Hispanic Youth Symposium Offers Students a Taste of College

By Alison Mika

Forty students from Virginia Beach high schools have been selected to learn the valuable lessons of motivation, hard work and the essentials of college life as they partake in Richmond’s first Hispanic Youth Symposium. The event is sponsored by the Hispanic College Fund and received funding from the Virginia General Assembly in 2007. It will be held at the University of Richmond from July 16 through 19.

“These events are needed in Virginia because if you look at data, only 2 percent of students in our higher education institutions are of Latino descent,” said Douglas Garcia, the assistant secretary of education in the Office of the Governor of Virginia. “The event goes to the core of eliminating the achievement gap between white students and their Latino counterparts and exposes the kids to the different opportunities that are out there.”

In a four-day, three-night college experience, a total of 200 students will live on campus, placed in what are called ‘familias.’ In this structure, the students will work in groups with Latino resident assistants who are in their second or third years of college and will provide mentorship and guidance. Students will also benefit from the help of numerous volunteers from the community.

Students will attend daily workshops on topics including “Real Life and the College Dream”, financial workshops, “Issues to Action” and “Hispanic Heroes”.

In the “Hispanic Heroes” workshop, the speakers will be Latino professionals from the students’ communities. They will discuss going to college, the obstacles that were in their way, and how they overcame those obstacles. “With the ‘Hispanic Heroes’, the students see successful people in their community that have lived like them and shared similar backgrounds, but they would never know it,” said Garcia.

The scholarship portion of the Symposium gives students the opportunity to showcase their talents. Money is awarded in the categories of art, essay, speech and talent. First place will be awarded $2,000, and second and third places will receive $1,000 and $500, respectively.

The national Hispanic College Fund gives more money to Latino students than any other nonprofit organization.

“College is definitely doable; it’s definitely something they should be thinking of,” said Garcia. “The whole point is to expose the students to the different resources that are out there, to put money in their pockets, and to put them face-to-face with college representatives so it’s not so new to them when the time comes to apply to colleges.”

In Garcia’s opinion, one of the most important aspects of the event is the follow-up. “We’re not just bringing these students in for the summer and then sending them back;” he said, “we’re going to follow these students throughout the year and reach out to them to make sure that they’re doing everything they need to do.”

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