celebrate latino heritage
Emilio Mendez Jr. is helping foster a path to a career in aviation for the next generation of Latinos in the San Fernando Valley.
Mr. Mendez, vice principal of operations for the North Valley Vocational Center (NVOC), also oversees the Aircraft Maintenance Technician Program (AMP) at Van Nuys Airport.
“As a community educator, I understand my position and responsibility to give back and mentor as many students as possible,” Mendez said.
When needed, Mendez encourages students by sharing his own story of building from the ground up after being discouraged, even helping one teacher find a path to a career.
He began his career in education as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and citizenship program instructor at the Pacoima Skills Center. After teaching for 10 years, Mendez moved into advisory roles, including working as a support consultant for high school dropout recovery programs in San Pedro, Wilmington, Gardena and the San Fernando Valley. She also worked as the ESL Coordinator for NVOC and the Standardized Testing Coordinator for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).
Mr. Mendez currently serves as Deputy Chief of Operations at NVOC in LAUSD’s Adult and Career Education Division and is in his third year overseeing AMP at NVOC.
Although Mendez does not have a background in aviation, he has bridged the expertise of the program’s teachers, who are skilled, experienced mechanics but not formally trained teachers. “So I came in with the mindset of an educator, a teacher, and helped them take all the knowledge they had and pass it on to their students in an instructional way.”
AMP offers adult students the opportunity to learn about aircraft maintenance through hands-on training at Van Nuys Airport. Mendez said this is the only AMP program held on airport grounds in Southern California, allowing students to work on about a dozen aircraft, including helicopters.
“This is an opportunity to become an aircraft mechanic and earn airframe and powerplant certifications that allow you to work on everything from small Cessnas to large Boeing 747s,” he said.
This program is tuition-free and has two options. It is a two-year full-time program or a four-year part-time evening program. Mendez noted that a similar program run privately could cost between $45,000 and $80,000. Here, students can start their careers debt-free.
Mendez also emphasized how the program can lead to well-paying jobs. He boasted that three students were hired by Boeing last year. One of them entered the program as a recent high school graduate and was offered a $105,000 salary after graduating at age 20.
He sees this as a great opportunity for his students, who he estimates are 70 to 80 percent Latino.
According to Data USA, as of 2022, only 7.04% of the U.S. airline pilot and flight engineer workforce was Hispanic.
Since taking over the program, Mendez has increased AMP’s enrollment and streamlined the process.
“I want to leave behind an infrastructure with this program that replaces me,” Mendez said. “It will live on.”
He also started a summer high school program that introduced dozens of students from Arleta High School and Technical High School to careers in aviation.
“We wanted kids in these areas to know that programs like this exist,” Mendez said, adding that people in those areas drive by the airport all the time, “and maybe this is something that would be great for them.” I never knew there would be such an opportunity.”
“Honestly, this is a gem for the community,” Mendez said.
Mendez grew up in a Salvadoran family in North Hollywood, so he knows the community well.
“Actually, I was kind of a high school dropout myself,” Mendes admitted. “When I was in high school, I was a parent of a teenager.”
When she went to talk to a counselor at North Hollywood High School about college, she said, they laughed and told her that she wasn’t eligible for college.
It wasn’t until ESL teacher and MECHA advisor Virginia Morales took him under her wing and encouraged him that he began to envision a different future for himself.
“What she said to me that day stayed with me forever,” Mendez said.
Morales told him, “Your grades don’t reflect your potential,” and “It’s not you who’s failing.” The school system has failed you. ”
Under Morales’ guidance and support, Mendez went from failing his class to earning straight A’s.
“If it wasn’t for her, I would never have gone to college,” Mendez said. “I don’t know where my career path will take me.”
After an Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) interview, I was accepted to California State University, Northridge (CSUN). There he earned a bachelor’s degree in Chicano studies with an emphasis in education and eventually returned to earn a master’s degree in educational administration.
Not only was Mendes the first in his family to graduate from college, he was also the first to graduate from high school. Born in El Salvador, Mendez was brought to the United States when he was three years old. He was in the country illegally for the first 10 years and was unable to obtain permanent resident status until the 1980s through an amnesty program.
“I always feel like I have to fulfill my promise to her (Morales). She put me in this situation so I could be an extension of her in the community. “I did,” Mendez said.
“Because of what she did for me, I was able to help (young people), including my own children, and guide them into their futures,” he continued.
For more information about North Valley Vocational Center’s Aircraft Mechanic Program (AMP), visit https://www.nvoc.org.
