BCC, PepsiCo Partner Up For Mentor Program

PARAMUS, NJ –After a successful debut, Bergen Community College and PepsiCo have once again joined forces on a mentorship program aimed at encouraging female students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

First launched at Bergen in February 2018, the initiative paired 15 students with mentors at PepsiCo’s research and development facility in Westchester County, NY.

Trained through Million Women Mentors, an initiative to spur female empowerment in business, mentor offered counsel, reinforcement, constructive feedback and encouragement to students by covering topics such as confidence building, goal setting and networking.

“Bergen Community College is the only educational institution in New Jersey to partner with PepsiCo’s Women-in-STEM mentoring program,” Barbara Abolafia, Bergen’s career explorations coordinator of the Pathway Scholars Program, a federally funded grant program, said. “This program provides incalculable opportunities for our female science majors to meet role models, broaden their horizons and envision how their majors are utilized in the real world.”

The school recently announced its latest group of student mentees, who met their mentors for the first time at a kickoff event this month.

Participants

• Danbee (Sarah) Chae of Old Tappan;
• Alexandra Cortez of Hasbrouck Heights
• Hadeel Darweesh of Hasbrouck Heights
• Mina Echreshzadeh of Wood-Ridge
• Sara Hernandez, of Passaic
• Melissa Jara of Elmwood Park
• Haidy Mohamed of Hasbrouck Heights
• Caitlin Mooney of Ordaell
• Lea So of Garfield

The first cohort of mentees – Adelajda Turku, of Elmwood Park; Lindsey Njanja, of Lodi; Ramya El-Saleh, of Dumont; Riya Caudhary, of Upper Saddle River; Erin Moran, of Kearny; and Doreta Biba, of Leonia – has already found significant success, according to Bergen Community.

Four of the six mentees became Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship semifinalists and one, Njanja, earned the prestigious $40,000 per year scholarship. Other notable accomplishments a National Institute of Health internship, a NJ Governor’s STEM Scholarship and a Hackensack Meridian Summer Physician Shadow Internship.

“Being part of the PepsiCo mentorship program was an amazing experience,” Moran, who took part in the first cohort, said. “I was the first person in my family to attend college, so I didn’t have someone to go to when I had questions about college or being a woman in STEM. If it wasn’t for my mentor, Ana, I would not only have dropped out of STEM, but I would have dropped out of college.”

Moran has since completed the PepsiCo mentorship program, graduated from Bergen and transferred to the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

According to Gwen Darling, a PepsiCo commercialization director, the mentors themselves gain fulfillment from the program as well; many have returned as participants for consecutive years.

“We have positive testimonials about the impact on both the lives of students and mentors,” she said. “We hope to continue the partnership with Bergen into the future.”

More than 2,000 students at Bergen Community College are enrolled in STEM-related programs, such as engineering science, computer science and biology. Students also actively participate in research projects in and out of the classroom, according to the school.

Recent projects include: converting a softball field house into a workshop, high-altitude balloon launches, retrofitting a gas combustion truck and motorcycle into electric vehicles and conducting experimental testing with wind turbines and solar panels, according to the school.

While career opportunities are on the rise for women in STEM, a recent survey of women in the field found that 91 percent of respondents believe gender discrimination remains a career obstacle. And, 100 percent said that self-doubt and a lack of confidence stand in their way.