me to understand my future in a broader view, it has given me new knowledge of the workforce. It has increased my networking abilities, and has offered a new perspective on future employment directions, and seeing what it takes to be competitive in a changing workforce.”- Julie aldaraca

-Georgia Burckel

gburckel@cinow.com