CLSA is located on the second floor of the new Robert E. Tranquada

CUC Student Services Center on the southeast corner of

8th and College Way.

 

Mailing Address:

757 College Way

Claremont, CA  91711

 

(909) 621-8044 tel

(909) 621-8981 fax

 

CLSA Website


CUC Website

 

 

 CHISPAS

 Chicano/Latino Student Affairs Center Newsletter

Volume 29,  Issue 2                                                                   2009-2010

 

 

 

 

FROM THE DEANS' DESKS


Dear Students:
 

As we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the founding of Chicano/Latino Student Affairs, it is important to recognize the students of that era who were the driving force in establishing this student center in Claremont.  One of those graduates is Dr. Francisco Vazquez, CMC '72, who will be talking about his student experiences on Thursday, September 24th during lunch from 12-1 p.m. at CLSA.  Dr. Vazquez will also deliver the Keynote address for Latino Heritage Month entitled, “Latinos in the United States:  A Continental Quest for Democracy," on that same Thursday at 6:45 p.m. at the Athenaeum on the CMC campus.  There will also be a Roundtable discussion with alumni who were students during that time, on Tuesday, October 13th from 4-5:30 p.m.  We invite you to join us at CLSA, for a lively discussion with Luis Mata, PO; Javier Galvez, PO and Josie Franco Mercado, PI.  These alumni served as part of the core group that established the foundation for CLSA, which is now the second oldest Chicano/Latino Student Center in the nation.


You are all invited to come and visit with these very important alums, whose unwavering commitment has given so much to the Latino community.


Sincerely,
 Maria Torres
Dean of Students


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Dear Students:

 

I hope your semester is going well.  We recently concluded our annual retreat and Open House in which we celebrated our 40th Anniversary.   We are delighted that many new students joined us on the retreat in which strong friendship bonds were created among Latino students throughout the 5-Cs.  In addition, we saw many of you at our Open House where you had the opportunity to reconnect (or meet for the first time) with Robert Viteri. We are currently finalizing a number of events for the fall semester and hope to see you at many of these events as well. 

 

The staff of CLSA, as always, looks forward to being part of your support network at the Claremont Colleges. Whether you have an issue that is personal or academic in nature, please know that we are here to help with any concerns that you may have.  Remember, our doors are always open.

 

On a side note, we recently connected a satellite dish to our widescreen television and Bose sound system located in the CLSA living room.  Feel free to hang out and watch your favorite shows or games at CLSA.  We want to you to take advantage of this wonderful space that belongs to all of you.  If you would like access to CLSA twenty-four hours a day, please contact Mrs. Mendoza and provide her your student ID number.

 

We wish you best and look forward to your continued visits.

 

Sincerely,

Hugo Garcia

Coordinator for Student Programs

 

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ANNOUNCEMENTS
 

Attention Seniors - The Stole Ceremony at Día de la Familia has become very popular--a special milestone for you as students and for parents, as well.  In order to have stoles back in time for this presentation in February, we have set October 30th as the deadline for placing your order.  Try to get this done before Fall Break and then you won't have to give it another thought.


Women of Color Support Group - The purpose of this 4-week workshop is to: Create an inventory of your strengths, talents and resources; to identify what is needed to create an effective and strong support network and develop skills for managing stress in a healthy and productive way.  We will accomplish this by using our strengths, talents and resources to create healthy strategies for coping effectively with stress, disappointments and emotional challenges.  We will create a space of safety to openly talk about what is challenging about attending a highly competitive college, what makes a good relationship work and how to eliminate “energy suckers” from our lives.  We will meet for four Tuesdays from 6-7:30 p.m., beginning September 29th at OBSA (Office of Black Student Affairs). If you have questions, please call Denise Hayes (x73245) or email at denise_hayes@cuc.claremont.edu.  All women of color are invited to attend!


 

GOOD NEWS SECTION

 

You all seem to be enjoying this section; CLSA has received positive feedback from students and staff at the 5-Cs.  In response to this feedback, here are some more student perspectives on their summer experiences.  We encourage all students to submit a write-up to give others insight to just one of the many opportunities available to them. CLSA also encourages students to share any "Good News" regarding any awards and/or recognitions that you have recently received.  Don't be shy!  We want the entire Claremont community to be aware of your accomplishments. 


Now, in students' own words:

 

Christian López Montes
Pitzer College c/o 2010,
Political Studies & Chicano Studies
Ronald E. McNair Scholar-Claremont Graduate University
Public Policy & International Affairs Fellow, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

This summer I participated in the Public Policy and International Affairs-Junior Summer Institute at the Gerald Ford School of Public Policy at the the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. While at Michigan, we learned what a semester would be like as graduate students at the Ford school, experienced how policy is taught at the graduate level, and networked with many non-governmental associations as well as some government entities  like the U.S. Foreign Service. Overall, it was a grueling summer filled with econ and calculus problem sets that showed just how quantitative some of these graduate programs can be. I recommend PPIA to anyone interested in public policy because aside from the summer, participants receive a stipend, a free GRE prep course, guaranteed financial awards upon admission to specific graduate schools, and a great network of alums that will be beneficial in the future.

 

Guadalupe De La Cruz

Scripps College c/o 2011

Economics and Accounting

Last year, I applied and was accepted into the SEO (Sponsors for Educational Opportunity) Internship Program and worked on Wall Street for Morgan Stanley in their Investment Banking division in a 12 week program. I am from Texas and I had only been to New York City once before as part of recruitment efforts. It was a drastic change from anywhere I had ever been before.

 

Prior to begining my internship, SEO provided a two-week long training program which taught interns everything from the fundamentals of corporate finance and banking culture to learning how to use Excel, Word, and Powerpoint. The most important rule we learned (which applies mostly to Excel) is that using the mouse is a rookie mistake. Mastery of the keyboard is essential for success.

 

During my internship, I worked mostly with Excel and Powerpoint to produce presentations for large corporate clients that Morgan Stanley was interested in doing business with. I worked in three different industry groups: Retail and Consumer; Media and Communications; and Global Industrials. I learned first hand how Investment Banks made money and the qualities that it takes to be successful--namely, a strong enough interest in finance to keep you in the office for 100 hours a week and still enjoy the things you are working on.

 

I had an amazing experience and would encourage anyone with an interest in finance or business in general to apply to the SEO program, which offers internships in many other areas other than investment banking. Additionally, SEO provides continual support in securing its participants with full time offers in all sorts of industries in which it has alumni connections. Feel free to contact me at gdelacru@scrippscollege.edu with any question about SEO, Morgan Stanley, or finance in general.

If Guadalupe's experience interests you, read more on SEO and the scheduled information session in the Resource Center section of this newsletter (scroll down). 


Mark Your Calendar

September

24th  Francisco Vazquez, CMC '72 and Chair of the Philosophy Dept.
         at Sonoma State University, will Lecture on his new book,
         "Latinos in the United States: A Continental Quest for
         Democracy," 5:30 p.m., Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum, CMC. 
         To sign-up for the dinner lecture, visit
         www.claremontmckenna.edu/mmca.  If you can not attend the
         dinner, you have an opportunity to meet Francisco Vazquez in
         a more relaxed, intimate setting. CLSA will host a lunch in his
         honor at 12:00 noon, the same day (24th). Please submit your
         meal card number to ernie_mendoza@cuc.claremont.edu.


October

13th   Roundtable Discussion featuring alums from the late 1960s
           1970s, 4:00-5:30 p.m., CLSA.

14th   Scripps Tea sponsored by CLSA.  You are invited to the
           celebration of Día de La Raza.  The Claremont Colleges
           Mariachi Serrano will perform 3:30-4:30 p.m.
          

 

RESOURCE CENTER NEWS


Fellowships

The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics offers the Clay Postdoctoral Fellowship; The CfA Postdoctoral Fellowship  and the Submillemeter Array Postdoctoral Fellowships.  Please visit www.cfa.harvard.edu/ for specific details and deadlines.
 

Job Opportunity

 

Energy Analyst Rotation Program at Southern California Edison– Full Time Development Program for New Grads - Don’t miss this opportunity to apply to Southern California Edison, ranked as the number one company in the U.S. on Hispanic Business magazine in the annual Diversity Elite 60, a list of the nation’s companies that are best at making diversity part of their corporate culture. Southern California Edison – one of the world’s largest energy companies – is offering a unique training program designed to develop sophisticated analytical skills and provide a broad introduction to the power procurement side of the electric utility industry.  As a participant in our two-year Power Procurement Analyst Rotation Program, a successful candidate will work with some of the brightest people in the energy industry – a high-powered team of MBAs, lawyers, economists, engineers, and other subject matter experts – and have substantial responsibility and high management visibility.

 

Analysts have the opportunity to participate in a variety of Power Procurement’s functions, including but not limited to energy trading, renewable and conventional power contracting, market design and strategy development, resource planning, financial and risk analysis, and law. 

 

We will be holding on-campus interviews at Pomona College on October 22nd.  Please apply through your school’s on-campus recruiting system. Note that our job posting will close on October 13th. Please contact Angela Chang (angela.chang@sce.com) with any questions.


Internship

 SEO (Sponsors for Educational Opportunity) seeks to place students of color in some of the most prestigious internships in the country. Additionally, the internship is mentored and the organization continually helps its participants secure full-time positions even after the completion of the internship. In the exceedingly competitive job market we as upcoming graduates now face, we need as many connections as we can get. SEO is invested in building its networking base and in the success of its members success.
 

Internships are offered in the following areas: Global Corporate Leadership, Investment Banking, Sales & Trading, Investment Research, Asset Management, Accounting/Finance, Information Technology, Corporate Law, Philanthropy/Teach for America, and Transaction Services. These opportunities are mostly for sophomores and juniors, while Corporate Law and Philanthropy are also open to graduating seniors. For more information, visit http://www.seo-usa.org/Career


No specific major is required for consideration. SEO mainly seeks ambitious, driven individuals with a strong interest in giving back to the community.


Grethel Gaitan, the West Coast SEO recruiter, will be presenting on the organization and the application process on Tuesday, September 22nd. Her information session will be held in the conference room next to the CLSA office in the Tranquada Student Center from 6:30-7:30 p.m. I encourage anyone with any degree of interest to attend and meet Grethel. She is an amazing advocate for Claremont students gaining admission to the program.

 

Mentor/Tutor Opportunity

 Be a Mentor or Tutor with Uncommon Good’s Clinic to College program!  By becoming a volunteer, you can join a lot of other 5 C’s students who are making a difference in a kid’s life.  The children in the mentor program are between 9 and 13 years old and are considered at-risk because they come from disadvantaged homes.  But, they are children who have the ability and potential to go to college.


Claudia Lopez, CMC ’10, has been matched with her mentee, Nina, since her freshman year.  “I got involved because I was a tutor in high school.  I found out that this is a lot more fun, plus I feel like I really make a difference in Nina’s life.  She didn’t know anything about college when we met, but now she knows that going to college is attainable for her."

After discovering that more than 60 Latino children are waiting for mentors, the service organization Sigma Theta Chi formalized a collaborative relationship with Uncommon Good.  Since several members were already mentors, they agreed to provide Uncommon Good with more mentors and coordinate group activities. 

"I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a mentor, and in retrospect it was one that defined my college career because it had such a big impact on me," said Greg Hall, a Sigma Theta Chi member who graduated in 2009.  "Being able to give back to someone was just as rewarding for me as it was for my mentee, Bryan."
 

It’s easy and it’s fun! Mentors spend a minimum of two hours a week sharing no and low cost activities that are fun, educational, and cultural. Many mentors share activities on campus like visiting the dining hall, using the gym and pool, playing billiards, cooking, and playing sports.  The Sigma Theta Chi mentors enjoyed events on campus with other mentors.  They went trick or treating at the CMC apartments, enjoyed a pizza party on Green Beach, and decorated cookies for the holidays. 

Claudia and Nina spend some of their time on campus playing tennis and just hanging out, but they also venture off campus to go hiking, bike riding and an occasional educational trip to the mall!

 Tutors spend about 1 ½ hours per week helping a child with homework and providing academic support. For more information or to complete a volunteer application, visit www.uncommongood.org or call (909) 625-2248.

 

Panel Discussion

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins San Frontières (MSF) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) for a panel discussion on Chagas disease, a largely ignored infectious disease that kills thousands of people every year in Latin America.  Since its discovery 100 years ago, very little has been done for the millions of people infected with Chagas, including an estimated 300,000 in the United States.  The panel will be moderated by award-winning journalist Julio César Ortiz, Univision 34 News Reporter.  The event is free, including parking, and will be held on October 1st at 7:30 p.m. at The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage, 1310 11th Street in Santa Monica.