CELEBRATING LATINO HERITAGE
Emilio Mendez Jr. is helping foster a pathway to careers in aviation for the next generation of Latinos in the San Fernando Valley.
Mendez, the assistant principal of operations at the North Valley Occupational Center (NVOC), also oversees the Aircraft Mechanic Technician Program (AMP) at the Van Nuys Airport.
“I understand the position and the responsibility I have as an educator in our communities to give back and guide as many students as possible,” said Mendez.
When needed, Mendez encourages students by sharing his own story of building from the ground up, even after being discouraged until one teacher helped him find his way to a career.
He started 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 made his way into advisory roles, including working as an outreach consultant for the high school dropout recovery program in San Pedro, Wilmington, Gardena and the San Fernando Valley. He also worked as the ESL coordinator for the NVOC and as a standardized testing coordinator for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).
Mendez, now the Assistant Principal of Operations at NVOC, under the Division of Adult and Career Education for LAUSD, is entering his third year overseeing AMP at NVOC.
Although he doesn’t have a background in aviation, Mendez has bridged the expertise of the program’s teachers who are skilled and experienced mechanics but aren’t formally educated teachers.
“I came in with the educator, teacher mindset, and helped them … take all the knowledge they have and transfer that to the students in an instructional manner,” said Mendez.
AMP offers adult students the opportunity to learn about aircraft maintenance, with hands-on training at the Van Nuys Airport. It is the only AMP program in Southern California on airport grounds, with around 12 aircraft, including a helicopter, for students to work on, said Mendez.
“It’s an opportunity to earn an airframe and power plant certification that allows them to be aircraft mechanics and work on anything from a small Cessna airplane to the big Boeing 747,” he said.
The program is tuition-free, offering two options; a full-time two-year program or part-time evening classes for four years. Mendez noted that the same type of program done privately could cost between $45,000-$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 which entered the program fresh out of high school, and after graduating at age 20, was offered a $105,000 salary.
He sees this as an incredible opportunity for his students, who he estimates to be 70-80% Latino.
In 2022, only 7.04% of aircraft pilots & flight engineer workers in the United States were Hispanic, according to Data USA.
Since taking over the program, Mendez has grown AMP’s enrollment and streamlined processes.
“I want to leave an infrastructure with this program that will supersede me,” said Mendez. “That will live on.”
He also initiated a summer high school program, introducing dozens of students from Arleta High and Polytechnic High schools to careers in aviation.
“I wanted these kids in these communities to know that those programs are there,” said Mendez, adding that people in the area drive by the airport all the time and “probably never knew that there was such an opportunity for them there.
“It’s a jewel to the community, to be honest with you,” said Mendez.
Mendez knows the community well, having grown up in a Salvadoran household in North Hollywood.
“I was actually kind of like a high school dropout myself,” admitted Mendez. “I was a teen parent when I was in high school.”
When he went to talk to his counselor at North Hollywood High School about college, he said they laughed and told him he “wasn’t college material.”
It wasn’t until the ESL teacher and MECHA advisor, Virginia Morales, took him under her wing and encouraged him that he started to envision a different future for himself.
“She said something to me that day that stuck with me for the rest of my life,” said Mendez.
Morales told him, “Your grades don’t reflect your potential,” and “You’re not the one that’s failing. The school system has failed you.”
Under Morales’ mentorship and support, Mendez went from failing classes to getting straight A’s.
“If it wasn’t for her, I would have never gone to college,” said Mendez. “I don’t know where my career path would have taken me.”
After an interview with the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), he was accepted to California State University, Northridge (CSUN). There he earned a bachelor’s degree in Chicano studies with an emphasis on education and eventually went back for a master’s in education administration.
Mendez is not only the first person in his family to graduate college, he is the first person to graduate high school. Born in El Salvador, Mendez was brought to the U.S. at age 3. He was undocumented for the first 10 years in this country, gaining permanent residency in the 1980s through the amnesty program.
“I always feel like I have that promise to fulfill to her [Morales]. That she put me in this situation so that I could be an extension of her in the community,” said Mendez.
“Because of what she did for me,” he continued, “I’ve been able to help out [young people], including my own children, and guide them into their future.”
Learn more about the Aircraft Mechanic Technician Program (AMP) at the North Valley Occupational Center.