2012–2013 Issue - Outreach & International Affairs - Virginia Tech

RobMasriChristinaBrogdonHelping small businesses thriveIt was a long journey from Lebanon to Pearisburg, Va.,where Rob Masri grew up in an apartment over the familyrestaurant. He learned work ethic and customer servicefrom his father; all four Masri children worked in the restaurant,vacuuming floors, busing tables, or taking orders.“When my father first opened that restaurant in Pearisburg,he had a family meeting and said, ‘Every customer whowalks in needs to be treated like part of our family.’ Thatrestaurant lasted for 29 years. His mindset was that, if thesame 40 or 50 families didn’t come back every week, therestaurant wouldn’t have made it. Those passionate, loyalcustomers, getting to know those people and bringing themback, is the key to business success.”Masri would take his father’s words to heart. After earning alaw degree from the University of Virginia, Masri practicedlaw and worked for a tech company, eventually working atthe university’s law school. In 2009, he founded Cardagin,a Charlottesville, Va.-based business designed to help smallbusiness owners understand their frequent customers andreward their loyalty through smartphone technology.He met Tom Wilson, former Upward Bound and TalentSearch director, when Wilson visited Masri’s high school.“When you’re young and your parents don’t have collegeexperience themselves, the only thing you can turn to isother people who’ve gone to college or what you’ve seenon television,” Masri says. “Being there for six weeks inthe summers, that was life-changing. You saw how collegestudents live, learn that sort of independence that you canonly learn from personal experience.”Of the help he received, Masri says, “You carry that gratitudewith you throughout your life regardless of where yourprofessional career goes.”“Being there forsix weeks in thesummers, thatwas life-changing.”A nontraditional pathChristina Brogdon knows firsthand how difficult life asa first-generation college student can be. When Brogdon,hailing from a small town, arrived on the Virginia Techcampus as an incoming freshman in summer 1988, herfather dropped her off with $20 in her pocket. Brogdonwasn’t prepared. “I didn’t know you had to buy your ownbooks,” she recalls. “I don’t know how in the world wethought I’d survive with $20!”For Brogdon, college life was rocky, and she eventually left.But the encouragement she received — and continued toreceive over the years — from the Upward Bound teamhelped her return to school. During her time out of school,she worked in retail. After she became interested in humanresource management, her career took flight. And at age30, she was well on her way to a job in a corporate office,but she felt unfulfilled without that college degree. “Nothaving it was a thorn in my side,” she says. She returned toVirginia Tech in 2004, finishing her bachelor’s degree, thencompleting an M.B.A. Today, she works as the director ofhuman resources for Bluefield State College and plans topursue a doctorate.“The Upward Bound program is a big part of why I am whereI am,” Brogdon says. “It helped motivate me to finish college.”Brogdon wasn’t the only one in her family to benefit fromUpward Bound. “The program actually helped whole families,”she says, referring to her siblings. “Out of the seven ofus, five of us were in the program. I’d like to think part ofthe reason the last two didn’t need it was because UpwardBound helped the first five of us. They didn’t have the challengeswe did because we were able to help them. I’d like tothink the program had a lot to do with that.”“It helpedmotivate me tofinish college.”Outreach NOW 16