Athena Xiong enrolled into the EMPOWER
program on January 19, 2017. She was a 23
year old and a high school graduate with little
work experience. Athena’s main goal with
EMPOWER was to complete a training and
become employed. Athena likes working with her hands and
wanted to learn to drive a forklift. Therefore, on March 7,
2017, she was enrolled in the ROP Logistics-Warehouse train-
ing. Athena attend all classes and worked very hard to com-
plete the training. On May 10, 2017, Athena earned the Ware-
housing and Logistics Certificate of Completion. After the train-
ing, Athena was prepared to participate in work experience.
Athena’s highest vocational interests were Industrial and Me-
chanical, so she was placed at Quad/Graphics Inc.as a forklift
driver. Athena’s on the job performance showed high levels of
competency, proficiency, and responsibility. Prior to Athena
completing the work experience hours, the manager asked her
to apply for a position with Quad/Graphics and she was hired
full-time, starting July 1, 2017.
Athena has been successfully employed with Quad/Graphics
for over a year. In that time, she was promoted to dispatcher,
now earning $12.25 per hour. Athena also decided to return to
college. She enrolled at Merced College and started on
January 16, 2018 to earn her AA.
Website:
https://www.mcoe.org/deptprog/career/empower/Pages/empower.aspx
Jovanni Dimas enrolled into the Empower pro-
gram on January 19, 2017. He was an 18 year old,
high school graduate, with little work experience.
Jovanni’s goal was to gain skills and find employ-
ment to help his family financially. Jovanni successfully complet-
ed the Empower workshops; where he gained employability skills,
job preparation, and completed a professional portfolio. Jovanni
then indicated that he enjoyed working with computers, and ex-
pressed an interest in enrolling in Break the Code a Web Develop-
ment Training where Jovanni was introduced to Web Design, cus-
tomer service, and social media strategies for small business. He
had an opportunity to design his own website, and worked with a
local business owner of the “Beauty Spot Boutique” to design a
professional website for the business. Jovanni completed the
training and earned a Certificate of Completion.
After the training, Jovanni made it evident that he wanted to par-
ticipate in work experience. Jovanni s interest are business de-
tailed oriented, and placed with the local Raley’s grocery store in
Merced. Jovanni displayed high levels of competency, proficien-
cy, and responsibility. His performance on the job indicated that
he was customer services oriented, and hard working. Prior to Jo-
vanni completing this work experience hours, the manager asked
Jovanni to apply for a position as a courtesy clerk. Jovanni has
successfully been employed with Raley’s for over a year. Jovanni
expresses his gratitude for the Empower program continually,
and thankful that he now has a job to help his family.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Revised 8/2018