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Workshops prepare Latino teens for college, life
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GETTING READY: Rosemary Ybarra-Hernandez, left, president and CEO, talks about the AGUILA program with student and group member Sandra Zegarra at Coronado High School in Scottsdale. “We just opened it up, and they just don’t stop coming,%9
Thomas Boggan, Tribune
Coronado High School student Luz Elena Fernandez wants to go into the medical field. Her classmate, Lizzeth Alvarez, is leaning toward studying business.
But first, they’re figuring out how to pay for college — and they’re learning about their heritage at the same time.
Fernandez, Alvarez and seven other Coronado seniors are the first Scottsdale students to participate in the AGUILA Youth Leadership Institute, a program that began in 2005 to help Latino youth prepare for college.
According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 14 percent of Latinos in the United States who are 16 to 19 years old have dropped out of school. AGUILA was founded as a grassroots effort to change that, said Rosemary Ybarra-Hernandez, president and CEO of the institute.
The program started with 41 students in 2005 and has grown to 72 students from 27 different schools this year.
“We just opened it up, and they just don’t stop coming,” Ybarra-Hernandez said.
Students attend four-hour workshops once a month starting the spring of their 11th-grade year.
Topics range from applying to school to securing financial aid.
They’ll also participate in an overnight scholarship hunt this September, when students must find and prepare applications for five scholarships by the time they go home, Ybarra-Hernandez said.
Sandra Zegarra, 17, said she’s already had a lot of practice writing the personal statements that could help get her scholarships.
“It’s like homework that helps you prepare for college,” she said.
Students also learn about their heritage. AGUILA participants have been able to meet people who knew Cesar Chavez and will soon research their own family history, Ybarra-Hernandez said.
“We believe they have to know where they came from to know where they can go,” Ybarra-Hernandez said.
For students, it’s about more than learning about their past and getting scholarships. Several students said they like that they’re becoming role models for other Latino students who want to go to college.
They also say it’s easier to prepare for college when you’re doing it with friends.
“It feels better to work as a team,” said Julia Roa, 17. “You feel supported.”
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