Sonoma
County Chapter
Attends the Santa
Rosa Junior College
Careers in Education and Workshop
March 30, 2007
Ron Perez & Frank Briceno answering questions of one of the groups
On Friday, March 30, 2007, from
8:00 am to 2:00 pm, the Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) hosted the Puente
Project’s Third Annual Puente-MESA High School Motivational Conference in the
Doyle Center Cafeteria. Welcome speeches were given by Dr. Agrella, SRJC
President, Dr. Ofelia Arellano, Dean of Petaluma SRJC Campus, Ricardo
Navarrette, SRJC Vice President, and Keynote Speaker Laura Larque, SRJC Social
Sciences Department Faculty. The students were broken up into groups and were
assigned panels based upon their career choices. There was two (2) workshops
that lasted thirty (30) minutes long. Last year almost 250 high school students
ranging from the 10th grade to the 12th grade attended. This year they had over
300 students in attendance. The Conference covered seven (7) workshops: Workshop
#1 Aztecs, Workshop #2 SRJC Support Services, Workshop #3 College Bound
Communication Skills for Latino Students, Workshop #4 Careers in Health,
Workshop #5 Careers in Law & Administration of Justice, Workshop #6 Careers in
Education, and Workshop #7 Universities.
Frank Briceño, a local Attorney covered the Law and Ronald Perez, a retired
Santa Rosa Police Department Police Officer, covered the Criminal Justice field.
Ron covered the need for Law Enforcement Officers at the Federal, State, County
and local levels, the different salaries for larger and smaller departments. Ron
also gave a sample test to the students covering questions on the written and
oral parts of the testing process. Ron explained how NLPOA members help with law
enforcement scholarships, mentoring Latinos interested in law enforcement, and
how we help with community involvement to bridge the gap between the Latino
community and law enforcement.
Frank covered how to become a lawyer. The different fields a lawyer can cover
and the need for more Latino lawyers
Students in the cafeteria
Students in the cafeteria
Ron Perez & Frank Briceno answering questions of one of the groups