Eighteen year old Mario Gurule was born and raised in the very small rural community of San Luis, CO. As a young person in this community Mario struggled with finding positive influences and staying out of trouble. He also had a lot of responsibility to help support his family and his siblings at a young age. Unsure of what could provide him some meaningful direction and what could direct him away from the behaviors and situations that made him at risk, he decided to serve with the Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC).
He first started serving the SCC five years ago as a member of the Community Corps program for local students during the summer. Mario liked the idea of cleaning up the community while meeting new people and gaining teamwork skills. Through the SCC Community Corps program, Mario developed technical skills by using new tools and learned about different job opportunities and college opportunities during the education days. Mario returned for four summers because he saw an improvement in his community and had many residents of San Luis come up to him and thank him for cleaning up the town, improving bridges and building trails. Instead of getting into trouble during summer vacation, Mario engaged in the community and was soon seen as a mentor and leader among his peers.
After four summers as a corpsmember in the Costilla County Community Corps program Mario was given the opportunity to step up into a leadership position. He completed SCC’s two week training and learned to manage crew dynamics, risk management and project logistics alongside an experienced leader. In this position Mario is focused on sharing his passion with his peers, engaging them and gaining their respect. As a mentor and leader, he is providing motivation and direction to other young adults from his community, engaging them the Community Corps program that has made a great impact on his life over the last few years. Mario recently graduated from high school and is preparing to go to school at Trinidad State College to obtain a nine month certification to cut hair, but his journey won’t end there. The young aspiring 18-year-old hopes to one day work for a state or federal agency as a game warden and feels the knowledge that he has gained throughout his five summers of service with SCC has helped him prepare for that career path. Mario has been a great asset to SCC, and SCC has been grateful for his hard work he has brought to the Costilla crew over the years. SCC hopes that Mario’s legacy will continue as the youth continue to work with him and follow in his footsteps.