Hello Everyone! Here’s my second update for my URSA project.

So far I’ve been working on building my personal network. I’ve also begun learning more about the topics I’m interested in exploring through this work.

As a part of this process, I wanted to learn more about my mentor Victor Villegas. He is currently employed at Oregon State University as the Broadband & Digital Technologies Adoption Coordinator. He is a part of Oregon State’s Extension Services and it’s through his work in that position I first connected with him. He works with K-12 STEM/STEAM education which is the topic I was most interested in learning more about. He also works a lot with digtial literacy and equity to ensure that people, reguardless of their backgrounds, have access to the technological spaces prevelent in modern society.

Education
Mr. Villegas studied Aeronautics at Chaffey College from 1985 to 1987. Then he went on to study at Riverside City College and get an associates degree in Graphics Technology. During his time at Chaffey College he was a member of the Flying Club and Airframe & Powerplant mechanic program.

Work History
Mr. Villegas has worked at several companies over the years. He began his career at Pressman in 1990 to 1992 where he operated offset printing and bindery equipment. He then worked at several places, with a focus on technology. He spent almost two years as an art teacher at Livingstone Adventist Acadmey. Another notable position is that he gained his certification as a medical interpreter in Spanish/English translations. He opened his own company from 2004 to 2016 name VicMedia. His time spent working at VicMedia included producing bilingual media, document translation and educational serviecs. That time led to his skills within the workforce growing immensly. His most recent place of employment has been at Oregon State University (OSU). He began his time at OSU as a Technology & Media Support Coordinator. In that position, he supervied the OSU Extension Computing Technology Unit. He would provide training and support for Drupal, web technologies, and various other extension services. This is where he was able to work on biligual K-12 STEAM outreach and engagement. He held that position from 2011 to 2023. After 2023, he transitioned to another position at OSU: Broadband & Digital Technologies Adoption Coordinator. Now he focuses on connecting and working with communites on broadband/digital technology.

Past Projects
Mr. Villegas has worked on many projects over the years. Many of his more recent projects have come from his time at OSU. He has worked as a project lead with projects like the OSU Extension Service VoIP RFP. He held a STEAM workshop during 2020. That project worked to teach students, mainly Latino/hispanic youth, about recording music, song writing, science behind digital audio conversation. His most recent project started in October of 2021. He is working on creating a biligual, science based, space themed children’s music album. This project is titled “Mariachi on Mars”. He also has a website that explores an event that he put on called “4-H Mariachi STEAM Exploration Day”.

Further Exploraton
You can find out more about Mr. Villegas on his LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, SoundCloud, YouTube, Facebook and Website. Another mentee of his has also explored some of his past in a similar blog post to mine. There was an article written about him by Sarah Payne about him being a guest on a SolveItForKids podcast.