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Watsana Thiravong will soon celebrate one year as being the program director for Success Through Adults Reaching Students (STARS) Mentoring. With a multitude of experiences and passions, she said the job requires a lot of time and hard work, but is so rewarding.

Thiravong’s family immigrated to the United States from Laos as refugees when she was 5 years old. She said she was able to assimilate to her new home fairly quickly, using “Sesame Street,” “Tom and Jerry,” “Star Trek,” “MTV,” wrestling and “Tarzan” to learn more about American culture. She also said she learned a lot from Sunday morning church services and vacation Bible school.

Thiravong spent the rest of her childhood in Kansas and attended University of Kansas, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration.

Thiravong and her husband were childhood friends who drifted apart during their middle school and high school years. They remained pen pals, and eventually reconnected when Thiravong was working at a human resources department at a Walmart in Iowa. They have been together ever since.

Thiravong and her husband have two daughters. One is currently studying at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan and the other is a sophomore at Austin High School.

Thiravong said she has done her best to foster a lifelong love of learning and philanthropic endeavors in her children and hopes it will lead them to becoming adults with a drive to serve their communities.

When it came to becoming the program director of the STARS Mentoring program, Thiravong said she considered whether to apply for the position a long time before ultimately submitting her application shortly before the deadline.

“I had unknowingly been building my knowledge and skills for a position like this,” she said. “Working with the community, kids, grant writing, project management and finance is a skill I have enjoyed and have honed in on for many years.”

In addition to working in human resources, she also had experience as a substitute teacher and started her own business.

Thiravong said her job is unique. It requires her to be flexible and is not a typical 9-to-5 role. In fact, she said sometimes she works from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.

“Everyone says I am always working even when I’m not working,” she said, admitting that they are correct because she cares so deeply about STARS Mentoring and its growth in the community.

“I believe it takes a lot of determination, commitment and love of community to be successful in this position,” she said. “I am a one-man show with [a] very talented and diverse board of directors for support. I utilize and draw skills and talents from each team member for various projects, activities or advice.”

Right now, she said, she is working on finding people willing to be mentors. It can be challenging to recruit people in the rural areas the program serves.

She said different situations call for different leadership styles. She always tries to embody a servant leadership style, saying that from a young age she learned to focus on solving problems and finding solutions while envisioning the big picture.

Thiravong said she had a few mentors when she was student, but her teachers were her biggest source of guidance. However, she said she has had mentors as an adult who played a large role in shaping the person she is today.

Her favorite part of her job is watching the growth the STARS mentees go through while in the program, both physical and mental. She encourages people to become a mentor to a young person. It only takes two hours a month to change a child’s life, she said.