Author at Alaska Job Corp Thursday

PALMER — Palmer Alaska Job Corps Center students and staff will have an opportunity to meet and hear from successful motivational speaker Tom Pace at 8:30 a.m., Thursday at Job Corps. The public also is invited to attend.

Pace wrote the book “Mentor—The Kid and the CEO,” which has become a favorite for students and staff at the Palmer center.

“This is the first book I’ve ever read,” said Chao Her, a former student at the Palmer Alaska Job Corps Center.

He is the oldest son in a Hmong family of nine. The book impressed him so much he passed it on to three of his siblings to read. He also translated the book’s message so his parents, who speak Hmong, could understand, too.

“I read it from beginning to end,” Her said.

The book also inspired him to read other books, he said.

Her said he came to the Job Corps Center because he was uncomfortable and felt unsafe in public high school.

“Job Corps is way different and a safe place,” the Job Corps alumnus said. “My teachers are great.”

He recently completed all of the trade requirements for Facility Maintenance plus OSHA 10, welding, earned an Alaska Driver’s License and CPR certification.

Now he’s interviewing for jobs and guiding his siblings.

“They have to stay on the right path and do not fail,” Her said.

It was academic instructor Antoinette Rustad who introduced Her to Pace’s book.

She said she still remembers his first day in class. “He seemed afraid to ask questions.”

These days it’s Her who is mentoring Job Corps’ newest and shyest students, she said.

But when Pace visits Thursday, it won’t be just Her who is thrilled to meet him.

Since Center Director for the Alaska Job Corps Center Ken Northamer initially read the book, many copies have begun to circulate through the campus’ 250 students. Now the book is used as a teaching tool by both the counseling and academic departments, he said.