Its that time of year again, where you get to help high school students from Hayward High School learn about your career and practice their networking skills. Please save the date and join us. There will be a little “happy hour” for adults after.
One of the things our Puente team wants our students to leave Hayward High with is a stronger networking ability. In that spirit, we are hosting our 3rd Annual “Grape Juice and Cheese” event on May 3rd from 6 to 8 pm in the Hayward High Library.
The idea is to bring professionals together from various fields and have students practice “working the room.” It could be a great opportunity for us to not only help my students grow, but it could serve to reconnect a lot of us and to extend our own networks. We are hoping to make this event something students not only remember but that gives them an edge when they are in similar settings in the future.
We hope you are having an amazing holiday season, and that 2012 will be filled with great adventures. To wrap up 2011, we wanted to share a few of our accomplishments, and let you know what we have planned for 2012.
This year we:
-Welcomed Jorel Guilloty as part of our external Board of Directors
-Had an amazing mentor mixer event at Charles Schwab’s headquarters and LAM, where we screened the movie ‘Miss Representation’ by Jennifer Newsom
-Worked with two new schools in San Francisco, including for the first time a high school
-EDGEucation submitted an application to become tax exempt! This will allow us to receive larger donations as a tax exempt organization, and help our programs grow
While we are very excited about our accomplishments, we understand that there is still a lot of work to do. In 2012, there are our goals:
-Create an internal Board of Directors that can take EDGEucation to the next level. Specifically, we are looking for strong leaders in the areas of events/programming, teacher/production, webmaster/communication, and a secretary. If you are interested and would like to get more information please email us at info@myedgeucation.org
-Increase the number of students in our program in San Francisco by 20%
Continue and expand our collaborations efforts with other organizations such as Charles Schwab, Twitter, and local organizations
-Start working on a university scholarship for graduating high school students
We thank you for all your support, and we challenge you to impact someone’s life by mentoring them. We would like to give special thanks to our speakers Laura Gomez (Twitter), and Claudia Galvan (Microsoft), keep on rocking ladies!
On December 1st we will be hosting private screening of Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s film, Miss Representation. This exclusive event will explore how mainstream media directly contributes to the under-representation of women and minorities in key leadership roles by cultivating demeaning stereotypes and rigid gender roles.
Following the screening, we will host a panel discussion on how to best empower our youth today.
Space for this event is limited and registration for is required. Please RSVP by November 28th
The current status of Latinos in the U.S. – Challenges and opportunities
The rapid growth rate of Latinos living in the United States has been a major center of controversy for the last couple of years covering heated debates around the numbers of legal foreign-born immigrants, U.S. born Latinos, and unauthorized immigrants. Aside from the debate, numbers don’t lie, and the numbers released by the 2010 census make Latinos the largest minority group in the United States accounting for 16% of the total population. What is even more powerful are the projections; according to the Census bureau, that percentage is expected to nearly double by the middle of this century.
While one in four American children is Latino, we have the lowest education attainment levels in the nation. According to the White House Report on Latino Education, more than 17.1 million Latinos age 17 or younger live in the U.S., comprising more than 23 percent of the country’s youth and nearly 22 percent of all K-12 public school enrollments. However, less than half are enrolled in early learning programs. Only half of the population earns a high school diploma on time, and when those students do, they’re half as likely to be ready for college. To date, more than 87% of Latinos do not hold a bachelor’s degree. Our college drop-out rate is 2.5 times higher than that of African Americans and 3.5 times higher than that of white Anglo Americans according to a report released by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in 2007.
The pressing questions are then: Why Should we care? What can we do?
As the second largest population group in the United States, the educational attainment of Latino students is connected to the nation’s growth and success. As the Latino population grows, the U.S. economy becomes more and more dependent on its success.
It is imperative that Latino students break the cycle benefit from full access to educational experiences of the highest quality.
When it comes to what actions to take there is a simple one: let’s give back. As professional Latinos with the drive, determination, and passion to excel we have a responsibility to cultivate the next generation of Latinos through mentoring and sponsorships. Mentoring has been proven to be highly effective in connecting students with leaders in the community, particularly in conquering the academic and social disengagement from school that leads to dropping out. An overwhelming number of Hispanic youth in the country does not have professional role models within their own family; mentors are important in ensuring success and providing the students with professional guidance, support, and access to resources.
We have started, are you ready to join us?
EDGEucation is a program that centers on inspiring and leading youth, through pairing students with leaders from their communities and educating students on the numerous options they have after high school. The goal of EDGEucation is to increase the graduation rate among underrepresented groups in California by leading and creating inspirational programs and connecting positive role models from within the community with students. Our vision is to level the playing field and aid underrepresented groups attain better opportunities after graduation by leading, inspiring, and working with prospective role models from within the community, to push education to the edge, and make education attainable for everyone.
If you are ready to make a difference or if you want to learn more about EDGEucation, we invite you to join us for our Mentor Mixer and Recruiting event.
International Growth is preparing a training seminar of English etiquette for young people ages 17-20, who are finishing high school or are in their fist years of college, this Saturday Aug 21 from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm in San Francisco
Topics to be discussed will include:
business meetings and protocols
posture
dress attire
introductions in the US and other cultures
visual contact
job interviews and behaviors
table manners (from picnics to dinners with diplomatics)
drinks (obligations and responsibilities)
The seminar will include a binder with all of the materials presented, transportation to the seminar, as well as all of the meals. The total cost of this seminar is of $140.00.
Bay Area companies and organizations have stepped up and sponsored 10 spots for EDGEucation students to attend this valuable seminar. Ten students will be selected to attend who are recommended by their mentors in an essay of no more than 250 words. Spots will be given to the best recommendations by their mentors. We encourage all students to participate. Please send your recommendation to laura@myedgeucation.org or giovanni@myedgeucation.org by Wednesday Aug 18 at 5.00pm. Finalist will be announced Thursday Aug 19
