Latinoforce Works to Inspire Youth Leaders

On March 17th, Latinoforce, an Employee Resource Group (ERG) at Salesforce, hosted students from Fischer Middle School from the Alum Rock School District in San Jose for a Salesforce Campus Tour, a panel with Salesforce employees, and a Code as a Second Language (CSL) Coding Jam led by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. 85% of the Alum Rock School District is Latino/a.

Over 30 students, ages 12-14, parents and teachers toured Salesforce West. The tour included learning about design and marketing on the 11th floor, getting ice cream on the 30th floor and teaching puppies commands in Spanish at Puppyforce. The students had a fun-filled tour of the Salesforce facilities. After the tour, students listened to a panel featuring Salesforce’s team members, Edwin Chavez, Oscar Quinonez, and Carlos Obando. The panel focused on how and why to start a career in the tech industry, and the students were able to ask a series of questions, including the very important, “Is there always free pizza here?”

After the panel, the students participated in a CSL Coding Jam led by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. The Hispanic Heritage Foundation, established by the White House in 1987, is an award winning nonprofit that identifies, inspires, prepares and positions Latino leaders in the classroom, community and workforce to meet America’s priorities. The CSL Coding Jam allowed the students to learn the basics of computer programming. At the end of the day, students were able to create their own websites and were able to add images to their site and hyperlink to other sites (good skills to have as a 12 year old). The visit concluded with a short presentation from the Alum Rock School District Board Chair Dolores Marquez, the Director of Student Services Norma Flores and Principal Dr. Imee Almazan. During this time the Latinoforce team was presented with a certificate of gratitude from the school district.

Latinoforce is excited about inspiring the youth leaders of today and the next generation of tech leaders. It’s easy to do when good companies invest in exposing great students to the possibilities of a career in the tech industry.

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