Conquering College, 101 : Latino Students Attend a Workshop Designed to Foster Leadership Skills and Self-Esteem

As president of the Newman Club, a support group for Roman Catholic students, Lisa Peraza has organized Bible studies, planned a potluck luncheon and counseled several of the organization’s 20 members at Mt. San Antonio College.

But being outgoing has not always been so easy for the 22-year-old sophomore.

When she addressed the college’s student government two years ago to request funds to send herself and other Latino students to a leadership conference, Peraza found herself with an acute case of stage fright.

“I was so nervous. My voice was shaking and everything,” Peraza recalled. “But I did it anyway.”

Peraza has come a long way since making the successful appeal for money to attend the Latino/a College Leadership Institute, a four-day workshop series that fosters leadership skills and self-esteem among Latino college students.

“It helped me get involved and not be intimidated,” Peraza said. “I was setting barriers for myself. (The institute) helped me understand (those barriers) weren’t solid.”

Peraza recently returned to the retreat as a resident student adviser. She was one of nearly 100 college students attending the institute’s sixth annual gathering, which was held at Camp Max Straus, a conference facility in Glendale.

Co-sponsored by the Southern California chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews and by the Assn. of Mexican American Educators, the program is geared toward Latino college students in their first three years of study.

Students are taught in workshops how to assert themselves, communicate effectively and appreciate other cultures, institute officials say. By the end of the program, participants have a list of objectives they want to accomplish on their campuses, such as establishing a newspaper for Latino students or running for student office.

“It’s hopefully bringing them up to leadership positions on campus and society in general,” institute coordinator Daniel Loera said.

The program costs $175 per student. Most of this year’s participants, who ranged in age from 18 to 42, attended on scholarships from local businesses and campus organizations.

The program encouraged Christine Chavez, a sophomore at El Camino College in Torrance, to help organize a cultural awareness workshop and a student trip to Sacramento to protest education-related budget cuts.

“It helped me to speak up,” Chavez said.

The program also bolsters students’ self-esteem, an essential ingredient for many who are the first in their families to attend college.

“I felt old being in college,” said Mario Cortez, a 25-year-old UC Riverside senior who is the first in his family to attend college.

After attending the institute last year, however, he realized that he was right on track.

“It’s made me realize it’s OK to be where I’m at right now,” said Cortez, who is considering applying to law school.

The program “gives us ammunition to face the real world,” he said. “It injects us with self-esteem.”

William Valenzuela, a 23-year-old senior at UC Irvine, is also the first in his family to attend college. He said the program has helped him overcome misconceptions held by him and his family members.

“It was for a white person to go to college. It wasn’t for me,” Valenzuela said, adding that his family calls him “the American.”

Valenzuela has become a role model for his 15-year-old sister, Jessica, who wants to be a chiropractor.

“She’s using me as an example,” said Valenzuela, who is making sure his sibling is taking the requisite courses and tests for college.

The program also features prominent Latino professionals who dispense advice and encouraging words to students.

“They’ve done it; they’ve gone through these struggles and they encourage you,” Chavez said.

Among this year’s speakers were Gilberto Anzaldua, assistant superintendent of the Los Angeles County office of education; R. Samuel Paz, an Alhambra civil rights attorney, and Angela Weimar, director of development, Hispanic Services Easter Seal Society of Los Angeles and Orange Counties Inc.

“You learn something from everyone you meet, through their experiences” Peraza said. “(The program is) going to benefit me later in life when I have children, and in my career.”