Beckman Staff Inspire High School Students Through Administrative Work Study

The Beckman Center is teeming with students—from undergraduates getting their first taste of science and medical students trying out basic research to graduate students immersed in their fields. But it is not just the center’s labs that teach and inspire students. For the past four years, the Beckman Center Administrative Office has been a work site for a series of students from Cristo Rey San José, a Jesuit high school in San Jose.

At this unique high school, students from underrepresented communities simultaneously get a college prep education and participate in a corporate work study program that places them in companies and institutions around Silicon Valley. In 2014, the Stanford University School of Medicine was a founding partner for the school’s work study program, and has hosted students every year since.

“In general, the students come once a week, and our supervisors and mentors across campus put a lot of time and effort into educating them about their departments and making sure they have the tools to get their jobs done,” says Nicole Karas, a Stanford Medicine human resources manager who helps coordinate the program.

This year, nine Cristo Rey students were placed at Stanford, in departments such as Human Resources, Pathology, Pediatrics, and others. They carry out a variety of tasks, including drafting emails, designing newsletters, uploading and organizing digital files, and entering data into spreadsheets.

At the Beckman Center Administrative Office, program and events manager Naomi Love says she tries to give the students a taste of all aspects of her very diverse job.

“It’s neat to expose these students to what we do within our world,” says Love. “They each end up getting interested in different aspects of academia and science and administration.”

In turn, Love says, it’s incredibly fun and rewarding to watch the transformation in students as they mature and become more confident. The students she has supervised have gone on to college and she has stayed in touch with them, grateful for the opportunity to be part of their lives.

Rovina Suri, the managing business partner for HR Services at Stanford Medicine, says the Cristo Rey students who have worked at the Beckman Center have all spoken highly of the experience, saying their work and the mentorship by Love helped guide their paths forward. That kind of two-way inspiration between students and supervisors is what Suri sees across campus.

“It’s incredibly gratifying to see what a difference we can make in the lives of these young people,” she says.

As the Cristo Rey work study program at Stanford continues to flourish and expand, don’t be surprised if you cross paths with a student (you’ll notice their Cristo Rey uniform). They’re here to learn—and to teach us the power of mentorship.

For more information (media inquiries only), contact:
Naomi Love
(650) 723-8423
naomi.love@stanford.edu