When Michael Pineda arrived at Saint John’s University as a freshman in the fall of 2017, he was told about the Eugene J. McCarthy Mentor Program which pairs College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s students with individual political and community leaders.
It’s meant as a way to offer current students sources of support who can provide a road map as they begin exploring avenues to success academically and in later life.
Pineda, a graduate of Verbum Dei High School in Los Angeles who was raised by a single mother and is the first member of his family to attend college, was paired with Steve Chavez, a 1974 SJU graduate who is now a lawyer in the Twin Cities.
“He ended up doing so much for me, including offering personal and professional support,” Pineda said. “And when I offered to try to pay him back, he refused and told me to pay it forward instead.
“That’s something that really stuck with me.”
Pineda, a senior global business leadership major who serves as the lead video production specialist for Instructional Technology, has had a chance to serve as a mentor to many during his time on campus.
As part of his duties, Pineda supports the Kling Media Lab and Video Studio with a wide range of classes, lectures, podcasts, interviews, newscasts, music videos and more. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he rapidly created many of the training resources and video tutorials that made it possible for the CSB/SJU community to move online quickly, and to take advantage of the digital tools that would become commonplace as a result of hybrid learning and video conferencing.
For his efforts, he was named the SJU Student Employee of the Year for the 2020-21 school year.
“Michael is a born leader and a natural mentor,” said Ethan Wittrock, an Instructional Technology specialist who serves as Pineda’s supervisor. “His style of leadership is also a testament to our Benedictine-influenced understanding of service-based leadership.”
Pineda would like to apply his aptitude for teaching by pursuing a career as an instructional technology specialist. But before that happens, he will spend a year abroad volunteering as a member of this year’s cohort of the Benedictine Volunteer Corps.
“More than anything, I try to look at what I do here at SJU as a baseline for future generations,” he said. “My grandmother came to this country as an immigrant just hoping to survive. My mother became a resident. I’m just the next in the series of steps my family has taken to continue improving our quality of life.”
“I try to look at what I do here at SJU as a baseline for future generations.”