For Norwich student, moving ‘Up’ means reaching out

Antonio Vargas will be spending his high school February vacation in the Caribbean, but the Norwich Regional Technical School senior won’t be on a beach or on a cruise ship.

Vargas, 17, of New London, will be the keynote speaker Tuesday at the Puerto Rican conference of SkillsUSA, the nonprofit program that highlights technical school career education. First, he will address 3,000 to 4,000 students in the Puerto Rico SkillsUSA program.

During the three-day conference, Vargas will give a presentation in both Spanish and English to the Puerto Rican Board of Education on the importance of technical education, run workshops for students and on the third day, he will have dinner with the governor.

“I won’t have any time to do any touring,” Vargas said with a broad smile last Wednesday, sitting in his school library.
Vargas said his entire family is Puerto Rican. His grandfather, Santos Canales, moved to New London as a Baptist minister. He is now retired, but Vargas’ parents, Antonio and Keila Vargas of New London, are active members of the Church of the City.

“I’m blessed to be bilingual,” the student said. “We love the Puerto Rican culture. We have relatives there. I grew up learning both English and Spanish. Rice and beans and mashed potatoes.”

The food reference was natural for Vargas, who started as a culinary arts major. He still loves to cook, but early into his high school career, Vargas was drawn toward the marketing, management and entrepreneurship major – a natural fit, said his marketing teacher, Laura Velez, who is also his SkillsUSA adviser. Vargas’ older brother, Maurice, now 21, and older sister, Kiesha, 24, also went to Norwich Tech.

On the last day before February vacation started, Vargas presented his senior portfolio of his two-year marketing project. He plans to create “Up,” a nonprofit after-school mentoring program aimed at motivating youths to succeed in high school and prepare for college. He would develop a business plan for creating the nonprofit entity, applying for grants and an operational plan and launch the program after he graduates from college.
“I want to be a youth motivational speaker,” Vargas said.

He plans to attend Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., to enroll as a double major student in business administration and youth ministry studies.

Vargas is a walking motivational speaker, Velez said. His ever-present smile, clean-cut appearance and polite and personable manner make him a natural leader, she said.

Last spring, at the national SkillsUSA convention, Vargas was urged to run for national office. He enlisted a friend who is a graphic designer and adopted a phrase he heard from another motivational speaker – with her permission – that stuck with him and launched his campaign.

A framed campaign poster hangs in the marketing classroom depicting Vargas in a bright red sport coat with his campaign slogan “I Am Generation Now” with the words “Dedication, Experience, Leadership” beneath it. Vargas was elected as one of five at-large national student SkillsUSA officers, a position that contributed to his selection as the Puerto Rican representative this week.

His portfolio presentation behind him, Vargas can concentrate on his far-reaching marketing goals for the remaining five months of his high school career.

In April, he will attend the Distributive Educational Clubs of American (DECA) national convention in Orlando, Fla., during the week of his 18th birthday, April 24 to 29.

In June, as a national Skills USA officer, Vargas is required to arrive early at the 10-day national SkillsUSA conference in Louisville, Ky. He is excited about that trip but nervous as well, and not because he will be a keynote speaker addressing some 16,000 participants.

Vargas told his adviser that he refuses to miss his high school graduation, as some SkillsUSA participants must, because of the timing of the June conference.

Because of several snow days, Norwich Tech graduation is now set for June 18. Vargas is scheduled to fly to Louisville on June 19.

Velez said SkillsUSA offered to fly the national officers home for graduation if necessary and then back to the conference afterward.

“When he decided to run for national officer,” Velez said, “he had to weigh possibly missing graduation. He told me he has to be at graduation.”

“It’s that important to him. He has to be there.”