POLKcast: Navigating career opportunities with Jeannette Grullon

Posted on by Polk Newsroom

POLKcast: Jeannette Grullon

Key:

MF:        Madison Fantozzi

LB:          Leah Bartholomay

JG:          Jeannette Grullon

 

 

JG:          Hello can you hear me now. I’m always getting in trouble as you all know.

 

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MF:        Welcome back to POLKcast I’m your host Madison Fantozzi.

 

LB:          I’m your cohost Leah Bartholomay.

 

MF:        And today we’re joined by Jeanette Grullon coordinator of Polk State’s career development services on the Winter Haven campus. When she’s not guiding students on their pathways to careers or coordinating events on campus to assist them with practicing valuable skills such as resume writing and interviewing, that will help them land their dream job, Jeanette is focusing on the college’s Hispanic students as advisor of Polk State’s Unite club and coordinator of PASS, Parents Advocating for Student Success. So, sounds like we have a lot of great services to talk about today. Thank you so much Jeanette for joining us on POLKcast.

 

JG:          Thank you of having me.

 

MF:        Awesome, so for starters will tell you a little bit about yourself and your own educational and career journey?

 

JG:          Oh absolutely. So, I’m from the Dominican Republic. And I came to this country in the late 70’s. Both my parents had to migrate this country from there due to political persecution and shortly after being here they sent for us and we were able to come over here. My educational life was really solid back home.

We always attended private schools and we always had a lot of support and what not. So, when we came here for the first time, it was kind of strange. Because we ended up attending public schools and we weren’t used to that. And the high school that we attended was in Massachusetts. And it was actually a school that got featured on Good Morning America or something like that because they were one of the first schools to have like 5,000 students.

 

MF:        Oh wow.

 

JG:          Something ridiculous. And they were so crowded and just like managing the whole system like having lunch at seven o’clock in the morning so that everybody would get a lunch. It was crazy. But it was a different time, but it was a great time at the same time. So, I graduated high school at 17. With my older sister. She was 18 going on 19, but I had just turned 17. And from there I was, it was no question if or we were going to go to college or not.

It was we were going to college. So, my parents were very traditional, as most Latino parents are. And they were even more traditional back in the days. So, my brother could have gone anywhere that he wanted to college, but us girls we had to go to a commuter school where we could stay close by and come home after classes and things like that. So lucky for us we had the University of Massachusetts in Lowell. So, we attended there for a little while. For myself I went for about a year. And I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to make it.

And mostly because when I went to college my English foundation wasn’t strong enough. And so, because when I came here, I didn’t know how to speak any English whatsoever. But I had to take a lot of English as second language classes. And when I started to realize how much it was going to be it was going to be like a year in a half two years of that alone before I even got into a program of study. And so lucky for me my guidance counselor found me a part time job at a bank, and I was able to transition from school into a career.

What I thought was a good career for me and went into banking. And so that was the start of my career. And I did that for about 12 years. And I loved it. It was really great. And I was very fortunate because I picked up quickly. I was really strong at math and I was really strong in language skills, but my English was what I needed to build up.

And so, having the opportunity to work for the bank allowed me to develop those skills. And then I was offered study opportunities to go back to school and do a certificate in banking and things like banking and things like that. And so, in the 12 years I worked for the bank I held six different positions.

 

MF:        Wow.

 

JG:          So, I was really, I got to be assistant branch manager. So, I would have never thought I would have gotten that far but it was really good.

 

MF:        Really cool.

 

JG:          Yeah, and after that we had a recession and I ended up going back to school because I got laid off and that was the start of my educational career.

 

MF:        So it sounds like Jeanette, who was at the university the first time is kind of the students that you are so passionate about helping now so can you tell us a little bit about the students that you serve here at Polk State College.

 

– Sure, so the students that we serve here I think are very similar to the student that I was, way back when. You know, they are not sure- a lot of them are not sure, a lot of them are students who yeah have are second, third generation Americans but yet some of them have immigrant parents and they’re not very familiar with how the college system works. Which I can totally relate to because even though like for my parents, my dad only had an eighth-grade education, but he was a businessman. At 14 he has his own auto body mechanic place and he can do anything.

And my mother went to college at the age of 15. So, she was super smart. And they had to leave all that behind because of the war, the civil war in my country. But all of those students want the same things that all of us want. They want to be successful; they want to have a career that they can live with and enjoy and be successful in. The parents want the same for them. But they don’t know what that’s going to take. They don’t know what it entails.

 

MF:        Right.

 

JG:          We try to help them figure those things out.

 

LB:          How old were you when you did come here?

 

JG:          I was a few months shy of turning 15.

 

LB:          Okay.

 

JG:          So, I had already started my sophomore year in high school.

 

LB:          So, was there, did you learn any English in the Dominican?

 

JG:          Yeah, so in ninth grade they start you with English classes but they’re very rudimentary. They’re very basic. Like chair, table, things like that.

 

LB:          Right.

 

JG:          In tenth grade I was going to start going into conversational English and develop those skills more and that’s when we came here.

 

LB:          Instead they sent you to Boston.

 

JG:          Oh, well yeah.

 

LB:          I always find that to be interesting, not Boston, but close.

 

JG:          Boston.

 

LB:          How come you didn’t pick up a Massachusetts accent?

 

JG:          Well some people tell me that park the car thing comes out.

 

LB:          Yeah.

 

JG:          But I always felt that I needed to excel in learning the language and that I needed to be an example for other immigrants if you will that we shouldn’t just get by, we should do the best that we can. With everything. And for me, learning the English language the right way was important. And I was lucky because I think I had really good English as a second language teachers in high school who were just so passionate about how they taught.

And making sure that we had the right pronunciation and you know, annunciation of things and what not. And I just felt that that was really important. Because when we spoke right people listened. And so, there’s so much power in our abilities to communicate the right way that we sometimes take it for granted but it matters a lot. And so, in my native language of Spanish we were always told to speak properly. And so, to me, there was not going to be any difference once I learned how to speak English.

 

MF:        Tell us about the exiting stuff that you get to do here with Hispanic students with the Unite club and with PASS and all those things that you’re doing.

 

JG:          So yeah, I’m very excited. I’m really fortunate to work in an environment that is so supportive of the things that I’m passionate about and that the college feels the same way about the support that we want to give our students. For me we have the Unite club which really came about from the time the Doctor Santiago who was our provost here formed a task force, a Hispanic task force. And one of the goals of the task force was to figure out a way to bring students together more in a setting where they felt comfortable with each other.

And so, the Unite club, it wasn’t called Unite at the time. It was one of the ideas of having a place where Hispanic students and Latino students could gather and come together and just share their cultures and feel more comfortable on campus. And so, the Unite club came about and it’s been really great and with the PASS program, is Parents Advocating for Student Success. Is just a program that I feel has been in the making for 20 plus years.

When I started after my banking career in Massachusetts when I got laid off, I decided that I was going to go back to college. So, when I went to college I always was intrigued by the field of law and so I wanted to be a lawyer. Which I thought would have been a really good fit for me actually.

 

MF:        I could see that.

 

JG:          But I quickly find out, I enrolled in a certificate of paralegal studies at the local community college and some of the coursework that I had to complete required me to be 23 hours at the courthouse. Just going through books and books of laws and cases and things like that then go back to class and present on that. And it was just so time consuming, I was already married. My daughter was like a year old.

So, she, when all of that was taking place, I said I don’t think I want to be a lawyer. This is just too much work. And so, I did finish my certificate in paralegal studies. And then I tried to get a position in the field and then I found out it was so political. It was a lot to that. And so, I decided to continue on with my studies and then I got my associates degree in Liberal Arts. Go Liberal Arts! I think it’s a great starting program, by the way.

And as I, as soon as I finished my program I realized that the guidance counselor I had at UMass Lowell was now a guidance counselor, or an advisor I should say, the advisor, was now an advisor at Middlesex Community College which was the school that I attended. And through her I got a job working at the school for a trio program, which was they used to call it student success program there. And that’s how I started my career in academia. And shortly after being with Trio because as you all know me, I’m all over the place. I’m always talking to people; you can’t keep me in one place I think there’s always somebody that we can tap into and help out. So, I was all over the campus. But our campus was a satellite campus, so it was all one building. It was five floors. So, it was very well contained. Which allowed me to go up and down everywhere.

 

LB:          Oh boy, look out. Jeanette’s on the loose.

 

JG:          No really. So, I didn’t, I wasn’t too far away from the office at any given time. But just- that was such an amazing opportunity for me and I connected so well with faculty and staff and the students that a couple of years after of being- I was the administrative secretary for that program. And a couple of years after being that and the school noticing my interactions with the students and everything else the dean of student services approached me and said that they were thinking about creating a department for international students, at the time they had about 12 international students and they wanted to focus more on that and grow that department and so she offered me an opportunity to become an international student and community outreach advisor.

And I couldn’t pass it up because that was just like right up my alley. And I’m like, you do realize I don’t have a bachelor’s degree? And she said, don’t worry we’ll take care of that. So, they literally the tailored the position for me so that it meant that the person needed to be fluent in Spanish. So that it meant some of the qualifications I already possessed were already built into the position. And I mean yeah, those things happen to you sometimes because of you own efforts and your hard work.

But very rarely do people notice. So, what you can bring to the table and for her to do that, it just really reinforced my faith in people and humanity and in hard work. And when she did that for me, I left the obligation to go back to school and get my bachelor’s degree. Because I said if they’re willing to go that extra mile for me then I need to step up and do the right thing. And so, as I was working in that area, I went back to school. I working full time and attending school full time. A mom.

 

MF:        Wow. That’s a lot.

 

JG:          Everything, yeah. But it was a super exciting time in my life. I loved it. That’s a good, that just shows you too, networking. You had connected with someone on a certain level and then proven yourself. They saw wow, she was like a really good worker, X Y and Z, she’s going to go the extra mile and then those people talk. So, I think that a lot of times students don’t really understand the power of networking and communication. You make a connection with someone and then they’re going to remember you. You show someone your worth, they’re going to remember you.

 

JG:          Absolutely. And I think also those 12 years that I worked in banking really shaped me in acting in a very professional way and really understanding the value of what was being offered to me, understanding the value of those connections that I was making with our students and just supporting them and letting them know, reminding them constantly that their education was important. That it was a huge investment.

Not only in them, but in their whole families. That it wasn’t just going to change their lives, but it was going to change their whole family’s lives. And when they heard that from me, considering my struggles and my history, they just said well if she can do it so can I. And I have to tell you when I worked in the Trio office, we had a mental health counselor that used to meet with the students that were struggling and what not.

And so, her office, we had cubicles in that office. And so, her cubicle was right behind where my front desk was, and I couldn’t help but to hear some of the conversations even though it was all kept confidential. But the students that used to come in and meet with her soon started to not come in to meet with her but come in to meet with me.

Because they wanted more sensible, real life advice that they could take back with them and use it, and I’m not saying that a counseling session can’t be helpful to a student, absolutely. And many, many students need that. But some students were ready to go beyond that and how did you feel about that, and how did that make you feel?

 

LB:          You have the real-life experience.

 

JG:          Oh yeah. Oh yeah, absolutely. And so, you know, and she, the counselor even called me in and said what’s going on here? I said listen, I’m not trying to counsel. I don’t have a degree in that. It’s just we’re talking. And so, I can’t help it if people are able to connect with that. And I think that if they’re able to connect to it and they can then take something positive from it that it’s going to help them move forward, I think it’s a win win.

 

MF:        Well when students come to meet with you in the career development services office, what sort of services can they get there?

 

JG:          So, in career services we, you know, when our students are going through, and usually they’re so focused into just making sure they have the right schedule, the right classes. That they are getting online and making sure that they are following with their assignments and things like that. And that’s great, we want them to do that. But also, a very important and integral piece of being a college student is developing your own personal skills. What does that mean? It’s preparing for the work force. You’re going to college and you’re getting your degree because you want a better job. You want to be able to earn better money than you would with a minimum wage job. But in order for you to do that you also need to develop some skills. You need to be engaged in what’s happening around you.

And so, we in career services prepare them for the workforce and prepare them how to dress for success. How to do what is an interview like, what to expect. Doing mock interviews with them. Exposing them to professional networking sessions where they get to meet people who are already working in the fields that they’re interested in. Attending career fairs and college fairs. And just exposing them to everything that we feel is going to be a plus for them. A tool that they can add to their toolbox that will help them be more successful once they complete their degrees and hit the work force.

So that’s, you know, we try to really work with them and let them know. And we really appreciate the faculty that supports career services because we understand that they have a really busy schedule but when they set out time and they allow time for our students to participate in the events that career services puts together it’s you you know they’re really helping that student expand their horizon and stretch and grow and develop their leadership skills and just be better prepared for when they’re ready to move to the next phase of their careers of their lives or whatever it may be.

 

MF:        I love the connection that Leah made earlier about your ability to network and kind of make things happen for yourself in your career. And how that’s important for our students. So, what are some of your top tips or your advice to students who are seeking careers or career advancement?

 

LB:          Well first of all, please come to career services. Meet with us. We have, I’m the representative for the Winter Haven campus and we have somebody at the Lakeland Campus as well. My counterpart, Ms. Leslie who is really great. And we will go to you if we need to go to one our other centers, we’re happy to do it. But I think that it’s not something that we recommend you put aside. I thinks it’s something that should complement your education and you should do it as you’re progressing with your studies.

Get exposed to all of those things. Get involved in clubs and organizations. Not just Unite but be part of SGA, of SALO. Be active in your community. Because when you go and present that resume, which by the way is another one of the services who provides students we can help you write your resume or polish it up. When you get ready to go out some of the questions that your future employer is going to ask you.

So what kind, how do you give back to the community? Or what kinds of things have you done to grow or expand as you went through your education? So those are key things that people need to start working on as they’re progressing with their college education.

 

LB:          Do you see often times like the same people coming to all of the sessions? Or do you see someone who is really excited, and you see that same person in all the different?

 

JG:          Well there is that student who really gets it. And they know that if I were to get this service somewhere else, I’d probably have to pay a lot of money.

 

LB:          Right.

 

JG:          And here I’m getting it for free, so that’s a huge plus. And they will attend two or three of the sessions that we put together. But the majority of our students go because they’re in our first-year experience class. Or that’s part of the curriculum that built into that class. Or because there is a faculty member who understands the value of that and encourages their students to participate in that. One of our strongest advocates for career services at the Winter Haven campus outside of the FYE faculty is Professor Woodward.

He’s an accounting professor. He gets it, he understands that. And he’s always trying to figure out how to give students an incentive to get them to attend my events. Because they’re going to get so much out of it. And so, he’ll say I’ll give you five points if you go do this event. And so, I end up getting his students all the time.

And yeah, sometimes students need a little nudge. But once they figure out what they’re getting out of it they come back to the other sessions. So that’s really good.

 

MF:        Awesome. I wanted to kind of jump back to Unite because what I think is really cool is that it’s not just Hispanic students that are involved. I mean you’ve had a couple of individuals who aren’t of Hispanic descent, but they come and they get really involved and excited about learning a new culture too. I mean what has that experience been like for you?

 

JG:          And that’s a great question because a lot of the times students think oh, but I don’t speak Spanish so I’m not going to go into that club. No, it’s like any other club. Like the dancing club we have here, you don’t have to be a dancer. You go there to be exposed to that. So, Unite is about sharing our cultures, sharing our values, just being part of diversity. And just learning more. And being aware of who your neighbors are, who your peers are.

And so, with the Unite club we’ve had the opportunity- and the Unite club outside of the cultural awareness and the diversity and all that, offer students great leadership opportunities. Last year we had the chance to send two students to the HACU conference which is the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and students walked away from there just blown away at the networking opportunities. The workshops that they were able to attend. Just meeting people, students from all over the United States and abroad because it’s an international conference as well. And so, I mean we weren’t into it when the students were like when the students were like what do I need to do to go back next year?

And the same thing happened with our black, brown and college bound conference which is, happens locally in Tampa and is an event that’s put together by Hillsboro Community College. And again, our students were like this is phenomenal.

The speaker line was just amazing. And even though it says black, brown and it seems like it’s mostly for black students, no it’s for any student who can benefit from that. And just really walk away with a lot of information, a lot of very positive messages and feedback and connections and networking. It’s just fabulous.

 

MF:        Awesome, that’s incredible.

 

JG:          Yeah, and so you don’t need to speak Spanish to join Unite. If you want to learn, we’ll be happy to show you a few words here and there. But 99% of the conversations take place in English. So that is a misconception. So, everybody is welcome. The more the merrier. And yeah, it’s part of that diversity mix. So yeah, absolutely.

 

LB:          Well you juggle, it seems like, a lot of different- you’re dealing with faculty, staff, students, and kind of getting all that stuff coordinated and organized. Do you have any sort of funny stories where you might have like-

 

MF:        That’s podcast appropriate.

 

LB:          That’s podcast appropriate.

 

JG:          Oh, come on.

 

MF:        You can tell us

JG:          funny stories in regard to what?

 

LB:          Just like you know, a day in the life of Jeanette. Maybe did you lock something in the car or-

 

JG:          Um no.

 

LB:          Okay. Any sort of, you know you do sort of run around.

 

JG:          So yeah, I know, and I know what you’re getting to. But yes, for our Unite end of semester event I was in charge of getting the students the typical food from one of our Hispanic vendors. And I was so excited, I got my order, I went to pick it up and when I got back, I guess I was so just looking forward to the occasion that I locked my keys in the car with the food.

 

LB:          All the goodies.

 

MF:        Not the food.

 

JG:          And so, it took us about two and a half hours to open the car up. We ended up, the students that hung around ended up having lunch with us and what not. And then we put the rest of it in the refrigerator and the other students came by the next day and had some. But yeah, by the way, had never ever happened to me. I’m always so conscious about things like that. But yeah.

 

LB:          You’re so precious. It’s always fun like I can always tell the kind of day Jeanette’s having. Sometimes she’s just running around like crazy. You always have everything in order and you’re talking to so many people and so many things. And then that one tiny little slip up you’re like-

 

JG:          Yes, that’s me.

 

LB:          Out of control, that’s me.

 

JG:          I’m pretty transparent and so I think you need to stay true to who you are and not put up pretenses. Because if you try to do that sooner or later it comes through. And I think that just be yourself, be original. Be who you are and have fun being you. Because there’s nobody else like you. You know. And I know for certain that Polk State wouldn’t be the same without me.

 

LB:          You are always so wonderful to hang out with.

 

JG:          Thank you.

 

LB:          Yeah, you just bring so much creativity and originality and staying true to yourself and that’s really important. And a lot of people preach that, say that message. It’s like no you have to be someone else, you need to be bigger and better. And I really love that about you is you are all about true character. Hey, live it and be it and be your best.

 

JG:          Yeah but you know I’m also very fortunate because people talk about Polk State being a family. We really are. I have been blessed. My former school, it was an amazing experience. And we all got along really great. And I came here, and I said I will never have that. Well this has been the same if not better. This is really a family.

Everybody is like your extended family. Everybody is so supportive. And regardless of what they have on their plate they’re always willing to help you. And you know even it starts from the top and our president Dr. Falconetti, she’s been with us a short two years but already she’s been, for me, amazing. She’s been super supportive of me.

And I can see just the way she’s connected with our students. And the students love that. You know. And so that’s what we need. We just need that nurturing environment. And that supportive environment so that our students know that we really care about them. And when we tell them. And when we tell him that we really mean it. And you find that here at Polk State.

 

MF:        Where can students find you or how can they come to a Unite club meeting if they’re interested in meeting with you?

 

JG:          So, the Unite meetings start a couple weeks after classes start. Cause we want to make sure students have the opportunity to get settled in. But they can find me in the administration building, student services in the advising area. And we’ll start right after school begins.

And the past program by the way, I just want to let everybody know that we are going to have our next orientation August 1st. And it’s going be 5:30 to 7:30 and we really urge parents to come and take part in this process. Because it’s so important and it’s all for them. It’s not for us, it really is for them.

And just be on time because we have a full program for you and it’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to be super informative. We’re going to speak Espanol if you need it.

We want you to come. We want you to know how fabulous we are. We are fabulous. And just join us. We’re waiting for you.

 

LB:          How often do you have PASS?

 

JG:          So, PASS happens right now once a year. And one of the main reasons for that is because our students really are more focusing on attending college in the Fall right after they graduate high school. That’s usually the semester that most students focus on. So, we try to do it right about that time so that if there’s any questions that they may have or anything that they still need to know they can get those answers.

For them to connect with faculty, staff, resources, services, everything- they get to learn about it then. Just about the time that the student is about to start classes that way the parents know, you know. If you have a problem with financial aid remember to go, see such and such and if you’re struggling with your writing class make sure you go to the writing studio.

And so, we want to expose them to all of those resources, to connect with the faces of the departments that probably will be most impacted by the faculty and staff and administrators and things like that. And so that’s the whole purpose of it. Just to connect them with who the players are in those areas.

 

MF:        Great. Well thank you so much for joining us today. It was a pleasure having you.

 

JG:          This is fun, thank you so much for having me.

 

MF:        Yeah, it’s somos Polk.

 

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