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Event helps kids lay foundation for future

The Redlands Christian Migrant Association's two-day conference helps students learn how to plan for college or a trade.

By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published March 24, 2006

They sat up a little in their chairs, eyes surveying Rodriguez's closed-toe heels and pin-striped dress suit.

The girls, daughters of farm or construction workers, stared attentively as they heard how Rodriguez worked her way through college, moving up from a telemarketing job she needed to pay the bills to opening her own insurance office in Riverview.

Before becoming an agent, she aggressively lobbied a boss to let her move from telemarketing to a customer service job that didn't exist at the time. "You kind of have to push yourself once you have a position,'' said Rodriguez, 25.

The girls were among about two dozen junior high students from Ruskin to take part in a leadership conference run by the Redlands Christian Migrant Association at the Day Springs Conference Center in Ellenton.

The RCMA has run conferences for boys and girls who are children of farm workers and other laborers for about the past 20 years to show them how to plan for college or a trade career.

While Rodriguez gave the girls pointers on what to wear and how to act during a job interview - "Never be late,'' "never chew gum,'' she told them - the boys got their own tips on how to dress and be polite.

In addition to college planning, other topics during the two-day event that started Tuesday included team-building, relationships and trust. Fun time included a trip to the nearby shopping outlet, movies and swimming.

The goal of the conference is to give young teens and preteens more information about their options for careers and college, said Belen Figueroa, the conference coordinator and RCMA site director at Beth Shields Middle School, where most of the children attend classes. Four students from East Bay High School joined in as helpers.

Without such conferences, some of the children might not know where to turn to plan for college, organizers said.

"Their families have to work so hard that college is not a priority; they have to put food on the table,'' said Josie Gracia , a RCMA project director who helped Figueroa run the conference.

"Here we talk about it like it's real; you can see it and touch it,'' she said.

They invite college-educated and professional Hispanics to speak at the conference to show the teenagers what's possible, Gracia said.

Funding for programs for junior high students is limited, and yet they are at great risk at this age of dropping out of school, she said. The United Way and the Hillsborough County Children's Board sponsored the event.

Laura Vaquera, 12, said she signed up for the conference again this year because she learned a lot last year about colleges.

"I want to be a doctor,'' she said.

Earlier in the morning Tuesday, Rodrigo Diaz, a senior librarian for Hillsborough County public libraries, encouraged the children to be proud that they can speak two languages.

"This is a body of knowledge that has opened lots of doors for me in my life,'' Diaz said.

And then, mixing both languages, he added: "I hope you all value su capacidad bilingue.''

Saundra Amrhein can be reached at amrhein@sptimes.com or 813 226-2441.

[Last modified March 24, 2006, 10:57:39]