When Melina Vasquez joined the CCC a few weeks ago, she probably didn’t imagine she’d be find herself on a trail in the San Bernardino National Forest, one of the first people in the nation hired with the federal stimulus bill dollars.
March 16, her first regular work day after completing the COMET training, was anything but. It was a major news event, with Melina was interviewed by national and local television crews covering her Inland Empire crew putting the first shovels in the ground to assist the U.S. Forest Service.
Melina, 18, had been eyeing the CCC for a while, and on the waiting list to join for more than six months. When she was laid off from her job in a Victorville chicken restaurant, she began actively searching for employment.
“It was hard to find a job,” she says. “I’d wake up every morning and go after applications. They’d say the same thing, ‘we’re not hiring.’”
Finally, she was accepted into the CCC and went through COMET. “You work as a team with people you don’t even know.”
Melina views the CCC as a great challenge and great opportunity.
“If you want a challenge, the CCC will change your life and bring you that much closer to your goals,” she says. “I love it and hope young people will join and love it like I do.”
Melina grew up in Watts and knew from age four what she wanted to be -- a surgeon. She plans to use her CCC scholarship to help fund her educational goals, which ultimately include medical school.
Her life is not all work -- when she has some spare time Melina likes to play volleyball and listen to music from Korn.
As for being part of the first group of people hired with the stimulus funding, she reflects on her involvement in the recent presidential campaign and interest in current events.
“I’m always watching the news, so it’s kind of interesting that all of a sudden I’m a part of (President Obama’s) plan.”
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March 16, her first regular work day after completing the COMET training, was anything but. It was a major news event, with Melina was interviewed by national and local television crews covering her Inland Empire crew putting the first shovels in the ground to assist the U.S. Forest Service.
Melina, 18, had been eyeing the CCC for a while, and on the waiting list to join for more than six months. When she was laid off from her job in a Victorville chicken restaurant, she began actively searching for employment.
“It was hard to find a job,” she says. “I’d wake up every morning and go after applications. They’d say the same thing, ‘we’re not hiring.’”
Finally, she was accepted into the CCC and went through COMET. “You work as a team with people you don’t even know.”
Melina views the CCC as a great challenge and great opportunity.
“If you want a challenge, the CCC will change your life and bring you that much closer to your goals,” she says. “I love it and hope young people will join and love it like I do.”
Melina grew up in Watts and knew from age four what she wanted to be -- a surgeon. She plans to use her CCC scholarship to help fund her educational goals, which ultimately include medical school.
Her life is not all work -- when she has some spare time Melina likes to play volleyball and listen to music from Korn.
As for being part of the first group of people hired with the stimulus funding, she reflects on her involvement in the recent presidential campaign and interest in current events.
“I’m always watching the news, so it’s kind of interesting that all of a sudden I’m a part of (President Obama’s) plan.”
