About La Promesa

List of organizations

2002 Celebration

2000 Celebration

Idaho

Programs

Idaho Hispanic Youth Symposium

Program Descriptions

Idaho Hispanic Youth Symposium
1998 La Promesa Winner

Contact
Shannon Bowman
LMITCO Diversity Initiatives
P.O. Box 1625
Idaho falls, ID 83415
(208) 526-0686
Fax (208) 526-0884

The Idaho Hispanic Youth Symposium encourages young Latinos to take pride in their heritage and seek brighter futures for themselves and their families by staying in school in preparation for meaningful, rewarding careers. The bilingual program imparts a sense of awareness, hope, and social responsibility to Latino teens. Interactive workshops focus on personal and educational development topics. The symposium strives to increase student awareness of educational and career opportunities and helps students identify resources to finance higher education, such as scholarships and grants.

Students travel from throughout Idaho to meet new people and rekindle old friendships while learning the importance of an education. Three hundred students from over 70 schools spend three days listening to motivational speakers and participating in interactive workshops designed to enhance self-esteem, leadership, and problem-solving skills, as well as to highlight possible career paths. The students compete in speech, talent, athletic, and interactive skill contests for awards and scholarships and network with peers and role models.

The symposium grew out of a 1988 brainstorming session centered on ways to curb the high school dropout rate of over 60 percent for Latino teens in Idaho. Since then, nearly 2,500 students from throughout Idaho have attended the program, and scholarships and prizes valued at over $600,000 have been awarded. In 1998, nearly l,500 students applied to represent their schools at the symposium, and the dropout rate has fallen to 28 percent.