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By Ann K. Williams
Staff Writer
April 26 -- Whether they’re mentoring middle
school kids, replanting the Ballona Wetlands or starting new
business ventures on campus, the Regional Occupational Program
(ROP) students at SAMOHI are already winners in the eyes of
many.
They’ve learned valuable life lessons, sharpened their
business skills and gotten a jump on their future careers,
while taking part in the high school’s souped-up vocational
program, the students and school officials said.
And this Saturday, a team of ten juniors and seniors will
represent SAMOHI at a statewide entrepreneurial competition
here in the Southland.
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| SAGE team shows off
Luis Velasquez's graphic designs. (left to right) Juan
Bruera, Luis Velasquez, Bobby Martin, Chelsea Van Arsdol,
Ana Lopez, Tenzin Chodak and Miles Mason (Photo by Ann
K. Williams) |
If they win, they may get a chance to follow in last year’s
Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE)
team’s footsteps all the way to the international championships.
They’re optimistic about their chances.
“This group has worked well under pressure following
last year’s SAGE team,” ROP teacher Anita Kemp
said. “They haven’t faltered.”
And they haven’t done it without help. Last year’s
winners at Shanghai have “e-mentored” this year’s
team, and more than 20 local professionals and a crew of local
college students have shown them the ropes and fine-tuned
their proposals.
This week’s interview with the press gave the team
another chance to hone their presentation skills.
Being on the SAGE team “taught us to work as a functioning
team, pulling our own weight” the team’s Media
Director Miles Mason explained.
“We learned how to be better leaders, how to motivate
each other, how to back each other up,” added his teammate
Bobby Martin, who is in charge of marketing and finance.
“You’re not going to take things as they happen,
you’re going to make them happen,” said Global
Project Leader Chelsea Van Arsdol, who, in addition to her
team duties, is raising money to finance a trip to the Dominican
Republic, where she plans to work at an orphanage.
And Tenzin Chodak, a member of the finance team, said he
learned to be “patient…steady.
“You have to go step by step, not just booming out,”
Chodak said.
Civic Engagement Leader Juan Bruera took some time to craft
a sentence describing one of his team’s accomplishments.
“We seized the opportunity to present state legislators
with our personal ROP experiences to lobby state legislators
for the continuous funding of ROCP and CTE programs in California,”
Bruera said, once he was satisfied with his words.
He also described with pride his environmental team’s
work “restor(ing) a supportive environment for plant
life” at the Ballona Wetlands, where they are pulling
out invasive plants and replanting dune Buckwheat, the food
supply for the endangered El Segundo Blue butterfly.
Closer to home, the team came up with a lunch delivery service
to SAMOHI’s teachers, staffed by Special Education students,
Vike’s Cafe Manager Ana Lopez said.
And the Vike’s Inn imports clothing from Pakistan and
China, so that student managers can learn the basics of global
importing, added Van Arsdol.
Recalling the team’s partnership with Junior Achievement
teaching business skills to 6th, 7th and 8th graders at Virginia
Avenue Park drew chuckles from Lopez and Martin.
A “kissing booth” was one of the middle schoolers’
ideas for a popular business, Lopez said, while a student
named Joey sold handmade bead jewelry for $15.
“Joey was targeting a different crowd,” Martin
said. “He didn’t just sell to girls.”
Throughout the interview, “IT man” Luis Velasquez
was a quiet, behind the scenes presence in the computer room,
where he works on the team’s power point presentations
and graphics.
Along with team members Alexis Kumasaka, Marvin Mendez and
Sonam Chodak, the young entrepreneurs will be working overtime
this week to prepare for Saturday’s state finals at
the Sheraton Gateway Hotel near LAX.
If they win, they’ll go on to the national finals in
New York City and a chance to compete in the international
finals in Odessa, Ukraine. Last year’s SAGE team brought
home the world championship from Shanghai, China.
For information on how to support the team, contact Anita
Kemp or Miles Mason at (310) 395-3204, extension 172.
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