Counselors help Latino students prepare for college

Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006

Spanish-speaking residents of Hyattsville received information on what it takes to attend college, during a workshop organized Saturday by the county school system’s International Student Guidance Office.

This is the tenth year of the workshop and the first time eighth-grade students and their families were included.

About 500 people attended the sessions at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville.

County Councilman William A. Campos (D-Dist.2), of Hyattsville, Del. Victor R. Ramirez (D-Dist. 47), of Cheverly and Carolina Rojas Bahr, assistant director for student advancement at the University of Maryland College Park’s Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education, were among special invited guests.

Jorge Rogachevsky, professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies at St. Mary’s College, spoke about the rewards of higher education, noting that ‘‘family is critical” to college enrollment because it is a ‘‘community-based process.”

Organizers arranged the workshop into three age-based sessions, followed by a college fair with representatives from various institutions of higher education and community groups like the Hispanic College Fund participating.

Continental breakfast was served and there was a raffle at the end of each session. Prizes included gift certificates and schoolbags.

Latino students attending the University of Maryland spoke to a packed cafeteria for the eighth and ninth-grade sessions about the importance of preparing for college early.

They also said Advanced Placement classes during high school years were crucial to their preparation for college.

Patricia Chiancone, the presenter and international student counselor at the ISGO, said Advanced Placement classes were more rigorous and helped students advance even to the extent where some earn college credits.

For students in grades 10 and 11, another panel of students took questions about the enrollment process.

Parents were urged to seek out scholarship funding, saying it would be time well spent, citing government, universities, private scholarships as good sources.

In the 12th grade session, Silvia Hoke, another ISGO international student counselor, offered tips on how to fill out forms for financial aid and grants, citing the Internet as the fastest way to proceed.

Hoke said all types of forms are available on the Internet in Spanish. There were handouts in Spanish available at the workshop giving details of how to find grants and other issues relating to college enrollment.

One was the ‘‘2006-2007 College 411,” a booklet produced by the Maryland Higher Education Commission that has information on Maryland institutions of higher learning and a section on financial aid.

Hoke noted the state’s student financial aid deadline (March 1) is approaching. ‘‘There are still options,” even if students have not yet applied to colleges and universities, she said.

‘‘Some think they cannot pay [for college] and we want them to know they can do it, even if they go part-time,” she said.

Beverly Pariser-Foster, an international student specialist said she remembered helping her daughter with the college enrollment process, stressing the importance of parents being informed.

Alvaro Aparicio of Hyattsville said, ‘‘I want to improve my son’s prospects,” and learned from the workshop by listening to the student participants discuss their efforts to obtain higher education.

Rosa López, a Northwestern High School junior who hopes to study Forensic Science said, ‘‘I want to be prepared.” López thought the workshop was very helpful, especially for her mother, who does not speak English. ‘‘My mom likes to be well-informed,” she added.