The Hispanic Student Association will host the Latino Youth Leadership Conference to convince Latino youth to go to college and make the Latino community stronger, at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 9 in the Meinders School of Business.
This will be the twelfth annual conference and HSA expects about 200 Latino students ages 17 to 18-years old from the surrounding area to attend.
“It’s really easy for Latino youth to become discouraged from attending college and succeeding, especially when they are the first in their family to pursue secondary education,” said Cassandra Velasco, cell and molecular biology sophomore. “We hope that exposing these teens to successful Latino people will inspire them to achieve their dreams and go to college.”
During the conference, participants will rotate through four workshops, where Latino speakers will motivate them with personal stories and advice. Jessica Martinez-Brooks will describe her community outreach experiences and stress the importance of higher education. Other speakers will discuss leadership, financing college, and building self esteem and confidence, despite cultural language barriers.
“It is important for students to realize they have potential to go to college, regardless of barriers, said Miriam Ortega, marketing senior and HSA president.”They don’t always have the resources or know what to ask, so we try to provide the tools that they need.”
During lunch, students will listen to Mario Velasquez, as he shares his story about growing up in a small Oklahoma town, where he felt out of place. He knew very little about college or the resources available to him, but he persevered and graduated from OU. Now, he is an electrical engineer at Oklahoma Gas & Electric.
Nationally, 20% of Latino adults have earned an associate degree or higher. To make conference participants aware of their options, the event will include a college expo, made up of booths from local colleges, as well as organizations that want to get students involved in the community. The entire conference will last approximately six hours.
Overall, the event costs about $6,000 to host. HSA raises their own funds through donations, mainly from personal contacts, the office of student engagement, inclusion, and multiculturalism, Meinders, and the OCU bookstore.
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