High schoolers wandered wide-eyed into Dana Auditorium on Saturday, Nov. 19. Over the sound system, everything from Jennifer Lopez’s “On the Floor” to a Spanish Justin Bieber song played. Students sat in front of the stage next to blue and white balloons as they waited for the tenth annual Soy un Lider conference to begin.
“(It started) as a very small conference with about 90 people back in 2007,” said Assistant Director for Multicultural Education and Latino Community Coordinator Irving Zavaleta Jimenez ’08, who started the conference along with another Guilford student. “It is now the tenth annual.”
Public elementary, middle and high schools are required to allow undocumented students to attend. However, it is much harder to enforce that in colleges and universities, even if it is technically illegal to reject a student based on their documentation status or ask for their social security number.
“We created the Soy un Líder conference thinking of you, thinking of the next generation,” said Zavaleta Jimenez. “We know that there can be many obstacles that you will be facing, whether they’re financial obstacles, (or) maybe you’re the first in your family to go to college. Maybe you’re a first generation student. We want to let you know that college is possible.”
This year, the conference was coordinated by sophomores Jeniffer Gonzalez and Fernando Jimenez.
“It’s reminding them stay on your feet,” said Gonzalez about the conference. “There are still possibilities. There is an opportunity. There are options (for) documented, undocumented, refugees (and) international students.”
Zavaleta Jimenez and Gonzalez opened the conference along with President Jane Fernandes.
“Today, I encourage you to make things happen,” said Fernandes. “Don’t let others define you or your future.
“You are in charge of yourself. You are in charge of your future.”
The students were soon split up into seven groups, four for the underclassmen and three for the upperclassmen.
The upperclassmen attended many sessions with Guilford staff and faculty as well as outside speakers. One such presenter was Assistant Director of Admission Fernando Gomes, who talked about the college admission process.
“It can be kind of daunting, and I know that for myself,” said Gomes regarding college admissions. “I honestly wish that I had a conference such as this to go to when I was in high school to be able to learn a little more about this.”
Another workshop presenter, Leticia Benitez, led an empowerment workshop.
“The students loved it,” said Gonzalez. “They were telling me (they) were feeling more motivated, and that’s the purpose of the empowerment workshop.”
Another session included information on scholarships for documented, DACAmented and undocumented students, such as the Golden Door scholarship.
“There were people even before DACA who were going to college,” said Zavaleta Jimenez. “We want to let you know that it is possible.”
After the sessions, students gathered together to wrap-up in the Alumni Gym, where the essay contest winners were announced. Every year, conference attendees are invited to write an essay about their journey to apply to college. The winners are chosen by the event organizers.
The conference officially ended at 5:00 p.m., after all of the busses had left.
“It’s been such a great experience getting to know the students,” said first-year Maria Marin. “I want to do this every single year that I can participate.”
Next year, the coordinators hope to recruit more students.
“This conference is open to everyone,” said Gonzalez. “This isn’t just for the Latinx community. We’re really trying to push it to the international community as well.
“Being a coordinator, you’re always going to know if something didn’t go as planned or if there was something you weren’t planning for. But I think the overall (conference) was a success.”
