The county's Role Model program is part of the reason seventh-grader Guillermo Romero and eighth-grader Crystal Quinonez know the importance of finishing school.

"I like Mrs. Gonzales because she tells us about her life experiences, both good and bad ones," Guillermo says. "She teaches us what we need to know for life. She always has an answer to our questions."

Guillermo is the eldest in his family of seven and wants to set an example by being the first to go to college.

"My father always tells me to be smart," Guillermo says. "He tells me not to be a donkey and physically work hard like him."

Guillermo wants to be a professional soccer player but has learned to be realistic about his goal.

"I want to do what I love for a living, but I want to get a college degree first so that I have something to fall back on in case I get injured," he says.

Like Gonzales, Rudy Rodriguez has made an impression on Crystal.

"I never met anyone who had gone to college and was successful in my life," she says. "I know my teachers went to college but I didn't know how they got there."

Rodriguez showed Crystal how the road to higher education can be more than a dream.

"Mr. Rodriguez doesn't just lecture, he shares his personal experiences," Crystal says. "He's truthful. He tells us about his mistakes."

Crystal is the middle child in her family of five.

The program teaches them about responsibility and how to take action for themselves, she says.

"Everything that you do today will affect you later," she says.

Crystal wants to go to college but isn't sure her family can afford it.

"I want to get a scholarship through sports," she says.

She plays basketball but hopes to play field hockey in high school.

Stories like these make it all worthwhile for Gonzales and Rodriguez.

Gonzales is a project manager at Robson Homes in the Rose Garden neighborhood and has participated in the county's Role Model program for three years.

"If someone else believes in you, it makes you believe in yourself," Gonzales says. "Many students think that they wouldn't make it in college, especially the girls. I want to be a role model for those girls."

In the classroom, the boys are more responsive, Gonzales says. "The girls are more quiet. They tend to stay back.

Many of the students come from cultures that have these cycles where education is not seen as priority or even a possibility. And someone has to break it."

Gonzales knows this first-hand. She immigrated with her family to the United States when she was 8 years old.

"I felt like I would never make it because I was new to everything here in the States," she says. "But in the fifth grade, a teacher named Mr. Lee encouraged me and became my role model."

Going to college went against her upbringing.

"In our culture, women are expected to stay at home and raise the children, not go to school," she says. "I already had a good job and a family to raise so my father was scared for me when I told him I wanted to go to college."

Gonzales uses this story to explain to her class what setting goals and determination can accomplish.

"Many Latino children are told early on that they just need to maybe graduate high school, get a good job and have kids," Gonzales says.

The Role Model program doesn't solve all the issues involved with these children but it does give them a glimmer of hope, she says. "It opens their eyes to the possibilities out there for them."

Rodriguez, a public affairs specialist for State Farm Insurance Company in Campbell, has been a volunteer in the program for five years and agrees.

"These children don't have a vision of college in their future," he says. "They don't think that they can go to college. That it's not a place for them. It's my job to place that vision in them."

Rodriguez is a veteran volunteer. He has more than 20 years of experience and says this particular program has a good structure.

"It provides a connection between local professionals and students," he says.

This connection is a rarity for most Latino children, he says. He speaks from experience. His only role model was his father.

But not everyone agreed with his father.

"In high school, a few teachers told me that college wasn't for me," Rodriguez says.

Seventh- and eighth-grade teacher Anne Dunnigan says the program helps the students realize they can make their dreams come true.

"You can see the breakthrough the volunteers make with the students," Dunnigan says.

This program gets the kids to think of career choices differently.

Marybeth Affleck-Nacey, the executive director of the Santa Clara County Role Model Program, emphasizes that the purpose is about making positive life choices.

Founded in 1989 by then Sunnyvale Mayor Ron Gonzales, the program serves 5,000 students at 60 schools with 150 volunteers throughout Santa Clara County. Teachers request volunteers and the program matches them up with someone compatible. The volunteers dedicate one hour a day, once a week, for six to eight weeks every semester.

For more information on the program or to volunteer, contact Marybeth Affleck-Nacey at 408.246.0433 or visit www.therolemodelprogram.org.