Youth

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Educators and business professionals hope to use their own stories of struggle and success to motivate male Latino students at Rialto Unified School District’s inaugural Latino Male Youth Summit.

The Saturday event, to be held at Wilmer Amina Carter High School, will include workshops and panel discussions on navigating high school and preparing for college.

Speakers will include Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto; state Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Anthony Monreal; and San Bernardino City Unified School District Superintendent Arturo Delgado. The keynote speaker will be Manny Medrano, journalist and legal correspondent for ABC News.”*

Three bright aspiring Miami entrepreneurs garnered the opportunity to train and compete at the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) Foundation Regional BizFest in Sacramento, CA in September. These three students were part of an introduction to business training funded by Ford Motor Company Fund. The USHCC Foundation holds similar trainings throughout the year and throughout the country to help Latino youth turn their entrepreneurial ideas into profitable business ventures through hands-on practical business training.

Held April 28-May 2, 2008 in Miami in partnership with the Cuban American National Council (CNC), the course featured 25 students representing the Little Havana and Hialeah Institutes, managed by the CNC. During the three-day program, participating students developed a viable business idea and a detailed executive summary on their idea. The executive summaries were then evaluated by a panel of judges and the three strongest ideas were given the opportunity to train and compete at the upcoming Regional BizFest in Sacramento taking place during the USHCC 29th Annual National Convention and Business Expo. The three finalists are Tasharia Spivey, Keishla Torres and Roberto Garcia all from Little Havana Institute.

“We are proud to have these talented young adults join us in Sacramento, they truly are outstanding aspiring entrepreneurs,” said Shana Mosher, Senior Director of Program Operations. “Not only was this an opportunity for bright Latino and minority youth to learn the essential steps of opening their own business but with the collaboration of local community based organizations like the CNC, it helps open their eyes to the resources and support services that are available to them in their own community.”

“Education is a top priority for Ford Motor Company Fund. We are proud to support USHCC Foundation because of the innovative programming it provides Hispanic youth,” said Jim Vella, president, Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services. “We also are pleased to see a partnership form between the USHCC Foundation and the CNC, both organizations with which Ford Motor Company Fund has longstanding relationships.”
“*

A fight between rival groups of black and Latino students at Locke High School quickly escalated into a campus-wide melee Friday, with as many as 600 students brawling until police restored calm with billy clubs.

The troubled campus in South Los Angeles was locked down after the fight broke out at 12:55 p.m., as students returned from lunch to their fifth-period classes. Overwhelmed school officials called Los Angeles police for help, but students and faculty said it took about half an hour before dozens of officers, many in riot gear, restored order.”*

Berkeley High senior Chase Stern said he was taking an Advanced Placement test May 6, when he noticed that his classmates were fidgeting in their seats and seemed distracted.

He soon found out that the Latino students were receiving text messages and phone calls from family members, warning them that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were nearby, and that they should be cautious and find their way home because family members could not pick them up.

Scores of undocumented parents began to panic as early as 7: 30 a.m. May 6, as word got around that ICE vehicles were parked near schools in East Oakland and South Berkeley.”*

Two dozen students from Berkeley High School protested raids by immigration agents, donning brown armbands on Thursday to show solidarity with the Latino community that is most often the target of immigration crackdowns.

The protest came a day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided homes in Berkeley and Oakland and arrested suspected illegal immigrants. The raids touched off rumors that swirled around Berkeley and Oakland schools that ICE agents were going on campus to detain students who were in the country illegally.”*

A state Department of Education investigation into allegations that a black vice principal forced Hispanic fifth-graders to eat on the floor has determined that the incidents occurred, but they were not racist acts.

The investigation found that Sumner Elementary Vice Principal Theresa Brown regularly punished students by making them eat on the gym floor. And although only Hispanic bilingual students eating on the floor were denied lunch trays, that was due to administrative failure, not bias, the report said.”*

Blanca and Yessenia Soto sometimes still feel the stares as they walk into stores. It hasn’t been unusual, simply by virtue of their brown skin, for the teenage sisters to be followed down the aisles.

Butting up against racial stereotypes, economic hardship and occasional hostility is part of life for many whose skin color advertises an ethnic heritage. For children, especially, the experiences are penetrating and painful.

El Teatro, a Northridge High School theater company, has put those stories in the spotlight.”*

New census data shows that about a quarter of children younger than five in the U.S. are of Hispanic decent. Pedro Noguera, professor of education at New York University; and Jeffrey Passel, from the Pew Hispanic Center, discuss the rising number of Latino children and what it means for America.”*

More than 700 students from northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan are expected to attend the University of Toledo’s Latino Youth Summit tomorrow.”*

My name is Marisa Godoy. When I was 23 I opened an all eco-friendly (green), high quality, privately funded orphanage in Mexico with a small staff of other twenty-somethings. In the last 5 years, we have taken in all the children in the central state of Morelos that have been lost in the government’s broken orphanage system because they are either above the preferred age for adoption, are mentally/emotionally/physically handicapped, or have siblings who have no chance of being adopted as a family.

We are now opening a school to meet the needs of the severely impoverished children in the surrounding communities as well as our orphaned children. The community children who need this school have not only been going without an education, they also do not have water for bathing/washing and are all extremely malnourished. In our “Ixaya” School, these children can receive everything they need to flourish and break the cycle of extreme poverty, illness, abuse, alcoholism and ignorance - just like in our orphanage - yet they will be day students who will go home at night to sleep with their families. Lives can be transformed and dreams realized!
“*

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students participated in the “Day Without Latinos” immigrant rights march, which took place on Milwaukee’s south side at 11 a.m. on May 1.

The march of 30,000 people, organized by Voces de la Frontera, included the help of The Progressive Students of Milwaukee and the Latino Student Union at UWM, whom organized a bus from the student union, of which 50 students attended.

“I’m excited so many student organizations were involved and more students were involved in this year’s march,” said Veronica Sotelo, Vice President of the Latino Student Union at UWM.”*

Anthony “Tony” Guerrero’s eyes grew large as he listened to Sonia Reising rattle off his new responsibilities.

Laid out, they could seem a little daunting: Develop expectations and goals for his other team members; determine the dates and times of a year’s worth of meetings; establish monthly goals for the coming year; participate in at least one community service activity.

But Guerrero took a deep breath, glanced around at his hand-selected teammates on the new McHenry County College Student Senate executive board, and squared his shoulders.”*

The last few years have seen brewers focusing huge financial resources to move their products into Latino hands. Miller Brewing Co. signed a three-year, $100 million advertising deal with Univision Communications in 2004. Anheuser-Busch and Molson Coors created vice presidential posts to head up their Latino marketing efforts.
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More young people are seeing alcohol ads today than ever before. Among all racial groups, youth exposure to alcohol ads on television jumped 48 percent from 2001 to 2005, according to the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University.

Alarmingly for Latinos, more alcohol advertising is being aimed at our youth than at other young people.”*

Triumphant horns and singing violins competed with school bells and intercom announcements Wednesday in Bryant-Webster school as the student mariachi group prepared for its biggest performance ever.

The all-student group, Mariachi Juvenil, will perform two songs tonight with the Colorado Symphony at Boettcher Hall in a free concert to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

“I’m excited, but I’m nervous,” said Elizabeth Nuñez, a 13-year-old seventh-grader who plays violin. “I just hope it comes out all right.”"*

A group of student activists plan to protest outside a local restaurant Thursday to draw attention to the treatment of tomato pickers, then march on the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department to denounce recent federal immigration enforcement actions in the county.

Two- to three-dozen members of the UC Riverside chapter of MEChA plan to gather around 5 p.m. outside a Burger King at 2167 University Ave., where they will call for a boycott of the restaurant chain and Chipotle Mexican Grill over the wages paid to tomato pickers, said UCR MEChA spokesman Omar Aguiar.”*

The increase from almost one in five in 2000 has broad implications for governments, communities and schools nationwide, suggesting that the meteoric rise in the Hispanic population that demographers forecast for mid-century will occur even sooner among younger generations.

“Hispanics have both a larger proportion of people in their child-bearing years and tend to have slightly more children,” said Jeffrey S. Passel, senior demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center and co-author of a recent study predicting that the Latino population will double from 15 percent today to 30 percent by 2050.

“So this means that in five years, a quarter of the 5- to 9-year-olds will be Hispanic, and in 10 years a quarter of the 10- to 14-year-olds will be Hispanic. It’s just going to move up through the age distribution with each successive cohort being slightly more Hispanic,” Passel said.”*

Brenda Estrada, 13, embraces the exhilarating beat of Mexican folkloric dance.

The vivacious seventh-grader practices the traditional dances of Jalisco, Sinaloa and Veracruz, all states in Mexico, at least four nights a week in her family’s trailer home.

“I want to share my culture with others,” she said. “I try to get as much time in dancing as I can on my break and still have to come and eat.””*

With almost 1,700 middle and high school students in attendance, there almost weren’t enough chairs for everyone at the 17th annual La Raza Youth Leadership Conference this year.

bout 20 students from Sterling Middle and High School traveled to Denver, Saturday for La Raza Youth Leadership, held on the Auraria campus of the University of Colorado, Denver.

“It was inspiring,” said Leonarda Martinez, a seventh grader at SMS. “I learned going to college will be fun.”

La Raza Youth Leadership Institute has been organizing the conference since 1992. This conference is the second-largest conference for Latino youth in Colorado. The mission of La Raza Youth Leadership is to empower Latino youth to achieve their educational and leadership potential and instill the desire to give back to the community.”*

A newly formed organization that encourages local teens to further their education is now offering scholarships to Latino students.

The Promise Group is a nonprofit volunteer organization that provides academic support to young adults and their families in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.”*

Some students at San Diego’s Mission Bay High School say they’re getting placed into Junior ROTC classes against their will. They’re urging school district officials to do something about it. KPBS Reporter Ana Tintocalis has more.

The students recently went before the San Diego school board to say an increasing number of Latino and Spanish-speaking students are being put into the school’s Marine ROTC program without their or their parents permission. Others say they were misled to sign-up. Student Karen Figueroa says school officials make it difficult once students want out.”*

Looking smart in a yellow dress shirt and a navy blazer, Saul Arellano was a reluctant speaker at the service in his honor Sunday.

Although he stood on an orange chair to deliver a brief statement in Spanish, the language he says he’s most comfortable with after nearly 8 months living in Mexico, the 9-year-old son of controversial Immigration activist Elvira Arellano was shy in front of the television cameras pointed in his direction.

But the 30 people gathered at Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood doted on their “Saulito” all the same..”*

300 Hispanic high school students are in Sun Valley right now getting ready for college.

For the 19th year the Hispanic Youth Symposium is being held at the Sun Valley Lodge.

The event is designed to give numerous opportunities to Idaho’s largest minority group.”*

Pretty as princesses, 15 special young ladies from across the United States and Puerto Rico celebrated a Dream-Come-True Quinceanera on Thursday at Disneyland Resort, with a grand red-carpet entrance, an enchanting ceremony in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle and a pixie-dusted dinner party with family and friends. Royal and resplendent, these lucky girls marked their cultural milestone with a dash of Disney magic, as part of the Year of a Million Dreams celebration.

To view the Multimedia News Release, go to: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/disney/32865/

A tradition in the Latin community, a Quinceanera is a young woman’s celebration of her 15th birthday, which marks the transition from a child to a young woman. It is commemorated in a way that distinguishes it from her other birthdays.

The royal evening ceremony at Disneyland Resort was filled with opulence, pageantry and tradition. It began with a dream-come-true moment for any teenage girl — a celebrity escort along a red carpet that led to the famous Sleeping Beauty Castle. The stellar lineup of stars included Cristina Saralegui, host of “The Cristina Show;” Andy Garcia, acclaimed actor and producer; pop singer Frankie J; actor-dancer Cristian De La Fuente of “Dancing with the Stars” and others.

In the castle forecourt, each birthday girl was greeted by Disney characters and prepared for a once-in-a-lifetime celebration. Each young lady, elegant and enchanting in her ball gown, danced a special waltz with her father, stepped from her flat shoes into Cinderella-like glass slippers and received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from her mother.

Following the official ceremony in the Castle Forecourt, each of the princesses joined her special guests at a private dinner party in Fantasyland Theater. The unforgettable party included the traditional Quinceanera cutting of the cake and doll ceremony, two important symbols of the transition from childhood to adulthood.

The magic began on Tuesday when the girls arrived, ready to prepare for the grand gala with dress fittings, rehearsals, a princess etiquette seminar, an ice cream social at the Disneyland Dream Suite and plenty of photo opportunities. After two days of fun, bonding and magical anticipation, they were ready for the spotlight and the delightful Quinceanera celebration.

The girls are from California, Florida, Arizona, New York, Texas, Illinois and Puerto Rico. Amethyst Lisa Cristina Martinez of Miami imagined this day for weeks and said, “Dreams aren’t impossible.” Kassandra Hernandez of Sacramento, Ca., was thrilled to celebrate her coming-of-age with family, a welcome joy after several recent family hardships. And Brenda Prado of Fresno, Ca., said her parents, who are farm workers, were ecstatic that their daughter could enjoy a magical Quinceanera celebration.

The bright lights will keep shining on these lucky young ladies, as their enchanting Disneyland Quinceanera is scheduled to be featured in a one-hour television special on Univision network’s “El Show de Cristina,” (The Cristina Show). More than 40 international broadcast and news outlets covered the festivities.

To make these dreams come true, Disney Parks launched a national search for prospective princesses in conjunction with selected Univision television news affiliates, Univision.com, Coca-Cola, David’s Bridal and “The Cristina Show.” Together, they found these 15 special girls to celebrate their magical Quinceaneras at Disneyland Resort.

All eligible princesses-to-be submitted essays explaining why they wanted to have their coming-of-age celebrations at “The Happiest Place on Earth.”

To ensure each Quinceanera girl was dressed as a true “belle of the ball,” David’s Bridal, the nation’s leading bridal retailer, provided each of the 15 girls with a ball gown, tiara and shoes. Southwest Airlines provided flights for each young lady and up to seven guests to attend the sparkling soiree. Hewlett-Packard donated limited-edition entertainment notebook PCs to each Quinceanera princess to help her pursue her educational goals and stay connected with family and friends. Kodak provided specially created Quinceanera-themed cameras so that each girl could capture her unique and thrilling memories.

Disney Parks, already a home to lavish ceremonies and magical milestone celebrations for guests visiting from around the globe every year, provides a castle-full of Quinceanera celebration options for young women and their families.

Quinceanera celebrations at Disneyland Resort Hotels or Walt Disney World Resort can be traditional, spiritual, large or intimate. Up to 500 guests can enjoy a Quinceanera at Disney Parks, with popular themes including fairy tale treasures such as “Cinderella” and “Beauty & the Beast” celebrations.

Other custom and lavish options include:

– Disney character appearances, including Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, dressed in formal or elegant charro attire

– Cinderella’s enchanted crystal coach, presented by a quartet of fanfare trumpeters

– An artful cake adorned with Disney princesses or characters

– A towering, 40-foot-wide castle facade creating a storybook setting for a formal dinner

– The Quinceanera girl’s name spelled in lights or illuminated balloons

– Intricate ice carvings

– Ornate floral arrangements and table centerpieces

For more information on Disney Parks’ Quinceanera product offerings and vacation packages, including the special Labor Day weekend Quinceanera at Walt Disney World Resort, guests may visit Disneyparks.com/quinceanera or Parquesdisney.com/quinceanera. For phone assistance about Quinceaneras at Walt Disney World, call 321-939-4555, and for Disneyland Resort in Southern California, call 866-55-DISNEY. “*

This weekend, hundreds of Hispanic teenagers from across the state will be working to pursue a goal in higher education.

Hispanics are known to have high drop out rate and this conference is an opportunity to allow local Hispanic students to seek brighter futures.

Two local educators say the meeting offers them options to stay in school.”*