Track 2 - College Preparation, Funding and Career Planning

Hear from the fabulous line up of students, educational and industry professionals to provide guidance and advice on how to best set yourself up for success when it comes to college and career planning.

Danny Arocha

Danny Arocha received his Associates Degree at St. Phillips College in 1990 in Hotel & Restaurant Management. After attaining his Associates Degree, he transferred to the University of Houston and graduated with a B.S. in Hotel & Restaurant Management in 1994.

Danny Arocha has over 20 years of experience in the Recruiting Industry. He is a natural recruiter He treats all perspective students with respect and dignity because he knows that choosing a college/career path can be a challenging experience. He believes you should treat students the way you want to be treated. Also, he believes it’s important not to try to see through our students but, rather, to see them through the entire decision process.”

Victor Briones Conti

Victor is highly adaptable and always looking for new things to learn. He is a professional with customer care and a focus-on-solution view. Victor wants to provide students with the best service possible to assist them. With more than five years, with a diverse background that goes from Oil and gas industry professional to a career service specialist passing through some big companies like IBM and ECOLAB

His educational background includes a specialization in Process Engineering from the University of Campinas in São Paulo, Brazil, and a Chemical Engineering Bachelor’s degree from Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is also trained in Project management practices and Six Sigma (green belt).

Caitlin Deis

Caitlin Deis is an energetic and collaborative professional with unique experiences in higher education, marketing, recruitment and event planning. Caitlin currently serves as the Assistant Director for Employer Development and Relations (EDR) team. Within this role, she seeks to connect local, regional and national employers to the diverse, hardworking student (and alumni) talent at the University of Houston. Caitlin joined University Career Services (UCS) in 2015 as the STEM Career Counselor. For four years, she provided one-on-one career counseling to students within Cullen College of Engineering, the College of Natural Science and Mathematics and the College of Technology. Prior to joining the UCS team Caitlin served as a Graduate Advisor for Biomedical Engineering and she worked as a live-in Residential Life professional.

Through her unique work experiences, she has developed a strong understanding of academic procedures and policies as well as the multifaceted developmental needs of college students. She is dedicated to helping students achieve their professional goals through academic planning, career exploration, and job search preparation. Caitlin earned her Bachelors of Business Administration in Marketing from Davenport University in Grand Rapids, Michigan and her Master of Arts in Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education from Ball State University in Muncie. In Fall 2020, Caitlin started her Doctoral journey at the University of Houston.

Sunita Dharani

Born and raised in Sugar Land, Texas, Sunita completed her undergraduate degree in Business and Psychology. After 5 years of working full-time in public relations followed by a 10-month break and then working full-time again, Sunita applied to Rice University's MBA program in hopes to become a better version of herself. Her dream now is to become a better leader and share her learnings from her collegiate and professional journey. Currently, Sunita is a first-year MBA student, working in marketing and operations in hospitality and volunteers with youth.

Nicole Pham

Nicole Pham is a native Texan in her first year as a Technology Graduate at BHP. A geologist by training, she helps her fellow geoscientists by supporting petroleum subsurface applications. She was born in Richardson Texas and her education has been a miniature tour of Texas beginning with UT Austin, then graduate school at Rice University, and ending up at BHP in Houston. She has always had an interest in STEM and her career at BHP so far has been a happy marriage of her two main interests: geology and technology. She takes pride in being a lifelong learner and, in the hopes of sharing this passion, has worked as a STEM tutor for middle school and high school age students in Houston.

Christina Tamayo

First generation American and 2007 graduate of Humble High School, Christina Tamayo was born and raised in the Houston area, participating in local service activities, school sports, and band (saxophone and drum major). She attended the United States Military Academy (West Point), graduating with a B.S. in Engineering Psychology (Human Factors Engineering), specializing in Computer Science. Christina served 9 years as a military police officer in the Army, leaving service in February 2020. Christina is now a first year MBA student at Rice University, pivoting to a career in sustainability. At home, she’s a mom to a 1-year old daughter, and wife to a former Army Armor Officer, Alexander Stodola.

Haylee Whitehead

Haylee Whitehead Burke grew up in the small town of Buna, Texas where she graduated high school with a class size of 100 students. She attended Texas A&M and graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Allied Health in 2017 and her Master of Public Health with an emphasis in Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health in 2019. She began her career with BHP as a Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) graduate in August of 2019. During her time as a HSE graduate, Haylee has been able to work on offshore platforms, vessels and visit mining operations in Chile. She has also had the opportunity to work in several areas of HSE including crisis and emergency response, wildlife response training, security, internal audits and ergonomics. Haylee has a passion for HSE and strives each day to work with her team in order to protect what matters most.