Youth at summit encouraged to stay in school

Posted by Ali Gaby | Posted in Education Notes | Posted on 19-07-2011

Christina Huerta, right, a student at El Dorado High School, was one of hundreds of teens who took part in the “On Track To Graduate” teen summit Sunday at the Boys and Girls Clubs of El Paso at 801 S. Florence. The all-day event focused on drop-out and substance abuse prevention.

Isai Padilla credits the Boys & Girls Club with helping to turn around his life.

Padilla, who will be a junior at Mountain View High School next school year, said he was smoking pot on the weekends before joining the club partway through his freshman year.

Now, he has straightened his life out and is getting A and B grades. Padilla, who plays varsity football at Mountain View, also plans to go to college.

“Coming from the place we come from, it’s kind of ghetto,” Padilla said of Montana Vista. “People say you’ll never amount to anything. That’s what people say.”

The Boys & Girls Club, however, gave him “the gift of friendship, learning, feeling safe and most importantly the mentorship of people who care about you,” Padilla said. NEIGHBORHOODS
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 “Not everyone gets that at home.”

Padilla was one of the teen organizers of the first On Track to Graduate teen summit Sunday.

Padilla and other members of the Keystone Club, a teen-driven leadership program at the Janacek unit of the Boys & Girls Club in Montana Vista, organized the event. About 350 teens met at the Petty unit of the Boys & Girls Club in Segundo Barrio.

There they heard speakers such as Padilla tell them the importance of staying in school and setting their sights on going to college.

Teens also went on a free train ride, courtesy of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, from El Paso to Las Cruces and back.

The goal of the day was to provide a fun environment, but also inspire teens to stay in school and set their dreams high, organizers said.

“The important thing is teens are taking the lead on addressing the high number of people who drop out here in El Paso and across the nation,” said Arturo Jaime, chief professional officer with the Boys & Girls Club of El Paso.

Teens heard presentations on preparing for college, careers, drug and alcohol awareness, transitioning from middle school to high school and the dropout rate.

Nayeli Cordero is president of the Keystone Club, which organized the summit. She also graduated from Mountain View High School on Saturday and became the first person from her family ever to graduate. She will attend San Angelo State University, where she will study photography and photojournalism. She plans to eventually transfer to St. John’s University in New York.

“We did research on the teen dropout rate; we realized it’s a real big issue,” she said. “A lot of Latinos aren’t graduating.”

The goal of the summit was to “change minds” and inspire fellow teens to stay in school, Cordero said.

Army Capt. Dhyan Tarver was honored by the teens for volunteering at the Boys & Girls Club Janacek Unit when he was stationed at Fort Bliss in 2009. He is now at Fort Stewart in Georgia but made the trip back to attend the summit.

Tarver, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and a San Antonio native, said he volunteered to try to be a positive role model.

A negative environment that features drugs, gangs and violence “can really hurt children,” Tarver said.

The Boys & Girls Club can help to combat that by providing a positive, family-type atmosphere, he said.

Silvia Maldonado, site director for the Janacek unit of the Boys & Girls Club, said Sunday’s event showcased teens who have stayed in school and are positive role models. “If they can do it, you can do it,” she said.

Besides the railroad, other partners included: Rio Grande Safe Communities, which provided funding for free T-shirts and backpacks for participants; Panda Express, which provided free food; and Taco Bell, which is the national sponsor of Keystone Clubs across the nation.

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