Have you ever had a dream that you wanted to see in your life but didn't know how to make your dream come true? I was talking to a friend the other day and we talked about how we got through college and the sacrifices we made to find the money to finish college. I worked my way through, some scholarships, but mostly grants if I promised to work with special needs children when I finished school. My friend worked in the mines of Arizona every summer to get enough money to make it through the next academic year. That I'm sure was tough. Then there were the friends, who didn't go to college and who thought I was crazy for trying to go to school. I don't know where those friends are anymore, but I'm glad I didn't listen to them. I had a dream and I wanted to pursue that vision in my head.
I spoke to John Consalvi a few months ago about recruiting more Latinos into the field. We both had ideas, high school recruitment, college visits, and scholarships of course. But what else can we do to help young Latinos make it through high school and college. I know that so many don't make it through the educational system, but there are also many who do, but don't go on to college.
I've decided that I need to find some help with this. So I've contacted the largest church in St. Louis that has a Spanish mass. I found out that they have a sizable number of families who attend and also that there are 6 other churches with Spanish mass. As I spoke to the rector about my hope to encourage Latino youth to go to college, I found out that students who finish high school here, but are not citizens, must pay out of state tuition, like international students. These students have lived here all of their life, graduated from high school here, but they can't attend college as citizens. How can we help?
I found out that there is a bill in the state legislature called the Dream Act. This bill will change this situation and allow children who have graduated from Missouri high schools to attend state colleges and universities as citizens. Hispanic leaders from different organizations from across the state will be in Jefferson City in mid-April to talk to the legislature about this program and other issues that impact the Latino community. I've never done much in the way of lobbying in congress or in the state legislature, but I believe this is one issue that I can't sit in my office and encourage others to do. I need to be there and say my two cents. There are some very bright young people who are missing the opportunity for an education and an opportunity to live out their dream. There are fathers I know who work in labor jobs at a construction site, grocery store, restaurant, or maintenance crew that have hopes for sons or daughters to become exactly what they dream of becoming. When I test a young child and see a mother's eyes that she sees a bright child who she hopes will not struggle in life, I know that I have to do something. I bet they never thought that the educational system would require papers for their children to go to college.
I recently heard a presentation that private universities have the largest numbers of minorities graduating from their schools, more than public universities. Maybe because they don't have out of state tuition and everyone pays the same price. There are scholarships at private universities, but likely the students will still have to work, get a loan, or borrow the money from family to finish school. I'm sure that that alone will be a deterrent to realizing that dream.
I've heard about individuals, teachers, who have adopted a whole classroom of young children and told them that if they finished high school, the children would get college scholarships. I don't‚ know if that really encourages children to finish high school and go to college, but it sounds good to me. If I were a parent of a child in that classroom, I would do everything I could to help my child finish high school. I wonder if there are foundations that would do something like that for a whole church full of young Latinos who want to go to college.
I've thought about talking to the church leaders and trying to organize the 7 churches and getting families to work toward scholarships for the members. I‚ve made arrangements to talk to the families and I've asked other Latino faculty to come with me to talk about their own fields of study. I wonder if it‚ll help to just let parents know what's possible and what can be done now for the future. Can they save a little bit for their child's future education? Is that too much to ask? Can these families band together to help each other and build a scholarship foundation for all of their children's future. Will the church be open to this dream?
I'll think about it some more, maybe I'll contact some people in the foundations office at work, and see what I can find. I got the graduate school to put up all of the scholarships and fellowships available to minorities on our web site. That's one way to encourage a Latino youth, look at websites for colleges and universities to see if they have anything posted for Latinos.
If you are working with youth and have the opportunity to help someone or encourage a young person to go on to college, then make the effort. Those of us who are dreamers, I know really are happy to help others see their dreams come true.
