GETTING A HEAD START ON A BUSUNESS CAREER: RIORDAN SCHOLARS PROGRAM GIVES YOUTHS BUSINESS SAVVY.Byline: Deborah Adamson Daily News Staff Writer Soraida Melgar grew up in an apartment cramped by her family of six, her immigrant parents striving to make ends meet. But the Canoga Park teen's humble background did not dim the light of hope for a better life; in fact, the 15-year-old Latina is thriving. She is a straight-A student at Santa Monica High School Wikipedia is not the place for advertisement or self-advertising. Santa Monica High School (SMHS), informally known as Samohi or just Samo, is a public school located in Santa Monica, California which was founded in 1884 . with plans to take the world by storm either as a hotshot criminal attorney or a high-ranking official at the White House one day. She's learning to speak French and hopes to pick up Italian as well. That's in addition to her native Spanish and perfect English. ``I'm a very self-confident person,'' she said, almost unnecessarily. Her latest achievement is landing a coveted cov·et v. cov·et·ed, cov·et·ing, cov·ets v.tr. 1. To feel blameworthy desire for (that which is another's). See Synonyms at envy. 2. To wish for longingly. See Synonyms at desire. spot in the Riordan Scholars program at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX . Funded by Mayor Richard Riordan's foundation and other sponsors, the program selects promising inner-city or minority youths in hopes of encouraging them to pursue a career in business. In its 11th year, the program wants to boost minority enrollment in MBA MBA abbr. Master of Business Administration Noun 1. MBA - a master's degree in business Master in Business, Master in Business Administration programs and, in turn, increase diversity in the high reaches of corporate America. Since November, 73 mostly minority teens have been meeting one Saturday a month with individual mentors and four corporate professionals to tackle MBA-level topics such as developing company case studies, selecting stocks through technical and fundamental analysis and investing in the market. They have learned about price-to-earnings ratios and initial public offerings, analyzed financial statements, examined corporate strategies and put all these pieces together to recommend a buy, sell or hold on the stock. It wasn't child's play child's play n. 1. Something very easy to do. 2. A trivial matter. child's play Noun Informal something that is easy to do Noun 1. . ``We overloaded them with information and they made sense of it,'' said Deena Williams, an African-American business planner at Disney Online in North Hollywood and volunteer teacher for the Riordan program. Divided into 12 groups, the teens competed on two levels: The best company research presentation and the best-performing stock portfolio. Each group had to analyze a blue-chip company Blue-chip company Used in the context of general equities. Large and creditworthy company. Company renowned for the quality and wide acceptance of its products or services, and for its ability to make money and pay dividends. Gilt-edged security. and invest a fictitious $100,000 in the stock market from February to May. The group that researched Hewlett-Packard won first place for best presentation earlier this month. The teens received $500 collectively. The Nike group came in second for a $150 prize, followed by The Gap group for $100. In May, another cash prize will be given to the best investors. While fun and educational, the Riordan Scholars program and similar efforts have a loftier role as well. They have gained importance lately, as affirmative action affirmative action, in the United States, programs to overcome the effects of past societal discrimination by allocating jobs and resources to members of specific groups, such as minorities and women. programs that in the past might have helped minority students have been shut down. Universities are starting to see declines in enrollment as a result of affirmative action cutbacks. At UCLA's Anderson School Anderson School may refer to:
The ratio of the current to the voltage in an alternating-current circuit. In terms of complex current I and voltage V, the admittance of a circuit is given by Eq. (1), and is related to the impedance of the circuit Z by Eq. (2). of minorities excluding Asian-Americans dropped by 22 percent last year. It's a disturbing fact considering that Latinos, African-Americans and American Indians already are underrepresented un·der·rep·re·sent·ed adj. Insufficiently or inadequately represented: the underrepresented minority groups, ignored by the government. in business school. At USC's Marshall School of Business The Marshall School of Business (also known as USC Marshall School of Business) is the business school at the University of Southern California. It is the largest of USC's 17 professional schools. The current Dean is James G. Ellis. , non-Asian minorities make up only 15 percent of the class. At CSUN's MBA program, 7.5 percent are minorities, excluding Asian-Americans. One way to combat the lack of affirmative action programs is to equip minorities with business skills to be competitive. ``The playing field is tougher, but (programs such as the Riordan Scholars) will make you a more competitive player,'' Williams said. ``It's not admitting people at lower standards, but at the same standards.'' Despite its commendable goal, the success of the Riordan Scholars program isn't clear, admitted executive director Nike Irvin. That's because of the long pipeline. Teens in the program still have to finish high school, attend college, work for a few years and then perhaps apply to an MBA program. Nevertheless, participants are having fun and learning a lot. One highlight of the program was a nerve-racking, multimedia presentation on blue-chip companies in an auditorium before 175 teachers, family members and friends. The group of Michi Chan, a 17-year-old Asian-American junior at Garfield High School Garfield High School or James A. Garfield High School may refer to:
Group members also wowed the audience with their creativity: Moments before they took the stage, the eight women in the group donned Nikes with their business suits and dresses. Chan, who has a 3.9 grade-point average, said the Riordan program led her to consider pursuing a career in business. Before, she was dead set on becoming an engineer. ``I kind of want to do both - be an engineer serving businesses,'' she said. Aaron Carter, with a 3.6 GPA GPA abbr. grade point average Noun 1. GPA - a measure of a student's academic achievement at a college or university; calculated by dividing the total number of grade points received by the total number attempted , has more definite plans for his career. The 16-year-old African-American from Crenshaw High School Crenshaw High School is a secondary school located in South Los Angeles, California. The school first opened in 1968 and currently enrolls an average of 2,600 students. in South Central Los Angeles aims to become an artist and repertory director. In that job, he would work with and develop careers of recording artists. The Riordan program is helping Carter prepare for a career by honing his business skills. For one thing, ``it made me a lot more articulate,'' he said. As with other teens in the program, Carter worked hard on this extracurricular activity. But such dedication is not new to him - last summer he woke up at 4:30 a.m. on weekdays to take a two-hour bus ride to an internship in Burbank. Jeff Kabot, a volunteer teacher and corporate finance vice president at Sutro & Co. in Westwood, is amazed at the teens' industriousness. They are giving up a series of Saturdays they could have spent at the mall or sporting events. They took on extra homework on top of their workload in school and fit it into their hectic schedules. ``I'm impressed with the students because I know they have a lot of work to do, yet they come to the Riordan program,'' Kabot said. ``This is not a requirement. They don't have to be here.'' ``I know that if I do not apply all the discipline I know or become lazy that my goals can easily fall out of reach.'' - Aaron Carter, 16, Crenshaw High School ``Through my job I have realized the effort it takes to earn even the slightest amount of money.'' - Gabriel Chipe, 17, Franklin High School Franklin High School may refer to:
``I am the oldest child in a family of three and intend to be the first person and Latina female from my family to attend college.'' - Alicia Munoz, 16, Garfield High School CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) Soraida Melgar, 15, of Canoga Park is taking part in the Riordan Scholars program at UCLA to prepare herself for a career in law or politics. Bob Halvorsen/Daily News |
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