Career Beginnings : Program Matches Students With Mentors in Working World

The odds were stacked against Andee Gutierrez ever going to college.

During her four years at Santa Ana High School, the 19-year-old endured the fatal shooting of her younger brother in a gang-related incident, had another younger brother involved in gangs and an older brother in jail.

In addition, she worked 35 hours a week at a jewelry store to help support her family because her father, who is blind, was unemployed. Her mother, who is hearing-impaired, was also unemployed.

Now a freshman at Cal State Chico, Gutierrez said she wouldn’t have been able to rise above such adversity if she hadn’t been selected to participate in Career Beginnings, a Rancho Santiago College program designed to reduce the high school dropout rate.

The program selects 100 high school students from the Santa Ana area and matches them with mentors from the working world. The mentors involve the students in activities that will help them graduate from high school, then find a good entry-level job or gain access to a college education.

“The program made me look at things differently and made me realize that I have options,” Gutierrez said. “It made me realize that by helping myself now, I would be able to help my family later.”

Because of the many hours she spent at her after-school job, Gutierrez’s grades suffered. Despite the mediocre grades, counselors at the school saw potential in her and encouraged her to participate in Career Beginnings.

“The program reaches a group of students for which there are really no other services because they are mostly academically average and are coming from economically disadvantaged families,” said Cindy Sorensen, program coordinator.

At the beginning of her senior year in high school, Gutierrez was matched with Sandra Caton, a Huntington Beach woman who owns her own graphics company in Santa Ana. Caton, 53, became Gutierrez’s mentor and friend.

With Caton’s guidance, Gutierrez filled out college applications, took entrance exams and was able to secure financial aid. She now lives on campus at Chico, where she has a double major in psychology and social work.

Gutierrez said the new environment has not only helped her to grow as an individual but has also saved her life.

“My brother’s death motivated me to try and pursue success instead of staying in the same environment that I was in,” she said. “If I had stayed in that environment, I would have probably been dead by now. A bullet once went through my bedroom. I was just waiting for another member of my family to die.”

Sorensen said Career Beginnings is currently in need of more volunteers from the business and professional worlds to serve as mentors beginning next fall. This one-year commitment requires mentors to spend at least six hours a month with their young charges. They must also go through an extensive training program.

“Being a mentor is ideal for someone who wants to spend some time helping a student set goals for themselves and helping them to take steps toward reaching those goals,” Sorensen said. “We are looking for people from all walks of life who are successful in whatever area they are working in so they can pass on clues to these students about what it takes to be successful.”

To volunteer, contact the Career Beginnings office at Rancho Santiago College at (714) 564-5413.