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Hispanic Youth Institute aims to empower high school students through college program at UCLA

Software engineer Heriberto Reynoso speaks to high school students as part of the Hispanic Youth Institute’s college empowerment program.

By Basheer Alas

Aug. 15, 2011 1:09 a.m.

Boasting career workshops and a first-hand look at the college experience, the Hispanic Youth Institute held its third annual college empowerment program at UCLA for 106 high school students last week.

The four-day, three-night program featured programs ranging from art and talent competitions, to college application seminars and speeches by Latino doctors and businessmen.

Since the founding of its Los Angeles chapter in 2009, the Hispanic Youth Institute has provided low-income Hispanic students with the tools to pursue a college education and professional careers, said Jason Acosta, director of the Los Angeles arm of the institute.

“We are developing the next generation of Hispanic professionals,” Acosta said.

By exposing students to Latina/o professionals with similar backgrounds, Acosta said he hopes to inspire students to reach for their goals with renewed confidence.

“When students engage with Latino professionals, it allows them to see success in action,” Acosta said.

Alba Echeverria, a junior at David Starr Jordan High School who is attending the program for the first time, heard about the program through her high school’s college counselor.

“I wanted to experience how it is to live in the dorms and live on campus,” Echeverria said. Echeverria, who wants to be a doctor or nurse someday, found workshops with established professionals particularly valuable.

In a talk, Arturo Avila, manager of the thermal and cryogenic division at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a graduate of UC Santa Barbara, pushed students to pursue their career goals and stay in school.

Avila grew up in Boyle Heights and attended the same high school and grew up in the same neighborhood as some of the student participants. This helped him connect personally with his audience, he said.

“I am one of them and they are one of me,” Avila said.

By emphasizing the importance of a college degree, Avila said he hoped to inspire students to take charge of their education and future.

“They can be who I am and greater,” Avila added.

Though the Hispanic Youth Institute generally works with students from Belmont High School, Roosevelt High School and Santee Education Complex in downtown Los Angeles, a budding partnership with Kaiser Permanente’s Watts Counseling and Learning Center, which offers free educational support services to Watts residents, allowed students from David Starr Jordan High School in Watts to attend the program for the first time.

The program, which is free except for a $10 registration fee, is highly volunteer-driven and dependent on the efforts of a number of individuals, Acosta said.

Students are divided into groups, called “familias,” and assigned to a resident adviser who is a current undergraduate or graduate student.

“Resident advisers are one of the most valuable components to the program,” said Marcos Valdez, national director of college student leadership for the Hispanic Youth Institute. The RAs serve as facilitators and mentors and engage the students through debriefing sessions and end-of-the-day reflections, Valdez added.

Miguel Acero, a resident adviser from Avondale, Arizona and fourth-year at the University of Arizona, has been volunteering with the institute for two years.

“I try to explain to (students) exactly what they need to do to get to college,” Acero said. Centering the program on college readiness allows students to believe in themselves and gives them the self-confidence to push forward, he added.

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Basheer Alas
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