The Oregon Leadership Institute

By AMY STAPLES

Guiding Latino high school students to the height of their leadership potentials is all in a day’s work for Solen Wilebski, who works with the Oregon Leadership Institute (OLI) as the OLI coordinator for Mt. Hood Community College.

Her job is to recruit Latino college students to serve as volunteer mentors, providing leadership opportunities and motivation to continue their educations.

Wilebski became involved with OLI as a part-time volunteer in 2001, and became a full-time mentor in 2003. Volunteers put in one Saturday a month for nine months, spending their time working with youth in areas like team building and public speaking. “We try to bring as many guest speakers as we can so the students get an opportunity to meet strong leaders in their community,” Wilebski said.

The goals of OLI are to provide leadership skills to the students mentored by OLI volunteers, and help them apply their skills, “at school, work, at home or anywhere they might be,” she said. “We also open different doors to everyone involved in OLI, from knowing you can attend college with or without legal documentation, to how to apply for a scholarship and financial aid.”

Wilebski sees diversity as part of the beauty of the United States. She said, “It’s the core for a peaceful environment to work, to live and just to be in. From having different color eyes to having opposite beliefs, diversity can take us so far apart but at the same time it can bring us so close together with all the mixture of cultures and celebrations, making this country a huge, colorful piñata.”

Although many people embrace differences, Wilebski said the MHCC community still has room for improvement in diversity. “Unfortunately, I believe some still have issues with racism, which leaves little space for the person to actually enjoy diversity,” she said.

The hardest part of reaching out to members of our community who do not embrace diversity is the unwillingness to change or a lack of interest in changing their viewpoints, she said.

Accepting others comes with respect, Wilebski said. Cultural awareness training can help people see and appreciate the subtle differences between cultures. “It’s the difference between a hug and a handshake or a kiss on the cheek, just small things that in cultures make a big impact,” Wilebski said.