Guiding Lane Community College Students through Mentor Connect Program

Chambers Construction's Joy Pendowski (right) meeting with her LCC mentee, Sunny Cook

Chambers Construction has always had a commitment to supporting career and workforce development. It is with that spirit that Joy Pendowski, Director of Marketing & Business Development, jumped at the opportunity when asked to be a mentor with a new program launched by Lane Community College (LCC), in partnership with Onward Eugene and the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, called Mentor Connect.

Mentor Connect is a new mentorship initiative designed to strengthen career pathways for local students and enhance education through real world, experiential learning opportunities. Mentors and their mentees will meet monthly over the course of six months in this pilot program, giving students direct insight  into various professional fields and one-on-one guidance/feedback that they might not get in the classroom or anywhere else that can help them get an edge up as they go into the professional arena.

As Joy works with her mentee, Sunny, they will work on things such as job-shadowing opportunities, community networking events, resume and portfolio preparation, interview practice, and whatever else Sunny feels would be helpful to build confidence and prepare him for success.

Mentor Connect was developed to align with LCC’s ongoing efforts to enhance career and technical education (CTE) pathways and ensure that students are equipped with the skills, confidence, and community connections they need to succeed after graduation.

For Joy, mentoring is not something new. In December, she will complete a year of working with Onward Eugene's Women's Network Program where she mentored a group of women business founders through different challenges businesses face as they work on growth and expansion. She has also spent the past several years working with University of Oregon students in the School of Journalism helping them with their portfolio presentations and delivering their work to a panel of professionals as they enter the workforce. This is an area of passion for Joy, and we're glad for it as she represents Chambers in the community.

Photo credit:  Amelia Remington Corbari, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce