UT to host ninth annual Latino Youth Summit
By Meghan Cunningham : May 9th, 2011
More than 600 students from the Toledo area will participate in the ninth annual Latino Youth Summit Tuesday, May 10, at The University of Toledo.
The summit, which is open to students in grades seven through 12, will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Main Campus.
The University created the summit in 2003 to promote the importance of education and increase the Latino high school graduation rate and college attendance.
“Latinos are the fastest growing population and largest ethnic group in the country, but, unfortunately, Hispanic youth are less likely to complete high school and attend or graduate from college,” said Sabina Elizondo-Serratos, UT associate director of Multicultural Student Services. “This summit serves to empower students and parents and provide them with information to better navigate the educational system.”
Workshops to get the students excited about learning will include an engineering lab about math conversions with the new hybrid vehicles, a business lesson about finances, and a science exploration using the simulation center on the UT Health Science Campus.
The keynote speaker for the event will be Mónica Ramírez, the director of Esperanza: The Immigrant Women’s Legal Initiative of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which works to eradicate sexual violence and gender discrimination against farm worker and low-wage immigrant women. A senior staff attorney with the law center’s Immigrant Justice Project, Ramírez has been a farm worker and immigrant rights advocate for more than 15 years.
The summit also will include information about the Ohio Graduation Test and financial aid options for college, including a UT scholarship for attending the Latino Youth Summit.