Student Leadership Program Tries New Ideas

By Editor Ken Harvey

The 2007 State Student Leadership Program (SLP) Conference was “a springboard for new thinking,” says Linda Roberts, the director of the Office of Secondary Education for Migrant Youth (SEMY), which administers the program.

As a pilot activity this year, parents were invited to participate in leadership training, as were members of the Ambassadors for Student Knowledge (ASK). 

Altogether there were 71 students at the conference, including 15 Ambassadors. ASK is a new, more intensive 2-year program of student leadership training. There were also 23 parents in attendance at the conference held at Central Washington University (CWU) Aug. 16-19.

“We suspect that helping parents see the university environment and learning about their child's potential has a powerful effect on the support students later receive from family,” says Roberts. “SLP staff will continue to support school and regional staff to expand the outreach to those parents who would not normally get involved.”

For 21 years the SLP has been providing migrant students with fun, powerful training on building relationships, understanding individual potential, making choices, action planning, problem-solving and communications, explains Roberts.

About 80 percent of the migrant students who attend the conference set higher goals and graduate from high school, compared to a nationwide graduation rate among migrant students of only 50 percent. Almost all of the students commit to pursuing a college education, as well.

STUDENTS SAY PROGRAM LIFE-CHANGING

“I had a great experience at SLP. I leaned many things I will be able to apply to my everyday life,” says Xochitl Velazquez of Eastmont High School.

“This is a great experience for anyone who attends,” she says. “While at this conference, you don't just sit in a room and talk the whole time. Instead the facilitators have hands-on activities and games that have a purpose and are related to the topics that are being covered, like decision-making and leadership skills.

“It is time well spent,” says the 16-year-old junior.

Cesar Espinoza, a Mount Vernon High School junior, wasn’t sure he wanted to be at the conference.

“At the first day of the conference I thought that it was boring and pointless. But the next day when I got to meet more students and staff, everything changed,” he says.

“The group activities were fun, and they had a big impact on me. They made me think more about my future, and the different ways I can achieve my goals. I liked everything about the conference,” he says.

“I recommend it to all students because you can learn a lot and have fun at the same time,” says Espinoza. “After being in the conference, I realize if you really want your dreams to come true, you have to work hard, and that there are also many people who are willing to help you. SI SE PUEDE! (It can be achieved!)”

“The conference gave me the extra push to actually pursue the career I am looking forward to do and to clear all the doubt of ever failing,” says 16-year-old 10^th-grader Jose Hernandez of Eastmont High School. “If everyone would attend the conference there would be more successful people in the world.  I learned lifelong lessons that no one can steal because they are now parts of you and will stay with you the rest of your life.”

 “Before going to the conference, I was only wanting my bachelor’s degree. After the conference, I'm aiming for my master’s or even perhaps my Ph.D. It made me gain self-confidence, and I’m proud to be a Latina. More ambitious, confident, and capable of achieving my dreams!” says Grecia Macias,

 “Attending all the leadership conferences I've been to has impacted my life since the first one,” says Janette Mariscal of Brewster School District. “I'm much more confident in myself and know how to set goals that I can achieve. I've already told students about how life-changing this conference is.”

 “Before I went I was thinking of just going to a two-year college, but during and after the conference I decided to attend a four-year college,” says Ivan Plancarte. “The main reason why is because I saw real-life examples of people who don't stop studying after graduation. When I asked them why they’re going to a four-year college, many of the reasons why is because ‘it pays off’ in the long term. It was once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

 “Group A was the most fantastic, tremendous group I have ever seen because throughout the whole conference we were always united. They opened up their hearts to the people in the group like the students and the facilitators. They really expressed what they felt,” says Luis Chavez, a Quincy senior. “We had an activity called the web, and everybody had to say something they learned or what they felt during the conference. The students and the facilitators started crying, and we weren't ashamed because our group was a family.”

 “The conference made me realize I want to go to school and have a good career. I also made really good friends,” says Tanya Ramirez. “What I want to tell other students is that they are going to be encouraged to keep going to school and become someone really important in life -- to never give up on their dreams and to keep their heads up!”

PROGRAM IMPACTS LIVES OF VOLUNTEERS, AS WELL

 More than half of the two dozen facilitators and chaperones who help put on the program were previously SLP students. The program had such a big impact on their lives that they feel compelled to return and share it with younger migrant students.

Gerardo Gonzalez first attended the SLP conference when he was a 16-year-old high school sophomore in 1994 – just two years after immigrating to the U.S.

“It was SLP that inspired and motivated me to finish high school and continue on to higher education,” he says. “The conference continues to provide the same inspiration and motivation it has been providing for over 20 years.”

Gonzalez has returned as a chaperone for many years now because it continues to motivate him.

“It is remarkable the impact this conference has on teenage migrant students, as well as on professionals who volunteer as staff,” he says. “SLP is a supportive family that has helped many of us grow personally and professionally. It was at this event that I learned how to ‘Dream, Believe and Achieve.’”

 SLP has inspired Gonzalez to achieve his bachelor’s degree in visual art and now pursue his master’s degree in architecture.

“At the conference I learned how to overcome barriers and set stepping stones towards what I wanted to do. It showed me that ‘si se puede.’ Every year the conference has a tremendously encouraging message. It helps students to realize their potential as a person and as a leader in our society,” says Gonzalez.

“It is very rewarding for me to be a role model and an inspiration to migrant students, and encourage students to realize their potential,” he adds. “The Migrant Student Leadership Program changed my life.”

Rafael Villalobos Jr. is also a former migrant student and SLP participant. He is now an educational recruiter and adviser for CWU’s TRIO Educational Opportunity Center.

Villalobos attended SLP as a student nine years ago.

“Had it not been for the conference, I would have never considered going to college,” he says. “Returning as a staff member made the SLP experience all the better. I could see the changes in students like those that were once inspired into my own character -- confidence, self-respect, purpose, guidance, belief in my own potential and, of course, leadership. 

“I think if I learned anything, it was to give back!” says Villalobos.

“This was my first year helping out, and it was fantastic,” says Guadelupe Hernandez, who attended as a student in 2002 and is now a senior at CWU studying business administration. “The conference helped so much. Words can’t express the gratitude I have for this great program.

“The conference changed the way I viewed my life. It pushed me to challenge myself, to dream big, and to know that there is always a way out no matter how bad the situation is. All the strategies I learned in the conference have given me the strength to pay my way through school.  I will get my B.A. this school year! However, I plan to get my M.A. later on, so it is only the beginning of a long journey,” she says.

 Jamie Fleming has assisted with conference administration in the past, but this was her first year as a facilitator, helping to teach the curriculum to the migrant students.

“The conference is a safe and positive place to practice vital life skills,” she says.  “We learn together -- how to develop relationships, understand potential, make good choices, solve problems, and plan.  The small group’s positive affirmations encourage and challenge each member to be our best selves and to bring out the best in others.  We hear that we are leaders and can make a difference.

“I have heard the conference described by another as ‘food for the soul’ – an accurate description of the emotional nourishment I take from the conference,” says Fleming.

David Rodriguez was one of the primary leaders of the conference in years past, but last year moved to another job. Still, he felt compelled to take the time to return and volunteer his time to something that has come to mean so much to him.

“SLP is my home away from home because I feel like I am around family. As usual, the SLP conference gives me the emotional high I need to help me face day-to-day life with a stronger will and determination like no other,” Rodriguez says.

“The SLP conference never ceases to amaze me because I always learn and walk away a better person.  The students and staff just click at EVERY single conference, and this year, being my seventh conference, was no exception,” he says.

Rodriguez is now a school board member for the Mabton School District and a staff member in Sunnyside High School’s alternative programs. The SLP inspires him to work harder and do better in both roles.

“I know I am a piece of the puzzle that will make a difference for our leaders of tomorrow,” he says.

PARENTS INSPIRED BY CONFERENCE, TOO

Parents responded as positively to the conference as the students, says Ray Alaniz, migrant parent services coordinator for the Migrant Education Regional Office in Wenatchee.

He was one of the trainers for the 23 parents who attended.

“The response was fabulous,” says Alaniz. “Parents are always looking to learn new things about how to help their children, how to improve the quality of life at home, and the information provided them can be put to use immediately.”

There were many important topics discussed during the parent training. Some of the most important, says Alaniz, include, “Teach by example. Take time to do something fun with the kids. Be consistent in rewarding and discipline. Have an agreement with children ahead of time on what is good behavior and not appropriate behavior. Have a clear understanding of consequences for bad behavior. And, finally, expect gradual behavior change and not immediate.”

Parent participation was very positive, says Alaniz, but changing the conference from its normal March-April time frame to August made it very difficult for parents to attend – especially for fathers.

“August is a very busy time of the year for parents and not good for an event such as this conference,” he says. “Also, I think this should be an entire separate conference.”

Roberts says the August schedule also hurt student participation. Dozens of students who applied to attend did not show up, a problem the SLP has never experienced in the spring.

SLP OFFERS TRAINING, ASSISTANCE FOR LOCAL PROGRAMS

SLP has won numerous awards, including the state’s Golden Apple Award, and Roberts would like to see its life-changing impact expand across the state.

“We know the SLP curriculum helps migrant students stay in school, graduate and pursue post-secondary education,” says Roberts.  “We also know we must somehow harness the potential of students who can serve as role models.” 

The SLP is currently organizing train-the-trainer workshops to help schools initiate their own local student leadership programs.

“We are excited about working more substantially with school building staff to certify local SLP trainers,” Roberts says.

“When schools develop student leaders at the middle school level, SLP staff will expand the content of the state conference to accommodate all levels of leaders -- those emerging leaders who excel in our current curriculum, as well as content for advanced migrant student role models,” she adds.

Besides the training, the SLP staff will help schools design services that are integrated into their existing programs, part of their school improvement effort, and linked with other resources, such as leadership camps put on by the Association of Secondary School Principals and by universities.

“SEMY staff members hope to join educators to spearhead the participation of migrant youth in activities across the state. The dropout rate is too high to do anything less!” says Roberts.