If you have ever passed by the SOLES organization table on Seventh Street you have most likely heard the sounds of Latin music playing from the speakers while they try to tell students what they are all about.
The Society of Latino Engineers and Scientists (SOLES), founded in 1980, is recognized as a student organization associated with Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering at San José State University, according to its website.
They are a student chapter of MAES: Latinos in Engineering and Science Inc. and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, according to the same website.
MAES is a non-profit organization that promotes and advances representation of Latino leadership and education in STEM, according to its website.
Jose Sarabia, the current president of SOLES, said he was swayed by the music the SOLES organization was playing during the SJSU Weeks of Welcome in 2022.
“I was walking through Seventh Street and I heard some banda, and I've never heard banda being played on campus,” Sarabia said. “I turned around and saw that they have this big flag that said Society of Latino Engineers and Scientists.”
He said SOLES does a lot of professional events and tries to connect members with industry professionals in Silicon Valley as well as host social events to build a sense of community.
Sarabia said you don't have be Latino to join the club.
“We got national recognition for getting chapter of the year out of all chapters in the United States,” he said. “Mainly for our engagement, we post a lot of our events on Instagram.”
Sarabia said SOLES also hosted the MAES leadership academy at SJSU.
MAES goes to a different school every year so it was a big deal for SOLES to host. MAES chapters came to San José with the goal to improve leadership.
He said SOLES board members and regular members also go to conventions. One of those conventions is for SHPE, which is the largest gathering of hispanic STEM students and professionals according to its website.
“We’re an SHPE chapter here at SJSU but there’s others across the United States,” Sarabia said. “There’s undergrad chapters, community college chapters and professional chapters and all these chapters attend the conference.”
Sarabia said this year SOLES got sponsorships from Adobe, Google and Cadence. Associated Students, the dean of engineering and Mesa engineering program helped fund the students as well.
Mechanical engineering senior, Antonio Hueso, the senior vice president of outreach, said SOLES also hosts networking events for students.
“We have professional events and networking events,” Hueso said. “Professional events would entail resume workshops which are tailored towards engineers.”
Hueso said Cisco and Adobe are two companies that have helped with resume building workshops that everyone in SOLES can take advantage of.
“When I first joined we would have around 20-25 people attend in person in our general meetings, now we have close to 50 people attending,” he said. “It’s not just students either. We have actual professionals and guest speakers come in.”
Hueso said the club is now at around 150 members.
He said one of the jobs of being the vice president of outreach is being the middleman between the students and companies that support the club.
“I talk to them and schedule events that would benefit our members on specific dates and times,” Hueso said.
Aerospace engineering senior Jamie Salinas will be taking over as VP of outreach upon Huesos graduation this spring according to Sarabia.
“For me SOLES is a familia, it's not a place but it's a group of people you really connect with on a deeper level since it's hard to find Latinos in STEM,” Salinas said.
Salinas said when he first transferred from community college he would just do homework and go to school but SOLES is always encouraging students to network with others.
Sarabia said networking was one key takeaway he took from his time in the SOLES organization.
“Students don't realize the importance of networking, you could have a 4.0 GPA but if you don't know anyone it's going to be hard to find a job,” he said. “For me joining organizations like SOLES or any organization just expands their network and it helps find a community.”
