Leadership program helps minorities flourish in job market

Wednesday, November 25, 1998

Leadership program helps minorities flourish in job market

SKILLS: Student Alumni Association gives Bruins valuable work
experience

By Brian Fishman

Daily Bruin Contributor

While the UCLA community continues to debate the role of
diversity on campus, one Student Alumni Association (SAA) program
is trying to give qualified students a head start on life after
UCLA.

The Leadership Training Program (LTP), sponsored by the SAA,
teaches job skills and helps bring high-potential students together
with alumni.

Though the program is organized by the diversity and outreach
council of the SAA, it’s not limited to minorities.

"This program strives for diversity. It is not exclusively for
minority students, but empirically, program interns are mostly
minority students," said Jon Friedman, the program’s director.

This program is aimed at students who have not yet realized
their potential.

"We’re looking for people who haven’t really excelled yet, the
people who can really benefit," said Mark Beck-Heyman, the
program’s student liaison and a former program participant.

"Maybe they just need a little push," he said.

The program admits about 10 people per year, Friedman said.

Demanding diversity in all manners, Friedman attempts to attract
all UCLA students to the program.

"While the seniors are interested in polishing their skills,
freshmen are often highly motivated," Friedman said.

The diversity is key to the program’s success, Friedman
said.

"The interns learn not only from alumni guests, but from one
another," he said.

The program, in its fourth year, gives its "interns" the skills
necessary to thrive in the business world, as well providing the
alumni with contacts to get them started.

"We want to develop a range of usable skills," Friedman said.
"Interviewing skills, writing skills and public speaking
skills."

Joseph Abrajano, a former LTP intern, emphasized that the
program taught him how to entice potential employers.

"It’s all about knowing how to market yourself and making
connections," he said.

But the crux of the program is the interaction between students
and alumni.

Alumni participating in the program include district attorney
Gil Garcetti; Howard Welinsky, senior vice-president of marketing
at Warner Brothers; and Jeff Seymour, president of the SAA and a UC
regent.

Beck-Heyman said student interaction with alumni is beneficial
for students and enjoyable for alumni.

"The alumni are inspiring. They are mentors," said Abrajano.

Meeting alumni has led to internships and jobs for several LTP
interns, including Beck-Heyman. He landed a job at U.S. Public
Technologies, one company responsible for the cameras that monitor
intersections and photograph traffic violators.

Beck-Heyman was referred to the company by an alumni he met
through the LTP.

"It’s not only the people who you meet," said Beck-Heyman. "It’s
also the people they know."

Abrajano pointed at the trips to alumni workplaces as the most
enlightening aspect of the program.

"You don’t usually get that kind of thing at UCLA," he said.

Friedman explained that programs like the LTP, which focus on
minorities, are necessary with the elimination of affirmative
action. He added that the UCLA community as a whole can learn from
this example.

"UCLA ought to be an embodiment of our commitment to high
potential students," he said.

Abrajano echoed this notion but wanted to make clear that
everyone in the program was overqualified.

"Minority oriented programs are necessary. (But) everyone in the
program was exceptional."

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