2008 Woodie Awards
UA students attend first Latino Youth Summit in D.C.
Maiko Michishita
Issue date: 10/26/07 Section: News
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Two UA students attended the first Latino Youth Summit Oct. 16 and 17 in Washington. They discussed various issues at the summit, including immigration, education and civil rights with Democratic senators and students from other Latino youth communities.
The league of united Latin American, the largest and oldest Hispanic organization in the United States, supported the Latino Youth Summit. Two Hispanic Democratic senators, Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado and Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, chaired the event.
Two UA students were chosen as Arkansas Latino youth representatives. Rafael Arciga, a junior political science and international relations major and Alejandro Aviles, a senior sociology major, represented the UA at the event. Arciga is also the president of LULAC at the UA.
"This summit was the prime opportunity to have the ear of our senators," Aviles said. "They were telling us what they are doing, and what they want to learn from our voices."
At the two-day summit, the students listened to the senators, asked questions and discussed the issues with them. The students also had meetings with other organizations and were able to schedule one-on-one meetings with senators. Arciga and Aviles met Arkansas' Democratic Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln. Pryor and Lincoln chose the two UA students to attend the summit.
"Senators wanted to reach out to our community and seek the development for the community as a whole, to start from the minority perspective to help this nation," Arciga said.
The summit gave senators the opportunity to discuss the critical issues facing Hispanic communities in their areas, according to the press release.
"The summit will recognize that we have Latino youth communities in Arkansas, and that they have a lot of power in politics today and in the future," Aviles said.
One of the issues discussed was the status of undocumented immigrants, which the senators are trying to address with the DREAM Act, Aviles said.
The league of united Latin American, the largest and oldest Hispanic organization in the United States, supported the Latino Youth Summit. Two Hispanic Democratic senators, Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado and Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, chaired the event.
Two UA students were chosen as Arkansas Latino youth representatives. Rafael Arciga, a junior political science and international relations major and Alejandro Aviles, a senior sociology major, represented the UA at the event. Arciga is also the president of LULAC at the UA.
"This summit was the prime opportunity to have the ear of our senators," Aviles said. "They were telling us what they are doing, and what they want to learn from our voices."
At the two-day summit, the students listened to the senators, asked questions and discussed the issues with them. The students also had meetings with other organizations and were able to schedule one-on-one meetings with senators. Arciga and Aviles met Arkansas' Democratic Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln. Pryor and Lincoln chose the two UA students to attend the summit.
"Senators wanted to reach out to our community and seek the development for the community as a whole, to start from the minority perspective to help this nation," Arciga said.
The summit gave senators the opportunity to discuss the critical issues facing Hispanic communities in their areas, according to the press release.
"The summit will recognize that we have Latino youth communities in Arkansas, and that they have a lot of power in politics today and in the future," Aviles said.
One of the issues discussed was the status of undocumented immigrants, which the senators are trying to address with the DREAM Act, Aviles said.
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