Our 2013 Student Leadership Series (SLS) partnered with Hispanics Inspiring Students' Performance and Achievement (HISPA) at their third annual San Antonio 2013 Youth Conference co-hosted by the Office of P-20 at University of Texas San Antonio. The president & founder of HISPA is Dr. Ivonne Diaz-Claisse. The Conference theme was "Take Action! Achieve Your Dreams".
The conference was attended by 250 students representing Mission Academy, King Academy, Hawthorne Academy and Anson Jones Middle School. The featured speakers were Dr. Juan Andrade, President of USHLI, and Shayla Rivera, the Funny Rocket Scientist. Conference workshops focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Shayla earned a degree in engineering at Texas A&M and worked at NASA before going into comedy. She has appeared on several comedy programs on television and is recognized as the funniest Latina comedian.
SLS participating schools will see their students become better motivated and more determined to succeed academically and in life. Their dropout rate will decrease and the graduation rate will increase as more and more students are inspired to navigate their way through the academic achievement pipeline toward career and success. Over 25,113 students, parents, and professionals in 7 states have been reached in 2013.
Persons interested in hosting an SLS event in 2013 should contact Dr. Juan Andrade at docandrade@ushli.org or Martha Villegas Miranda at mvillegas@ushli.org.
