Idaho judge to address fellow Job Corps grads

BANGOR – An Idaho judge who graduated from the Job Corps 35 years ago will deliver the keynote graduation address today at the Penobscot Job Corps Center.

The son of Mexican farm workers, Sergio Gutierrez, 50, of Boise, Idaho, earned his high school equivalency diploma in 1970 from the Wolf Creek Job Corps Center in Glide, Ore.

He joined Job Corps after dropping out of high school in the ninth grade to work in the fields of California.

One of 13 children, Gutierrez was raised by his grandmother until her death when he was 13. He has described his family as having “many sad stories” and his having to live in substandard conditions.

Gutierrez said earlier this week in a phone interview from his judicial chambers that his speech would emphasize the impact that graduates’ choices today may have on their futures.

“I was at very crucial point in my life when I was in Job Corps, just as they are,” he said. “It is the beginning of that discovery of who you are. I want to encourage them to continue to hunger and thirst for knowledge.”

It was through that process of self-discovery that Gutierrez found his calling in the law after he graduated from college in 1980 with an education degree. Three years later, he earned his law degree and began working in southwest Idaho for a farm workers’ legal aid program.

In 1993, Gutierrez was the first Hispanic in the state to be appointed a district court judge. Serious criminal and civil cases, which are heard in Maine’s superior courts, are handled in Idaho’s district courts.

He was appointed in 2002 to the Idaho Court of Appeals and is one of three judges on that panel. The Idaho Supreme Court, a five-judge panel, refers many criminal and civil appeals to the appellate court. Its decisions are subject to review by the state supreme court.

Gutierrez was not worried on Wednesday that the New Englanders graduating from the Job Corps Center in Bangor would not be able to identify with his experience as an immigrant who spoke only Spanish until he was a teenager.

“I try to find a way to make things relevant in my experience in Job Corps to theirs,” he said. “Then I try to connect with them on a personal level.

“Even coming from poverty, there are some gifts that can translate into success. For me, it was the experience of learning to read in Spanish from my grandmother that began opening doors to success in Job Corps and beyond.”

Guttierrez, who frequently speaks to young adults in Idaho, will speak in September in Washington, D.C., at a Job Corps leadership conference.

The Penobscot Job Corps Center became the first community-based program in the nation when it opened 25 years ago.

It works with more than 500 students each year, offering programs in culinary arts, business and construction, with four additional concentrations.

Since its first center opened in 1965, the national program has grown to 122 campuses. It serves 65,000 students each year.