Motivation, persistence, dedication, ambition. These are some of the skills that have propelled Maximiliano Jimenez G’25 toward a burgeoning career in student affairs and higher education administration.

Now, thanks to a high school-to-college success program developed as a Syracuse University School of Education (SOE) master’s degree student, Jimenez is giving back to his community by passing along some of the expertise, experience, and knowledge he gained in his master’s degree program.

The Viking Network—named for his former high school’s mascot—is a collaboration among school staff and alumni to help low-income, first-generation students persist through high school and college.

Taking part in the August 6 event were 20 students and 3 alumni of James Monroe High School in North Hills, CA, a northern suburb of Los Angeles. Given the positive reviews of this inaugural Viking Network, Jimenez says he hopes not only to continue the program in his hometown but expand its reach, including to Syracuse-area schools.

“I applaud and am inspired by Max’s passion, leadership, determination, and resourcefulness to take a project generated in a class into such impactful program back in his high school community,” says Professor Cathy Engstrom, SOE Faculty Director for Graduate Studies. “While the seeds for this creative initiative germinated in one class, it is exciting to see the project develop, reflecting knowledge and skills he gained across many courses he took in his Higher/Postsecondary Education master’s degree program.”

Finding Solutions

As a graduate assistant, Jimenez worked for the WellsLink Leadership Program, an academic excellence initiative for first generation students at Syracuse University. He sees the Viking Network as widening the scope of this kind of support. “Why not move the intervention point away from individuals in the first year of college to high schoolers in their final year?” Jimenez asks. “All high school students could benefit from this program.”

“Why not move the intervention point away from individuals in the first year of college to high schoolers in their final year?”

In school and then at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), Jimenez took a law and policy path, a way to explore why poverty and economic and social challenges persist in his northern LA community. Like some of his close high school friends, he was motivated to leave North Hills to further his career, but always with an eye on supporting his community someday.

In his junior year at UCSB, Jimenez pivoted toward a higher education career, finding that he enjoyed his work as a resident assistant and in other student life positions: “I thought a higher education career would enable me to keep the same goals of helping my community and of finding solutions to educational and economic challenges that I saw and experienced.”

Turning his work ethic and persistence toward this new challenge, Jimenez was soon asking resident directors about their career paths. As it happened, two of those colleagues were Brandon Langford G’21 and Nicholas Lee G’21, both Higher/Postsecondary Education graduates happy to write letters of recommendation for him.

More Than Capable

The idea for the Viking Network was developed early in Jimenez’s graduate school career. “In the Introduction to the College Student course, we were asked by Professor Cathy Engstrom to do a College Equity and Success project: conceive of a program to enhance students’ college access and belonging,” he explains. “I was thinking of a project to help communities like mine break cycles of poverty and under-development.”

His first idea—a mentorship program—was a popular idea when he pitched it to his high school, but although they were on board, Jimenez put its development on hold as he finished his master’s degree. By the time he graduated in spring 2025, he had joined the board of the James Monroe Alumni Scholarship Fund, was slated to become the new Program Coordinator of Syracuse University’s SENSES Project, and was ready to return to the Viking Network: “It was still something to accomplish after graduation.”

Now conceived as a college preparation symposium, planning with his high school began in June 2025: “We settled on a one-day event structured like a typical high school day, with 50-minute seminars on applying for college, writing the Personal Statement, networking, and ‘perception and persistence,’ as well as an alumni panel.”

School counselors led some sessions, with Jimenez taking networking, perception and persistence, and the alumni panel. “Simple skills and tips were the bread and butter of how I reached success,” observes Jimenez, pointing out that sometimes high school students don’t realize they have the skills to succeed in higher education.

“I never thought I would get a chance to actually implement the program that I turned in for an assignment.”