Putting the Career in College & Career Center: Volunteer Lisa Eltinge

Lisa Eltinge was a finalist for the San Francisco Education Fund's 2015 Distinguished Service Award.Two years ago, the career component of Mission High School’s College & Career Center was a mere dream. Staff members like Lisa Jovick were so focused on getting students ready for college that they didn’t have time to look to the next step.That is, until volunteer Lisa Eltinge arrived.“We talk about college and career. We talk about postsecondary. There’s a lot that kind of falls under that category. But everything that Mission had prior to Lisa volunteering has been college access, not necessarily a career focus,” Ms. Jovick said. “It was really just a college center, not the career component. She has added so much to our community.”Volunteer Lisa spends most of her time working behind the scenes. Sifting through job and internship postings. Researching degree programs. Calling contacts — not unlike her days working in development. Cultivating opportunities.Since she started volunteering, she’s completely reinvented the school’s concept of a career fair.“Lisa took the lead on the career fairs last fall and the year before, using a lot of her own connections to the community,” Ms. Jovick said. “She channeled all these speakers to continue growing our career fair for our ninth- through 12th-graders. She ran two of them. One in fall for 11th- and 12th-grade, and one in spring for ninth- and 10th-grade. We had close to 40 speakers for those career days. Lisa interviewed them, took them through expectations, how to turn their presentations into just direct speaking to the students for 45 minutes, and engagement activities to do with the students.“She really transitioned us from that whole model of a career speaker coming in just to talk, to make it more relevant and engaging for the students, which was huge.”Lisa also gave students the reins. Before there was no choice. You were told to go to room 205 to hear about nursing, or 108 to learn about criminal justice. And there were maybe 15 different speakers. Tops.Now students can pick for themselves two speakers to listen to each day of the two-day fall and spring events.“With Lisa and her guidance and this vision she had for it, we actually have this great career fair that we can look to for being a model we want to continue to do,” Ms. Jovick explained.When she’s not physically in the College & Career Center, you can see her impact quite literally.Before her time, there was no Job & Internship Board. Though Mission students were highly sought out for local jobs and internships, there was no organized way to reach them.“Lisa took the lead on that as well,” Ms. Jovick said. “She would email the students letting them know employers are looking for these internships and these summer opportunities to be filled. Having them come to meet the students. It’s a huge asset because a counselor can’t do all that in addition to their daily workload.”Lisa volunteers at Mission High School through the Education Fund's General Classroom Support Program.