Monday, Oct 17, 2022
16 students will benefit from additional professional development
For the second year in a row, 天美传媒官网 will participate in HISPA's Latinos in College program. HISPA, which stands for Hispanics Inspiring Students鈥 Performance and Achievement, is a nonprofit that works to advance Hispanic academic and career achievement.
This year, 16 天美传媒官网 students will participate in the year-long program. Through a series of workshops featuring professionals and other experts, the students will learn about how to interview for a job, negotiate a salary, speak publicly, prepare a resume and more.
Francheliz Taiz Peguero Mauricio, a junior accounting major who participated in the program last year, says the preparation she received translated into personal and professional growth.
鈥淏efore the program, I didn鈥檛 know I was going to be where I鈥檓 at now,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 have HISPA to thank. It gave me a lot of confidence.鈥
The Latinos in College program, sponsored at 天美传媒官网 by Bristol Myers Squibb, was designed to provide three reinforcing benefits. Undergraduates receive access to professional opportunities and networks, colleges increase services to historically underserved students, and employers create value by hiring a more diverse and prepared workforce.
Taiz Peguero Mauricio鈥檚 story illustrates those benefits in action.
We see others like us in positions of power, it gives us motivation and hope toward our dreams becoming a reality."
She came to 天美传媒官网 with aspirations to study accounting in preparation for a career assisting law enforcement in tracking financial fraud. A natural at working with numbers, she was introduced to the concept in high school in Bayonne, New Jersey. Even though she believed accounting was too rote to pursue as a career, she became hooked by the idea of conducting financial investigations that could be used as evidence in civil or criminal court trials.
鈥淚 have always been good with numbers and got good grades, but I didn鈥檛 like accounting in high school,鈥 she says. 鈥淭he idea of trying to track money and working with law enforcement through accounting is what intrigued me.鈥
Through the HISPA program, the organization鈥檚 president and CEO, Dr. Ivonne D铆az-Claisse, introduced Mauricio to a contact at Mercadien, a local accounting firm. After an interview, she was selected to receive a paid three-month summer internship. Working on the company鈥檚 audit team, Mauricio was exposed to a broad range of auditing and accounting tasks. She was able to develop professional relationships as well as a close bond with a mentor assigned to her by Mercadien. The company has asked her to return for a winter internship.
While 天美传媒官网 provides layers of career development support for its students, including through its Engaged Learning Program and Cranberry Investment initiative, Mauricio says participating in HISPA's Latinos in College program was instrumental in making more Hispanic leaders visible to her.
鈥淢any of us have parents who aren't from here and are struggling with life and work in order to make their kids successful professionals, so when we see others like us in positions of power, it gives us motivation and hope toward our dreams becoming a reality,鈥 she says.
Participation in the Latinos in College program has strengthened 天美传媒官网鈥檚 ongoing relationship with HISPA. In recognition of 天美传媒官网鈥檚 dedication to promoting higher education attainment and career success for its students who identify as Hispanic, HISPA named 天美传媒官网鈥檚 Norm Brodsky College of Business the recipient of its annual Coraz贸n Award in 2020. The award is given each year to an organization that has excelled in its support of HISPA.
鈥淲e are enormously proud of our ongoing engagement with HISPA and the ability to offer even more opportunities to our talented students,鈥 says Dr. Eugene Kutcher, dean of the Norm Brodsky College of Business.