Often, high school students complain that classes like geometry and history don’t prepare them for adulthood, but Project Rio Arriba Community Empowerment has designed a camp for just that.
It teaches life skills from resume writing and preparing for an interview, to learning how to bake and deposit a check.
The City of Española partnered with Project RACE to bring the week-long Youth Professional Camp to five students, ages 15 to 18. The program, which was held in the Bond House Museum, ran from June 19 to 23, and featured speakers from the Small Business Development Center, Northern New Mexico College and Del Norte Credit Union, as well as a trip to the Española Public Library to create resumes, two visits from Española City Mayor Alice Lucero and a host of educational activities.
The students played ice breakers and created vision boards, business plans and “goal setting road maps,” all as part of the camp’s effort to keep students occupied with learning positive life skills, instead of experimenting with drugs and alcohol, Project RACE Director Ashley Montoya, said.
The camp was created in 2014, but was revamped when Montoya took her position in January 2016. Since taking over as director, she has successfully placed 20 students in jobs, including positions at Moving Arts Española, Moves 2 Win Summer Program, Arriba Internship Program, the city of Española and the Santa Fe Mountain Center.
Project RACE also sponsors a career resource center and life skills class at Española Valley High School.
“It’s like a win/win situation,” Montoya said. “We are keeping them off the street, keeping them busy and giving them a skill set they can apply in the real world, after they leave this camp.”
Montoya, a native of Española, is an inspiration to her students, who call her “Ms. Ashley.”
She obtained her bachelor’s degree in business management from Northern New Mexico College and her master’s degree in healthcare administration and management from Colorado State University Global, all while working a full-time job and raising her now 7-year-old son as a single mother.
She said a lot of people might make the mistake of thinking it is too hard to be successful in Española, but to her, the city is a gold mine of opportunity if you know where to look.
“I’m really grateful to be where I am and to be in my own hometown,” she said. “There’s nothing like it.”
She added that being from Española gives her a better perspective when working with the youth, because she faced many of the same struggles children in Española face today.
“I don’t try to be somebody I’m not,” she said. “I share my substance abuse issues. I didn’t have the best childhood either, but success doesn’t judge you on what you’ve grown up with, success only cares that you work hard enough.”
Perla Terrazas, 17, will be a senior at Española Valley High School. She took advantage of the camp as a way to get a head-start on her goal of one day becoming a doctor.
She and her sister, Thanya Terrazas, 18, agreed that the camp taught them how to be professional, punctual and good team players.
Thanya Terrazas graduated high school in May and plans to use her new professional skills to apply for jobs, while she saves money to become a flight attendant.
On the last day, the students were visited by Lucero, who presented them with certificates for completing the program.
She offered the students praise and words of advice, including the tip of always looking an interviewer in the eye and keeping resumés concise and grammatically correct.
Lucero told the students how fortunate they are to have the camp.
“We had to learn life skills on our own,” she said. “When I first got a checking account, I didn’t even know where to start.”
Montoya planned for the camp since January, and said she couldn’t have done it without her student assistants, Destiny Salazar and Haley Sargent, and the various companies who sponsored the camp.
Now that the camp is over, Montoya and Project RACE are planning more summer activities, including some outdoor movie nights on the plaza and a dance at the senior center, to keep youth engaged.