Palos Verdes Young Professionals Exposing our College Bound Teens to Career Paths

Every year, the Palos Verdes Young Professionals of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce select a Nonprofit of the Year from Chamber members. This year, we have the honor of being that nonprofit organization.

As their first project for our Clubs, the PVYP coordinated a career fair for our high school students at the Wilmington Boys & Girls Club on May 8 with close to 100 high school students attending.

Often when youth attend career fairs, they tend to gravitate toward just one industry without learning about the opportunities in a different field. The PVYP Committee planned for the event to expose youth to several different career paths. They recruited volunteers for a multi-panel event where high school students attended three panel sessions representing different industries. 

College Bound students at the Wilmington and San Pedro Clubs prepared with career assessment tests to alert them to different industries they should be exploring. The whole experience really opened our high school members' eyes to different career and educational opportunities as they enter the next stage of their lives.

Special thanks to our PVYP volunteers who helped the event run smoothly and volunteer panelists who shared their experiences in the fields of Business, Engineering, Health & Wellness, Hospitality, Entertainment and Film Production.

Jordan Baronfeld, Miyako Hybrid Hotel

College Bound youth speaking with an Engineering panelist

during the mixer of our PVYP Career Fair.

Deena Knight, Daily Breeze
Mark J. Doddy, RPVtv
Mike Merell, Disney/Pixar
Sinisa Straser, GlenAir
Deep Patel, GigaWatt
Robert Castellanos, Nano H2O
George Walker, Vistage
Lauren Spiglanin, The Remedy Pharm
Dr. Dave Pommerenck, Pommerenck Chiropractic


*Photos courtesy of PVYP.

PVYP Committee, PVYP volunteers and BGCLAH staff celebrating their collaboration for our youth.

Meet the Challenge Mural

Our completed Meet the Challenge mural of the Los Angeles Harbor.

On Saturday, February 1, we hosted the Meet the Challenge Mural Project in the San Pedro Boys & Girls Club gym. The mural project was inspired by our Meet the Challenge matching grant opportunity by an anonymous donor who has pledged to match all new or upgraded donations, up to $250,000, which would allow the Club to significantly expand and improve programming for harbor area youth in academics, arts and athletics.

Board President Yvonne Bogdanovich, Board VP Tamara Powers, 
Board member Kate Cocke and Executive Director Mike Lansing 
painting with Club youth.

Our Fine Arts Director Sandra Avila designed a 30’ by 14’ traveling mural of iconic Los Angeles harbor sights including the Port of LA, the Korean Bell of Friendship, Banning House and the Vincent Thomas Bridge stretching across the mural. We opened our San Pedro Club to long-standing friends of the Club and new supporters in the community to join our youth in painting the outlined design. 

LAPD Harbor Division Captain Nancy Lauer with our youth.

Keystone and Torch Club youth from our three Clubs set to work right away when the project started with assistance from local LAFD Station 48 and LAPD Harbor Division volunteers. Community leaders stopped by throughout the day and gravitated to the areas of the mural that held a special significance for them. Port Commissioner Anthony Pirozzi and family helped color in a freighter docking in the Port, while Wilmington Chamber Executive Director Dan Hoffman painted the area of the mural depicting Avalon Boulevard.

Petros Papadakis of Fox Sports Radio helping out with our mural.

Friends of the Club, Petros Papadakis of Fox Sports Radio and Olympic Gold Medalist Eric Fonoimoana brought their athletic enthusiasm to the project. Eric attended with high school volleyball player volunteers from the Dig 4 Kids Foundation. In support of a local arts project, San Pedro Arts Association Vice President Steve Magee and Warner Grand Theater Manager Lee Sweet attended to assist and view the progress of the community’s young artists.

Port Commissioner Anthony Pirozzi painting in a freighter in our mural.

We received much support from the Palos Verdes community with painting assistance from National Charity League Palos Verdes Chapter mother-daughter team volunteers who donated snacks for the event. Representatives from Palos Verdes Young Professionals, which selected our organization as their Nonprofit of 2014 volunteered their time to work alongside Club youth in creating the inspirational depiction.

The traveling mural will soon be making its way through Los Angeles Harbor Boys & Girls Club sites and will make appearances at community events to share with a wider audience. Thanks to all of our volunteer painters for Meeting the Challenge!

Thanks, LAFD Station 48, for the support!