Junior Texas Leadership Pipeline Conference

From June 16th to June 19th, the Hispanic Scholarship Consortium hosted their first ever Latino Leader Program, the Junior Texas Leadership Pipeline Conference, a program opened to Austin ISD Hispanic freshmen.  The conference focused on:

Evelina Solis.
Founder & President of Sol2Soul. 

1.       Developing the leadership capacity within the students to equip them to take full ownership of their lives and have the tools to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.

2.       Cultivating a college-going culture.

3.       Actively promoting college and career.

4.       Taking on leadership roles.

5.       Building a sense of community.

The speakers and their workshops were centered on the themes and looked at college issues from various perspectives.  The sessions at the conference ranged from Jessica Carter, a Doctoral Student from the University of Texas at Austin, discussing the importance of a mentor to Evelina Solis’s presentation of realizing one’s dream and working towards it at a young age, because you never know if your health will always be with you.

“This really inspired as well as my own personal experiences to live my life to the fullest and to eat healthy,” said Eric, a 10th grade student at McCallum High School.

The combination of both professional speakers, current HSC scholars, and the workshops integrated the themes being presented to a more relatable viewpoint, often welcoming students to ask questions and express concerns about their futures.  Rather than having solely speakers discuss and lead conversation, several students in attendance showed a profound interest in the presentations and often sought the speaker at the end of the session to learn more about the subject.

“This session gives me a sense of mind. It is important to my future because there is a major difference between a Bachelor's and Master's degree.  Knowing that I can definitely go above what's expected is also a great motivation!,” said Stephanie, a student at Akins High School.

More than 30 students attended the conference.

Students also learned the different stereotypes that the Hispanic community has had to endure in the Hollywood movies.  Instead of focusing in the negatives aspects of those stereotypes, students were encouraged to think about it as a motivator to go beyond the expectations.

“Being Latina is important to me because I can show many others that do not believe in me that I can succeed in whatever I do.  I love my culture and I completely embrace it,” said Brianna, an enthusiastic 10th student.

The conference closed on June 19th with a tour in the University of Texas at Austin and a visit to the Texas Capitol where students heard from State Representative Eddie Rodriguez and Dr. Paul Cruz, Interim Superintendent of Austin ISD.

The Hispanic Scholarship Consortium sincerely thanks our sponsors for supporting our mission and making the Junior Texas Leadership Pipeline Conference possible!

• Austin Energy
• City of Austin
• Austin ISD