PENTA Celebrates its 2018 Class of Marketing Mentor Scholars
WESTBOROUGH_ On Wednesday, May 9th, the 2018 Class of PENTA Marketing Mentor Scholars™ joined state and local officials for a legislative panel discussion and graduation ceremony for the innovative mentorship program designed for high-achieving high school seniors, established by PENTA Communications, Inc.’s Founder and CEO Deborah Penta. The event was held in the Marketing Innovation and Customer Insights Center™ at the historic PENTA Building, located at 208 Turnpike Road in Westborough.
PENTA provided an engaging curriculum over the course of two semesters, and CEO Deborah Penta led the panel discussion, which featured State Senator Jamie Eldridge, Chairman of the Westborough Board of Selectmen Leigh Emery, Town Planner Jim Robbins, and newly appointed Westborough Police Chief Jeffrey Lourie. Each panelist shared their individual experiences of collaborating and interacting with the business community.
Senator Eldridge shared many ways he helps regional business constituents. “Every day, I get to work on dozens of issues, and overwhelmingly, meetings and interactions that have to do with economic development and business.” The Senator said the three key areas for which he assists business owners include, “investments, infrastructure, and leveling the playing field with regulation.”
Selectman Emery reflected on the decision making process for each community request brought to the Board of Selectmen. “We always have to balance—do we think this is best for the town, for the citizens of the town—our constituents, and is it good for business, is it good for children, for the schools? We try to balance all of those things and present an argument for that.”
Chief Lourie spoke to the mentees about his primary goals and objectives as he serves the public. “We are here to help our local business community and our residents. As a police officer, my sole goal is to keep people safe, to serve the business community with the needs that they have, whether it be a traffic congestion issue, an employee issue, or a theft issue.”
Westborough’s Town Planner Jim Robbins talked to the group about the importance of people. “What do we do on the planning board? Well in regard to business, our business is people. Government really is all about the people and businesses are made up of people. Every business has a face, whether it’s the CEO or right down to the people who maintain the building—they’re all part of the business. So, what the planning board does is we look at the future of businesses, but we can’t consider that without knowing what the past has been…We deal with the questions of where do we come from, where are we now, and where do we hope to go in the future?”
A question and answer session marked the end of the panel discussion and the beginning of PENTA’s annual graduation celebration for its Marketing Mentor Scholars™.
Superintendent of Schools Amber Bock took the stage and offered a few inspirational words of praise to the students, “…We ride on your success,” Bock said to the students. “…Your families have created such incredible, young, talented energy in you it is always such a joy to spend time with you. You make Westborough look good, you really do. The quality of students that you are and how you live your lives in Westborough makes us a great place for businesses.”
Brian Callaghan, Principal of Westborough High School, commended the rich curriculum of the mentorship program. “The power that is in this room in terms of ideas and experience is unbelievable. You can’t get that in any textbook.”
Senator Eldridge presented the students with citations from the Massachusetts House of Representatives, signed by the members of Westborough delegation. Scholars also received awards and Certificates of Completion presented by PENTA in honor of each student’s achievements.
“This was an incredible and bright group of students,” Penta said. “We look forward to welcoming the 2019 class.”
You can watch coverage of the event, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNjpblDB5vk&t=1s