Students participated in the Reverse Career Fair where they discussed personal goals and career opportunities with recruiters and HR professionals. Photo Capt. Justin Figueredo
Learning happens outside the classroom as often as it happens inside the classroom, and this year was no exception as Army Reserve Capt. Justin Figueredo with the 4-414 SROTC BN took part in the 2017 Mexican American Engineers and Scientists (MAES) Leadership Academy (MLA) in Dallas, Texas.
Approximately 120 college students traveled to DoubleTree Hilton Hotel in Dallas to attend the Conference which, according to their website, serves as “the premiere training ground for the up and coming leaders of Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) [where] students … experience executive-level leadership training throughout the four [days] via a Team Competition, a StrengthFinders assessment, a Reverse Career Fair, and an Executive Panel.”
The event aims to personally and professionally develop MAES members into top-notch leaders through hands-on training, networking, and teamwork centric assignments.
A closer look at the Executive Panel.
Photo by Capt. Harold Burke
The U.S. Army and Marine Corps provided mentors and recruiters in support of the Leadership Academy Conference.
Photo Capt. Justin Figueredo
STEM student participates in The Reverse Career Fair.
Photo Capt. Justin Figueredo
Partners throughout the DFW community helped make the event possible by becoming supporters of certain events. Both the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps supported the event by mentoring student teams throughout the team competition as well as providing presenters for the student workshops and the Executive Panel.
Figueredo represented both the Texas Christian University and the University of North Texas’ ROTC programs during the Executive Panel. He was joined by a Marine Maj., and two civilian leaders, selected from across the country to answer questions proposed by the student leaders during the second night’s dinner.
Questions ranged from “what was the hardest lesson you had to learn during your transition from college to work life” to “how have mentors impacted your professional growth,” and “what is a key takeaway you learned from the example your mentor set.”
Michael Cantu, a former MAES student and now volunteer, commented that this event was the climax leadership event during his college years. Canto felt the event was so instrumental to his leadership and growth journey that he is compelled to pay it forward to the organization as a volunteer.
Figueredo, as a second-generation Colombian-Filipino American, was honored to represent the U.S. Army and his civilian employer, the City of Grapevine, as one of the executive panelists. The MLA Conference was such a great experience for him that he wished he knew of the event while he was in college. The values, opportunities, and examples of leadership and mentorship bestowed upon the students during the four-day event were bar to none and event coordinators and speakers look forward to these STEM students leading corporate America, nonprofits, and our U.S. military in the future.
The event aims to personally and professionally develop MAES members into top-notch leaders through hands-on training, networking, and teamwork centric assignments.