Hispanic youths get a chance to shine

For 15-year-old Cristhian Mejia, Saturday's Hispanic Youth Unity and Leadership Conference will be more than a chance to meet other teens and learn about her heritage. It will be the first public exhibition of her artwork.

"I'm so excited about it," said Mejia, the Highland High school student who won the youth art contest with her pencil drawing of swirls and eyes. "It makes me think that I could do some more things, I can do better things. "

Mejia's pencil drawing, "XXXXX," will be the T-shirt design for those attending the conference at the University of Utah union building. It will also be exhibited along with other entries in the contest, themed "exploring your identity."

Some 150 Latino teens and their families are registered to attend Saturday's workshop and see the artwork entered into the Mestizo Institute of Culture and Art contest, said Jorge J. Arce-Larreta, president of Utah Coalition of La Raza, which is sponsoring the conference.

"I think the main focus is twofold. It's to encourage students to continue their education at universities and to develop cultural awareness and leadership in the community," Arce-Larreta said.

The conference will give teens from a variety of backgrounds a chance to share their experience and cultures. Mejia came to the United States three years ago from Mexico, speaking no English.

Another conference attendee, Andrea Ortega, an 18-year-old senior at Valley High School in Sandy, said she wants to learn more about her Latin American heritage.

"I'm not full Hispanic," said Ortega, who said her Hispanic grandfather was from Colorado. "I only have a little in me. I wanted to learn more about it. . . . What I'm going for is to find that basis of understanding."

The conference will hopefully show Latinos who come from very different social, political, religious, and ethnic backgrounds the importance of unity and education, said Gonzalo Palza, of the Governor's Hispanic Advisory Council and a retired South American businessman. Palza will be presenting two workshops Saturday — one is aimed at making the teens aware of the growing Latino population, and the other is on education.

Palza said many Latin American youths start working young and never go to college or a trade school. He noted the high Hispanic high school dropout rate. In 2002, the Hispanic graduation rate of 64.7 percent was the lowest of any ethnic group in the state, according to the state Office of Education.

"Many start working making $12 to $13 an hour and think this is wonderful. They never pursue a four-year degree . . . or consider educating themselves in a trade school."

Palza said he often asks such workers how long they want to make that salary and if they can think of anyone who has moved up from such a position.

"At some point, they'd like to be supervisors, managers or perhaps start their own little business. For all that, they need the fundamentals in higher education."

For information on the conference call Utah Coalition of La Raza, 359-8922.

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com