Rise and Lead With Authenticity / Elevate y Liderea Con Autenticidad

 This story was in collaboration with Emily Jimerson

Photo by Emily Jimerson

“We are the emerging majority.”

These words were chanted by an auditorium of Oregon high school students who attended the inaugural Latine High School Leadership Conference on Friday, May 3, at Linn-Benton Community College. The students came from West Albany, South Albany, Corvallis, Crescent Valley, Philomath, Lebanon, and Monroe high schools.

The Conference began with keynote speaker Greg Contreras, the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) director at Portland Community College. Contrera’s speech focused on plantando semillas; planting seeds. He described five decisions he made, described as “seeds planted,” which contributed to his sucess.

They are:

Semilla #1: “Read like no one is watching, then watch how much you learn, grow, and change.” The seed he planted in his life and in others’ lives was libros/books. 

Semilla #2: “Despite impostor syndrome, stand out in more ways than just your skin color.” Some of these ways include your character, service, and leadership.

Semilla #3: “Discover your life purpose through service to others.” Serve in the career field you want to go into, such as animal shelters, hospitals, church. 

Semilla #4: “Be the change your family needs.” He said, “Poverty ends with me. Substance abuse ends with me. Lack of education ends with me.”

Semilla #5: “Fill your cup, so you have more to give up.” His mom, Lala Contreras, never had the chance to graduate so he wanted to change that in his family. He was also able to give back to her and all she had done for him by giving her a large amount of money after he graduated.

After Contrera’s speech the students moved onto either workshops or a career fair in the LBCC Activities Center.

One of the workshops, “Machismo in Violence-Free Communities” was led by LBCC staff member Nuria Gamarra, who defined machismo, its role in violence, and those especially at risk such as actively immigrating people.

Photo from Emily Jimerson 

The career fair had dozens of booths representing LBCC organizations, community agencies, Oregon colleges and universities, and business and industry representatives. Staff at the booths answered questions and gave out brochures of information to the students.

Students gathered in groups at the career fair, talking with friends and moving from booth to booth. One student from Philomath High School said the career fair was their favorite part of the conference because “there’s some departments I want to go into.” Another Philomath High student said, “I really liked the speech at the beginning and all his ‘seeds talk.’” A third student from PHS said their favorite part was the bracelet making workshop.

Lunch was provided to the students, consisting of chips and salsa with burritos.

A second round of workshops came after lunch, but was unfortunately made confusing by a last-minute room change. The “Access to Higher Education” workshop was moved to IA 212 and none of the high school students made it there.

The closing keynote speaker, John Haroldson Suárez, the first Mexican-American district attorney in Oregon, spoke in alternating English and Spanish about his background growing up as a Mexican-American and then becoming a first-generation college student.

“If all immigration stopped today,” he said, “Latinos would still be the largest group in this country, because they are rapidly growing according to statistics.

“We are not minorities, we are the emerging majority.”

Finally, at the end of the conference, three students were chosen via a raffle to receive a $1,200 scholarship should they attend Linn-Benton Community College, courtesy of the LBCC Foundation and the NAACP.

The conference and workshops were organized by the Equity Center, with Latino Outreach and Retention Manager Angel Dorantes, Gaby Esquivel, Deron Fort, Nuria Gamarra, Michael Lopez, Trista Ochoa, Dominga Sanchez, Elizabeth Soto, and Gabby Triana.

Photo by Emily Jimerson