The Southeast Texas P-16 Council brought its message to the Hispanic Family Conference hosted by the Catholic Diocese of Beaumont at the Beaumont Civic Center and the St. Anthony Cathedral complex.
SETXP-16 sponsored speaker Gonzalo Robles, founder of the Café con Leche initiative who spoke to both youth and adults on the importance of finishing high school and getting career certification at the college level. Robles also highlighted how the Café con Leche meetings work. They are less formal meetings where parents and students can meet with college experts and volunteers in a non-threatening environment to get their questions answered. “No one can make a good decision about college with out knowing all that is required and the resources that are available to help a family put a student through college,” Robles said.
Steve Buser, director of the Southeast Texas P-16 Council, said “Robles is helping us to get this initiative started and is doing a good job. After his speech we had several dozen people sign up at our booth to help with a Café con Leche or to attend one.”
“We will have him back to actually kick off the first one. There just wasn’t enough time
this weekend to get that done. We were grateful that we could communicate the message to such a large audience,” Buser said.
Buser and Lisa Cowart, Adult Studies Coordinator with the Lamar University of Continuing Education, also made a presentation to over 230 teens and young adults, talking to them about resources available to help them plan for an fund their college education.
We were also able to continue spread the word about the Generation TX campaign and website (http://GenTx.org),” he said. “This site is a college information, support, glossary, peer sharing and library of key links all rolled into one. It is designed to let the Generation Texas youth set their own expectations and visions and share them with those peers. As students get into college they can help give good advice to those following them and pull them along the path.”
He said sometimes, you just need a personal cheerleader or coach who you can share with and who will help you find your own path.”
In addition, SETXP-16 shared the lobby of the Lamar Downtown campus with the Junior Achievement who brought in volunteers to do money and finance workshops for the younger children.
“What made me happiest about the day was the eagerness that the Hispanic community showed to some of the literature in Spanish that we were passing out. Of course, we ran out, but we will restock and keep working on spreading the word. This is important to especially help parents with weak English language skills understand how important college is and be able to tap into available resources. Without parental support, it is easy for a student to lose his or her way.”
Generación Tx is an initiative to support the youth of today in their journey to and through college.
Our most popular brochure was “Funding Education Beyond High School” (Click here for the Spanish Version), the Guide to Federal Student Aid. The 55-page booklet carries the student through the process of
- understanding the value of a college education,
- applying for federal aid. and
- understanding what they need to do to be able to repay the loan.
Along the way it talks also about different grants and work study programs as well as scams to look out for and avoid.”
Buser said “the conference was a great success “Jesus Abrego, Fatima Burguenõ and their whole team did an amazing job with powerful speakers, motivating music and great information and more. I think the Bishop had to be pleased with the event. We were glad to do our small part.”
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