Cañada MESA Students Team Up with Cisco for Mentor Program

MESA students will gain insight and knowledge from Cisco employees during a new mentor program.



Six Cañada students will participate in a Cisco mentorship program.

Six MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science, Achievement) students from Cañada College attended a shadow day last week at the networking giant’s San Jose headquarters to launch the year-long program. Cisco employees shared about the company and led tours. A panel of Cisco employees who are MESA alumni also answered student questions.

 

Alex Ramos, a former Cañada student, was part of the panel discussion. He's currently studying engineering at UC Berkeley and is serving an internship at Cisco.

The Cañada students are among 30 specially chosen from six Northern California MESA centers. (photographed from left to right) Hector Prado, Nehad Dadabo, Rita Melgar, Elizabeth Carranza, Fidel Salgado, and Norman Ettedgui were picked to be among the first class of Cisco MESA mentees.

The mentees and mentors will meet monthly online for one year to discuss career interests, leadership, and other topics. The pairs were carefully chosen based on major and career interests and sign an agreement as part of the year-long commitment. In addition to Cañada, participants are from UC Santa Cruz, San Jose State, Gavilan College, Hartnell College, and Mission College.

The Cisco mentor program is an example of MESA’s strong partnership with industry, which is a large motivator behind its success.

MESA is one of the largest programs in the state to support educationally disadvantaged students so they can graduate from college with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees. MESA provides academic support and enrichment to more than 20,000 K-12 students and more than 7,800 community college and university students each year.