{"id":13371,"date":"2022-12-01T01:20:21","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T09:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/?p=13371"},"modified":"2026-02-18T15:37:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:37:31","slug":"max-prado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/2022\/12\/01\/max-prado\/","title":{"rendered":"A First-Gen Community Mentored Max Prado; Now He Gives Back"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Composite
Omega Delta Phi, a multicultural service fraternity, put Max Prado on a path to working at Boeing.
(Courtesy photos<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Max Prado<\/a> noticed the young men wearing suits in WSU\u2019s Compton Union Building. He admired their confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were young Hispanic guys who looked like me, but they were dressed really nicely. I had never owned a suit, or even worn one,\u201d says Prado (\u201918 Fin.). \u201cThey came up and shook my hand, looked me in the eye, and made an effort to connect with me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His freshman encounter with members of Omega Delta Phi<\/a>, a multicultural service fraternity, had a lasting impact on Prado. By the time he was a sophomore, Prado\u2014a first-generation college student from a family of farmworkers\u2014was wearing his own suit, helping the fraternity recruit new members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Omega Delta Phi was part of a supportive community for first-gen students that Prado experienced at WSU. Through the fraternity, clubs, and extracurricular activities, he built friendships, took on leadership roles, and aspired to a corporate finance career at Boeing, where he works as a financial planning and investor relations analyst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had mentors at WSU, and I had opportunities to develop leadership skills, something I didn\u2019t experience in high school,\u201d Prado says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First-gen students \u201coften think all the action at college is in the classroom\u2014earning credits and getting grades,\u201d says Chip Hunter<\/a>, dean of the Carson College of Business. But the learning that happens outside the classroom is also important, he says. Besides professional skills and confidence, \u201cstudents are building a network of people who can be resources for them over the course of a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his four years at WSU, Prado went from being mentored to mentoring other students. He helped start a club for first-gen business majors, and he still shares his story at Carson College events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I can help ease one person\u2019s self-doubt that they belong in college, that\u2019s something I\u2019m passionate about,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre you going to college?\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Prado was born in Mexico and grew up in Othello, in the heart of the Columbia Basin\u2019s irrigated agricultural industry. His mom, a farm laborer, worked long hours to provide for her four children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe often left us with a babysitter at 5 in the morning and didn\u2019t get home until 6 p.m.,\u201d Prado said. \u201cI felt my family\u2019s way out of that life\u2014working under the hot sun\u2014was through education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In elementary school, teachers spotted Prado\u2019s aptitude for learning and helping others. \u201cThey told my mom, \u2018You should encourage your son to do well in school and finish his homework, because he\u2019s a great leader in the classroom.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in a family without much formal education, Prado was largely on his own. When he was a senior in high school, being asked, \u201cAre you going to college?\u201d made him uncomfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t like thinking about that,\u201d Prado says. \u201cNo one in my family had gone to college, so I didn\u2019t know how to answer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a school counselor told him he could apply for financial aid, \u201cI didn\u2019t believe it at first. I thought it was too good to be true,\u201d Prado says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He applied to WSU because some of his teachers were Cougar alumni. But he was on his own to complete the complex federal forms for financial aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI almost missed the deadline,\u201d he says. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until a few weeks before classes started that my financial aid was approved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From mentee to mentor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During his freshman year, Prado credits the College Assistance Migrant Program<\/a> at WSU for helping him feel at home on the Pullman campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost of the students in the program were first-gen, Mexican, and immigrants. We really related to each other,\u201d he says. \u201cWe had upperclassmen as mentors, and it was empowering to see where they were going with their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Omega Delta Phi, Prado transitioned from mentee to mentor. He wore the suit he bought at Men\u2019s Warehouse in Spokane weekly, serving as the fraternity\u2019s treasurer, vice president, and then president. He also served on WSU\u2019s United Greek Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prado\u2019s interest in working for Boeing came from his fraternity connections. \u201cOne of my fraternity brothers had accepted a job there. I saw him working hard, and I just really admired the guy,\u201d says Prado, who took part in Boeing\u2019s internship and rotational programs before being hired full-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a junior, Prado and others started a WSU chapter of the Association of Latino Professionals for America<\/a>. The club focused on the needs of first-gen business majors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wanted to create a safe space to ask questions,\u201d Prado says. \u201cIf you\u2019re with peers who have a high level of business acumen, it can be intimidating to ask about the basics of networking or creating a r\u00e9sum\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaining confidence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By telling his story, Prado hopes to help other first-gen students feel confident about what they have to offer employers. Early in his career, he strove to be an idealized version of a finance professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had this picture in my mind of this super professional guy, this perfect person that I was striving to be,\u201d he says. \u201cEventually, I realized that I\u2019m going to be myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI may say things a little differently or have different mannerisms or cultural references, but I don\u2019t see that as a weakness anymore,\u201d Prado says. \u201cFirst-generation graduates have a perspective that\u2019s valuable, and it belongs at the table.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Max Prado (\u201918 Fin.) grew up in a family of farmworkers. At WSU, he found a supportive community for first-generation college students. Through clubs and extracurricular activities, he built friendships, took on leadership roles, and aspired to a corporate finance career at Boeing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":[634],"featured_media":18186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[429,612,425],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13371"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/634"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13371"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18611,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13371\/revisions\/18611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13371"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/author?post=13371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}