16-year-old Vicky Salazar dreams of one day becoming an engineer.
As a junior at Thomas Edison High School, Vicky is doing everything she can to get there, including taking several advanced placement classes, keeping good grades to be eligible for scholarships and heeding the advice of her mentor, Shantel Norman, a gas engineering manager at CPS Energy.
Norman, a volunteer with the Connecting the Dots Shadowing (CTD) program, has encouraged Vicky over the last three years to excel in academics and to never settle for less.
“She’s helped me to learn not to limit myself,” Vicky said during this year’s CTD student kick-off event. “You have to keep up with school work and not get too caught up in your social life that you forget about your education.”
Vicky didn’t always have the support system she has today.
Before she joined the program, a teacher recognized that although she was gifted and talented, Vicky was at-risk of being influenced by gang activity from some of her peers.
In order to get Vicky some help, the teacher recommended Vicky to the shadowing program.
Today, Vicky is just one of 28 students connecting with CPS Energy employees to get the positive support they need to graduate from high school.
The job shadowing program recruits high school students identified as at-risk students.
Ilsa Garcia, CIS volunteer marketing coordinator, said students who are at-risk of not graduating usually live in tough environments at home or in their neighborhoods.
“We have some students who are trying to get out of gangs while others have families that are homeless,” Garcia said. “Some of our students have or have had a parent in prison. A student’s environment affects the way they perform at school. What we try to do is encourage the students who might not get that support otherwise.”
CPS Energy approached Community in Schools (CIS) of San Antonio in 2007 about partnering on a mentoring program to respond to the 35 percent high school drop-out rate in Bexar County.
CIS chose Thomas Edison High School, a low performing school with a 46 percent drop-out rate.
Orozco said a student who is a part of the nine-week program gets a chance to see first-hand how professionals in the utility industry use math and science on an everyday basis in their career.
The students meet with their mentors during three 90-minute sessions where they can bring assignments in math, science and English to learn how they are applied on the job.
Students also will get a chance to connect with their mentor online through two mentoring sessions.
During the first session, a mentor will be able email their student mentee to find out how they’re progressing in their school work.
The second session will require students to participate in a case study activity from Steven Covey’s book,
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens.
This year, CPS Energy expanded the program to include 10 freshman students from South San High School.
Glenn Seleen, manager of account information systems, met with South San freshman, Richard Andrade, for the first time at CTD’s kick-off event.
Seleen listened to Richard talk about his involvement in the high school band and his ambition to write music.
Seleen said he is excited to be a part of the Connecting the Dots program because he wants to encourage kids who might be going through enormous peer pressure or a difficult family situation.
“These kids are facing some of the issues I never had to deal with,” Seleen said. “They need encouragement. I’m excited about giving that encouragement.
While enjoying a BBQ lunch at the kick-off event, Seleen and Richard listened to Irma Orozco, community relations coordinator, give a few words of encouragement to the students.
“This program has an objective of graduating each and every one of you,” Orozco said. “We know you can do it. We know you can succeed.”
Vicky, who also listened to Orozco’s words while sitting next to Norman, said she is well on her way to graduating.
Next year, she will be a part of the first class participating in the Connecting the Dots program to graduate from high school.
Vicky said while keeping up with her school work, she’s looking for a job to help save money for college.
After graduating, Vicky hopes to enroll in the University of Texas at Austin to pursue her dream of becoming an engineer.
Norman expressed full confidence in Vicky making it to college and achieving her dream.
Norman believes Vicky can get there entirely funded by scholarships.
“My goal is to get her through college without her having to pay a dime for it,” Norman said. “We want her to get a free ride.”
