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Emory’s open door for Latinx youth

In eight short years, Roxana Chicas progressed from being an Atlanta community college student to what she is today — an assistant professor at Emory’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. Along the way, she transferred to Emory, earning her BS and PhD, and now devotes her research to improving the health of underserved and vulnerable Latinx communities, particularly agricultural workers.

A high point in her self-confidence came from being on Emory’s campus in 2014 as a mentor-guide for that year’s Latino Youth Leadership Conference, an event put on annually by the Latin American Association (LAA). This year’s virtual conference is scheduled for Feb. 28, and interested students, teachers and parents can find more information here.

With some time that day to explore the campus, Chicas internalized the lessons she was there to impart to others: the belief that, with the right discipline and motivation, no place of higher education is beyond one’s reach. The LAA has been serving the Atlanta Latinx population with a range of services for the past 50 years, and its Latino Youth Leadership Conference has existed for more than two decades — a partnership period during which Emory often has contributed volunteers and six times has hosted the event on campus.

On Nov. 6, 2021, as the kickoff to the February conference, the LAA brought 150 high school students to The Hatchery, Emory’s Center for Innovation, for a day of panels, information sessions and motivational speakers, followed by a visit to the university’s Michael C. Carlos Museum. In empowering community members to achieve their aspirations for careers and colleges, the LAA has found that bringing students to Emory’s campus often creates what Raquel Machucha, the association’s college and career readiness coordinator, calls the “spark of interest” that is critical to motivating students through the lengthy process of researching schools and completing applications.

Vialla Hartfield-Mendez, Emory’s director of engaged learning and professor of pedagogy in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, has worked with the LAA for years and says of Emory’s campus, “For students, it is not just seeing that such a thing exists; it is also seeing oneself in that space. What Emory and the LAA have done well together is to push on the question of how we best partner to encourage that confidence in students.”

Takeaways for participants

Roxana Chicas could see her younger self in the good intentions of the current crop of mentor-guides, including Paula Figueroa, an Emory sophomore who is studying psychology. “Education is your biggest key to opening doors,” Figueroa says. “Coming to Emory, I realize how many opportunities I’ve had just to network and get to know other people and expand my knowledge.”

According to LAA CEO Santiago Marquez, the purpose of the youth conference is to “wrap students in love, knowledge and mentors.” Eli Velez, managing director of youth services, indicates that all of the videos prepared for the conference will remain on the LAA website for six months as resources to students, parents and teachers. They will cover every aspect of inspiring and empowering Latinx youth to pursue higher education — including sessions in Spanish for parents, programming focused on middle-schoolers and tips for mastering the sometimes complicated process of applying for financial aid and researching scholarships.

As rich as the offerings will be, “the conference is just the beginning,” Velez says. Beyond it, the LAA has committed to working one-on-one with families who can benefit from that level of support. And, in collaboration with DeKalb County, the association is setting up a Learning Hub, which will provide computers and other resources for students to use in their college explorations.

All of it gives high-school senior Jasmine Lopez-Sandoval a feeling of reassurance as she starts down a path she believes will lead to a master’s degree someday — perhaps in linguistics, maybe in computer science. “Being part of this conference has given me an opening and a gateway to ask questions and learn more,” she says.

And then there’s the appeal of a bustling, beautiful campus that never fails to welcome its visitors. “Emory has been a lifesaver for us, always opening its doors and being incredibly supportive of our efforts,” says Marquez.