Business leader hosts summit

Nestle Foods is a global leader in providing tasty food to the world, and on Wednesday, March 12, the company decided to share some of their secrets of success.

Nestle sponsored a Youth Leadership Summit for Glendale Unified School District students to inspire them and to offer tips on being hired once they graduate from college.

Students from Clark Magnet, Crescenta Valley High School, Daily High School, Hoover High School, and Glendale High School were welcomed into the Nestle corporate building in Glendale. About 90 students from the various high schools were in attendance, and the event lasted from 6 to 9 p.m.

Rita Henderson, Nestle Community Affairs & Educational Program Director, welcomed the students to the summit and introduced them to the guest speakers. The first speaker of the evening was Diana Villanueva, the manager of college recruiting at Nestle. She advised the young leaders to travel and to intern as much as possible during and after their time in college, pointing out that these experiences would make them appealing candidates for recruiters.

“I found it very helpful that Nestle was taking the initiative to help high school students with their futures,” said student attendee Julie Ma.

The next guest speaker of the evening was Michael D. Antonovich, the Fifth District Los Angeles County Supervisor, followed by Michael F. Escalante, Superintendent Glendale Unified School District. Escalante told a very touching story about his son overcoming great challenges and achieving his dreams despite those obstacles.

“The evening was overall very motivating and inspiring, especially Dr. Escalante’s story,” commented Art Flores, another student.

Don St. Clair, vice president of Woodbury University ended the evening with a succinct speech, but his words held no less of a message.

Going there, I expected to hear cliché speeches,” said Yurhe Lee, “but the things the leaders said to us really stuck with me and I will definitely use their advice in college.”

After a quick trivia contest with prizes, refreshments were served, and all the young leaders were given a gift bag for attending.