Cañada MESA Students Team Up with Cisco for Mentor Program
Thu, 14 March, 2013 at 10:35 am
MESA students
will gain insight and knowledge from Cisco employees during a new mentor
program.
 |
| Six Cañada students will participate in a Cisco mentorship program. |
Six MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science, Achievement) students
from Cañada College attended a shadow day last week at the networking giant’s San
Jose headquarters to launch the year-long program. Cisco employees shared about
the company and led tours. A panel of Cisco employees who are MESA alumni also
answered student questions.
Alex Ramos, a former Cañada student, was part of the panel discussion. He's currently studying engineering at UC Berkeley and is serving an internship at Cisco.
The Cañada
students are among 30 specially chosen from six Northern California MESA centers.
(photographed from left to right) Hector Prado, Nehad Dadabo, Rita Melgar, Elizabeth Carranza, Fidel Salgado, and
Norman Ettedgui were picked to be among the first class of Cisco MESA mentees.
The mentees
and mentors will meet monthly online for one year to discuss career interests,
leadership, and other topics. The pairs were carefully chosen based on major
and career interests and sign an agreement as part of the year-long commitment.
In addition to Cañada, participants are from UC Santa Cruz, San Jose State,
Gavilan College, Hartnell College, and Mission College.
The Cisco mentor
program is an example of MESA’s strong partnership with industry, which is a
large motivator behind its success.
MESA is one of
the largest programs in the state to support educationally disadvantaged
students so they can graduate from college with science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM) degrees. MESA provides academic support and
enrichment to more than 20,000 K-12 students and more than 7,800 community
college and university students each year.
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