La Vista
by Michael A. Fletcher
editors@ccgmag.com
THROUGH THE PIPELINE: HISPANIC COLLEGE FUND MAKES STUDENTS’ DREAMS THEIR REALITIES
Hispanic College Fund CEO Joe Petrone getting to know a student at the Maryland Hispanic Youth Symposium held at Towson University.
As interim head of the Hispanic College Fund, Joseph A. Petrone is pursuing a straightforward goal—to markedly in- crease the number of Hispanic students who graduate from high school and college. He also has added a twist: To channel more Hispanic students into science, technology, engineering and math—the professions of the future.
The goal might be clear, but it is not simple. The U.S. Department of Educa- tion says that 18 percent of Hispanic youth ages 18 to 24 are high school dropouts. That is a vast improvement from 1980, when the dropout rate was 35.2 percent. But it is also more than double the official national rate of 8 percent.
Meanwhile, just over a quarter of His- panic young adults between 18 and 24 are enrolled in college, according to the Pew Research Center. That was signifi- cantly below the nearly 40 percent of all young adults who are enrolled in college.
6 HISPANIC ENGINEER & Information Technology | 2010
Improving those statistics has been at the heart of the Hispanic College Fund’s mission since its founding 17 years ago. Using outreach and mentoring pro- grams that prepare students for college, then offering them scholarships to help them afford it, the organization has supported more than 7,500 students in its short history.
For Petrone, the mission has become his passion. A graduate of Kansas State University who was born and raised in Puerto Rico, Petrone has spent well over two decades working around the globe in the aerospace industry, first at General Electric, then at Lockheed Martin.
While at Lockheed Martin, he joined the board of the Hispanic College Fund, and served as treasurer. Earlier this year, he left the defense industry giant to serve as the interim chief executive of- ficer of the Hispanic College Fund while it completes a national search for a new leader.
Petrone spoke recently with Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology magazine.
An edited version of the conversation follows here:
HE&IT: Please describe the work of the Hispanic College Fund.
Petrone: Hispanics are the least likely demographic group in the country to go to college. This country has a major issue that has to be dealt with when it comes to education generally, and Hispanics and education specifically. We started with just delivering scholar- ships. While the financial needs of the students we serve are significant, we were missing a huge segment of the population. We weren’t dealing with the pipeline. To address that, in 2004, we formed the Hispanic Youth Institute. What we do is we take anywhere from 100 to 200 young people, high school freshmen, sophomores and juniors, to a youth symposium. Most of the students
www.hispanicengineer.com
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