Leadership and education the focus at regional LEAP conference

Students from Bridgeport, Pateros and Manson talked about higher education, leadership and the public process in a daylong conference for students of Hispanic descent at Bridgeport High School Friday, Nov. 7.

The Latino-Latina Educational Achievement Project (LEAP) is designed to show students the options available to them after high school and encourage them to pursue some kind of post-secondary education or training. The LEAP program also is designed to "instill the idea of leadership," said Barbara Guzman, who's coordinator for the annual LEAP conference held each February in Olympia. The LEAP program talks about leadership at school and involvement at school, what they mean to both the student and the school. Guzman said LEAP organizers are looking for students who have demonstrated leadership at their schools and who have a 3.0 or better grade point average.

Thpse topics are also discussed in greater detail at the annual conference, which brings students of Hispanic descent from all over the state to Olympia to talk about education and state and national issues affecting Hispanic students. Guzman said some students who attended past conferences said it was all a little overwhelming the first time through, so LEAP organizers started the regional forums to give kids some information about education and leadership, as well as a taste of what they'll find at state.

Some students of Hispanic descent face difficulties that don't usually affect students from other backgrounds; some have lived in the United States all their lives and attended school in the U. S. all their lives, but have trouble enrolling in college because of their immigration status. The LEAP project also has some political policy proposals designed to help address those issues, and those are on the agenda at regional forums as well, Guzman said.

At the state level the group has advocated allowing students from undocumented families living in Washington to pay the in-state college tuition rates; HB 1079 was passed in 2003. At the federal level the group supports the proposed DREAM Act, which would give temporary legal residency to undocumented students who have lived in the U. S. for five years or more. Under that proposal students would be eligible for permanent residency after earning two years toward a college degree.

Students from Highline School District were at the conference to talk about their school's experience in the program; last winter some Highline seniors made a presentation at the LEAP conference, which was part of their culminating project.