The Personal Story of VSCE Founder, Jesús Vargas

 

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My Dad and I share same name (Jesús.)

 

Dad moved from Mexico to give my family an education that could lead to career opportunities.  He worked at a factory in Chicago for 21 years where he took me as a teen (12-17) to see the challenges of hard work with low pay and very high risk of injury from the sharp steel used to make auto gas tanks.  So that means my dad was also in the Transportation Industry like me, now​. 😊

 

I went to numerous elementary school in tough neighborhoods with gangs, drugs, and Snow. Having come from a warm climate I felt like I did something wrong and I was being punished with frost. Yes, I too licked a post and got my tongue frozen to it until I tore the skin to get to class on time. We moved​ six times in Chicago since coming from Mexico and that translated into numerous loss of possible friends almost made in the 2​nd​ to 8​th​ grades.

 

In high school I finally made some friends. And I was only a ​C student, overall. While in HS I took lots of pictures since I had three years of photography, was the lead I.D. photographer, and went on to get at graduation the Photographer of the Year Award, where the prize was a name plate I used for over 15 years.   

 

My biggest challenge was Mrs. Barriga (no pun), whom was my Spanish teacher from Cuba, which I debated pronunciation and staying in her class. She swore I would never graduate from College.  Not sure if that was reverse psychology, but it must have worked. Boy did I like scheduling my school photo shoots for her class. Never got an A. But it felt good walking out with that pass from the Principal.

 

My counselors (LULAC)  suggested I use my math and drafting design skills and good grades to get into college. I was expecting a City College, but they got me into University of Illinois at Chicago (initially when I applied was called Chicago Circle Campus, or CCC for short).

 

The name change scared us Latinos, so we sought support under a group at CCC/UIC @ Chicago called the Confederation of Latin America Students (CLAS). Having had grown up the prior four years in what was a less ethic area of Chicago, I had to integrate with the Hispanics (now called LatinX) groups. They partied more than my Iron Maiden/AC-DC friends of HS.  Well, if it was going to keep me from failing and came with a few trips to the Zoo where we would awake. Oops. That’s a story for another audience.

 

My freshman year at college I worked real hard not to fail classes that then led to getting straight As. Big difference from HS. But I did miss photography, so I signed up to be one of the college newspaper photographers. Wish I would had liked sports more then because I had a free pass to every college event. I also regretted the writing requested to describe the photos (captions they call them). But the college counselors then reminded me that there was no money in photography. So, I guess they were correct and I stopped taking pictures my 2​nd​ year.

 

During college I had engineering internships through the Engineering Cooperative (Co-Op) program and made more money than my dad, per hour. That was sad, but I did not rub it in. I think he was proud of me, quietly.

 

Well, I graduated with a ​Structural Engineering Degree​, after having avoided the Transportation department at College. Only to get a job as a Civil engineer for Caltrans in San Francisco. Yes, for the Department of Transportation. I was allergic to the word Transportation because of the college professor there. Caltrans interviewed on campus my last year and I guess, I answered the tough questions using what my dad taught me when we went hunting. I think is was one of the three times I actually went. He invited dozens but I was not interested.

 

So Caltrans hired me to work in SF, so I moved from Chicago, driving a brand new black Pontiac Firebird. Two years later I went to work for consultants and then several years later started my own company...VSCE, Inc.

 

Now I hire the structural engineers (plus specialists of all kinds) and select the cities we work in based on client relationships and quality of life for the staff’s families. I am a proud father of 3 young adults...2 sons whom completed their engineering degrees (BioMedical and Mechanical) And my “prinsesa” whom started College (in 2019) and is looking into the health care arena like her mother.

 

I have been giving back to the communities I live in by being on volunteer boards, for chambers, I Co-started the Alameda County Apprentice Collaborative (ACAC) promoting construction jobs.  I was appointed to be a Commissioner for Transportation in the City of Alameda and termedout in 2019. I hold Advisory Board Position on California Statewide Councils and local Transit Councils.

 

Now I yearn to explore the great outdoors where the pavement ends, and the dirt roads turn to rocks. Hoping to represent our diverse community on a Statewide or regional board supporting the use of Off-Road vehicles by drivers that care for the environmental and leave it better than when they approached it.

 

Enough about me.