700 High School Students Attend Latinx Youth Summit at Grays Harbor College

Posted on: Dec, 12, 2024

700 High School Students Attend Latinx Youth Summit at Grays Harbor College
Latinx Youth Summit attendees lining up for a taco lunch, which was provided by Panaderia y Taqueria La Placita. La Salvadoreña Restaurant also provided a lunch of pupusas for the event volunteers.

Grays Harbor College recently hosted 700 high school students from 28 schools at the Hispanic Roundtable of the South Sound’s 23rd Annual Latinx Youth Summit.

In total, approximately 850 people attended the event, including students, chaperones, volunteers, and exhibitors. According to the team of Hispanic Roundtable and GHC staff that put on this event, this far exceeded the goal of 500 attendees, as well as any previous year’s attendance. The intention of the event was to help Latinx students explore new opportunities as they consider their futures.

The theme of this year’s Latinx Youth Summit was “Caminando Juntos, Caminamos Lejos / Walking Together, We Walk Far.” Commenting on this theme, the President of Hispanic Roundtable, Bill Fishburn, told the students who attended, “My sincere hope for you all is that today is the first step on a long path together. I hope you make connections and new friendships that provide you with years of walking together. I hope that your years walking together bring you much happiness and many rewards, and that those things continue to inspire you to walk farther.”

Before sending the students out onto GHC’s campus for workshop sessions, Dr. Maria Chávez opened the event with a keynote, highlighting the obstacles that she faced when getting her education as a Latina as well as the history of obstacles that Latinx people face in America.

To ensure attendees received the best opportunities, the event offered 67 workshop sessions throughout the day, powered by GHC staff and the 93 volunteers who filled 143 different roles throughout the day.

All workshops provided valuable life skills to those who attended. Many were geared towards specific interests, such as hands-on experiences in the campus’s nursing and medical assisting labs and industrial technology shops for diesel, automotive, carpentry, and welding, exploration of careers in natural resources, forestry, and wildlife conservation, presentations on how to start a business, STEM experiences like building Bluetooth speakers, and much more.

GHC President Dr. Carli Schiffner said she was thrilled to host so many Latinx youth so soon after receiving designation as an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution (HIS) this past summer. This designation is only allotted to colleges where 25% of the student population identifies as Latinx.

Teen Health Hub Washington Department of Health, Twin Star, Timberland Regional Library, Grays Harbor College, Saint Martin’s College, Centralia College, Evergreen State College, South Puget Sound Community College, TRIO, City of Olympia, Thurston County Economic Development Council, ACLU of Washington, OlyFed, Summit Pacific Medical Center, and many more sponsored the Latinx Youth Summit.

Many of the sponsors listed above hosted workshops and had booths at the exhibitor fair, with 30 exhibitors participating in the Summit. To end the day, the students gathered in the tulalW building for a closing celebration and dance party.

Article and photo by Jaxon Adkison, Marketing & College Relations Work Study