Carlos Ojeda Jr. will be the 2012 commencement speaker for Jamestown High School.
Ojeda has worked extensively with high school and college-aged youths, spreading his message of education, leadership, community activism and entrepreneurship.
Ojeda's life began in he streets of Newark, N.J. and later Reading, Pa. where his immigrant parents saw opportunities for both themselves and for their first-generation Puerto Rican children. He pursued a career of life learning and educational success, being the first person in his family to graduate from college with honors. He is published writer, poet and speaker.
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Ojeda received his bachelor's degree in business management from Bloomberg University and his master's in business administration. He has worked in education as an assistant director of admissions and business professor at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, project coordinator of the Kutztown University AREYTO Project and director of the Latino Business Resource Center. He has served on numerous boards of directors including ASPIRA Inc. Pennsylvania Statewide Latino Coalition and Raices Inc.
"I became aware of CoolSpeak at a GearUp conference last summer," said Betsy Rowe-Baehr, JHS senior class co-adviser. "This program is a nonprofit that hopes to inspire and motivate young people with dynamic motivational speakers like Mr. Ojeda Jr. I was impressed with how they spoke directly to students and had a connection with their needs in this world but also, how they spoke a universal message that gets all of us living better. We came across Mr. Ojeda, Jr. and thought his success story fit many of our students' experience. He also approaches his talks with humor and we wanted to be able to bring that kind of joy to the commencement celebration."
Jamestown High School's graduation ceremony will be held on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater. Baccalaureate will be held on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the First Lutheran Church.