Workshops examine college life

  JANA SUMMERS Morningside High School sophomores
Timothy May III (left) and Daraell
Dabenport Jr. speak during college fair Saturday.

By Michaele Turnage
Daily Bruin Reporter

Over the past two weekends, 1,900 mostly Chicano, Latino and
African American students and parents participated in 48 workshops
at UCLA, that tackled issues such as choosing between the military
and college, African American identity, Chicano identity, and how
they can achieve a higher education.

Participants from places as far as Banning and Fresno joined Los
Angeles-area participants from places such as Watts, Westwood and
Boyle Heights at two conferences intended to empower high school
students and their community.

About 800 students and their families attended the African
Student Union’s fourth annual high school conference titled
“Knowledge is G.A.M.E.” (Gaining Awareness, Motivation
and Education) on May 6.

On Saturday, 1,100 others participated in MEChA’s eighth
annual Raza Youth Conference, titled “Luchar Para Aprender;
Aprender Para Lucha.” In English, the title means “To
learn to fight; to fight to learn.”

“We understand that education is the key to social justice
and social change,” said Erika Ramirez, a third-year American
literature and culture and Chicana/o studies student who co-chaired
the Raza Youth Conference with Fabian Renteria, a second-year
Chicana/o studies and history student.

Both MEChA and ASU brought in admissions counselors and other
experts to talk about college preparatory courses required to apply
to the University of California. They also discussed scholarships
and financial aid opportunities, how to transfer from a community
college, and coming to college through the military.

“More students are going to come to college because of
conferences like this that educate them about college,” said
Timothy May III, a sophomore at Morningside High School in
Inglewood.

“It’s raising us as a community, despite what
obstacles try to block you,” said Gabrielle Chess, a junior
at Washington High School who participated in a debate on
reparations at ASU’s conference.

ASU’s conference offered such workshops as “AIDS in
the Black and Latino community.”

Workshop presenter Karen Milian, co-director of the Black Latino
AIDS project, brought in Hydeia Broadbent, a 16-year-old
nationally-known speaker, to talk to students about her experience
living with AIDS.

“I think that hit home for a lot of the students,”
said Milian, a third-year biology student. “I think I saw a
couple of students crying.”

Students watched an overhead presentation about sexually
transmitted diseases and received information before discussing
AIDS with Broadbent.

At the Raza Youth Conference, speaker Elias Enciso, who is the
internal vice president of the Undergraduate Students Association
Council, held a workshop titled “Queer Aztlan: The Denied
Community.” It attracted so many students that some opted to
sit on the floor or stand so they could participate.

Sixteen-year-old Fiori Berhane asked, “This country prides
itself on the notion of equality and yet there is nothing being
done to ensure civil rights for gay people. If this country is
supposedly founded on the belief that all men are created equal,
then what is the situation with legislation right now?”

Open dialogue such as the question above is important and should
happen more often, Berhane said, adding it is hard to discuss such
issues in many homes.

“It made me think of the fact that a lot of the time
people are judged unfairly because of beliefs and where they came
from. It really made me sad to think of the way people are being
treated,” said Berhane, a sophomore at the California Academy
of Math and Sciences in Carson.

Parents who attended the conferences said they appreciated the
opportunity for their children to become acquainted with the
university experience.

“I brought (my daughter) to get exposure to what the
campus looks like ““ what the expectations are and the
different students,” said Stephan Harris, 47.

While at ASU’s conference, his daughter Stephanie analyzed
negative media depictions in a workshop called “The Black
Entertainment Crisis,” and said she valued the exposure to
college.

“My dad came here for school,” said Stephanie, a
sophomore at Diamond Bar High School. “I just came to get
familiarized with the school because I want to come
here.”

Stephen, an ’89 alumnus of The Anderson Business School at
UCLA, said he’s unhappy with Proposition 209, the statewide
ballot initiative passed in 1996 that ended affirmative action.

“I was a bit upset with Proposition 209. It was another
form of discrimination. I’m trying to teach Stephanie that
it’s another challenge that she has to get over in life and
she’s going to get there,” Harris said.

Other parents shared experiences of hardships in getting their
children an education at Conferencia de Padres, a separate
conference held in Spanish exclusively for parents at the Raza
Youth Conference.

“The group sessions helped me talk with other parents and
find out ways to help my youngest daughter get to college,”
Amalia Castaneda, a mother originally from Sonora, Mexico, said in
Spanish.

Mario Alamillo, who, like Castaneda, has five daughters who are
or will be college graduates, agreed.

“All of my efforts are in my daughters,” said
Alamillo, who is originally from Durango, Mexico, in
Spanish. “My responsibility is to make sure that my
daughters are better off than I was, and that is why I attended the
conference.”

Participants and organizers said seeing so many people gathered
to learn about college was a positive event that needs to happen
more.

“It breaks down stereotypes,” said Kenny McCullum, a
senior at Hollywood High School.

“It shows that all black people aren’t crackheads,
selling weed on the corner. It shows that they are working hard for
what they want, going to school, getting educated and planning for
the future.”