CHANGE MY LOCATION
Local
California News
Multimedia News
Nonprofit teaches Hispanic students, parents about the road to college
SEE HOW THIS STORY DEVELOPED
Related Topics: BALTIMORE
)
Yinauras Martinez, left, and her mother Maria Martinez chat about the conference they attended at the University of Baltimore.
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Yinauras Martinez, 16, left her native Dominican Republic two years ago for the United States with the hopes of becoming a nurse or a doctor but felt intimidated by the complicated world of financial aid, college applications and scholarships.
Today, the junior at Northwestern Senior High School in Baltimore’s Park Heights neighborhood exudes confidence about her future.
She attended a recent conference a local nonprofit periodically offers to fill a gap in Maryland’s public schools by showing Hispanic children — and their parents — that college is not only a possible dream, but a preferable one.
“I want to go to Johns Hopkins University. And now I know how to do it,” Yinauras said emphatically as she left the free six-hour workshop held through the Baltimore-based U.S. Hispanic Youth Entrepreneur Education Foundation at the University of Baltimore.
A dozen youth, ranging from sixth-graders to seniors, decided to spend part of their last weekend of summer freedom to sit in an auditorium and write mission statements about their goals in life. During the school year, more students typically show up to these quarterly conferences.
“You guys are already ahead of the curve by being here,” Juan Torrico, the foundation director, told them.
In a nearby room, teachers, activists and business leaders gathered to tackle the problem of Hispanic students dropping out of school, among other issues.
So far, many said they are impressed with new Baltimore City schools Chief Executive Officer Andres Alonso but also described a Hispanic achievement gap as reflective of larger societal problems that one person alone cannot fix.
Too often, Hispanic parents expect their children to work instead of going to school to help support the families, said Veronica Cool, a vice president for Wachovia.
“Parents need to learn that they should sacrifice that $40 a child can earn to help pay for the electric bill so they can go to school,” said Cool, who worked her way through college to pay cash for her education.
The latest wave of immigrants views universities as a luxury because only the rich attend school in their native countries, foundation chairman Roger Campos said.
In another room farther down the hallway, four mothers and one father listened as other parents shared in Spanish about how they pushed their children to go to school and what cost-saving opportunities exist, including Advanced Placement tests.
Reginaldo Ramirez II, a Severna Park father, learned about how his son, Reginaldo Ramirez III, could dual-enroll in high school and college to earn free credits.
“We don’t want to cause trouble. We just want better lives for our children,” he said.
“One way to integrate into a society is to get an education.”
kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com
