For Werner Parrilla, going to college had never been an option. Born in New York and raised in Guatemala, he lived with his feet in two worlds that never gave him a clear opportunity at higher education.
But when he moved back to the United States two-and-a-half years ago, his dream to become an engineer was cradled by the growing efforts of educators to blur language lines and make opportunities available to Latino students.
Parilla, 19, was one of abut 300 students and parents who participated Saturday in Prince George’s County annual College and Financial Aid workshop at Stamp Student Union. The morning centered around guiding people in the complicated college application process. And all the information was given in Spanish.
Student volunteers, including members of the Latino Student Union, gave tips on everything from the SAT to the FAFSA.
Councilman William Campos (D-District 2) – the first Hispanic councilman in county history – used a PowerPoint presentation titled “If I can do it, anybody can,” to motivate students by showing snapshots of his life before and after college.
“They need to see that if they stick with their education, it’s going to [be] better in the long run not only for them but also for the nation,” said Campos , who emigrated from El Salvador as a boy. “I know it’s difficult being an immigrant, but you can do it.”
Leopoldo Yanez, an undergraduate admissions counselor who helped bring the event for the first time to the university, said too often Latino students deal with college applications on their own.
“It is not because parents are not supportive of their children but they are unaware of the resources available,” said Yanez. He hopes this event is only the beginning of more things to come at the university, including translating the undergraduate admissions website and giving campus tours in Spanish.
Although county school officials dominated the program, national educational agencies like the National Hispanic College Fund set up shop during the college fair segment, which brought representatives from 21 universities and educational agencies including The Ohio State University.
OSU recruiter Normand Caban said an educational rift exists between immigrants and their children. He said that although his university provides a four-year diversity scholarship for high-achieving minorities, communicating the importance of a college education has been an obstacle.
“In the first generation, most parents have not graduated from high school, and some of them are recent immigrants,” Caban said. “They don’t know how to circumvent the system yet; they are clueless, but we try to tell them it is possible.”
The first question parent Concepcion Garcia-Tapia asked was whether the workshop for high school juniors was in Spanish or English. She admitted she knew little about the available financial resources because most of the information is in English. She has renewed resolve to see her daughter, a junior at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, through college.
“If she wants to move forward in life, then I will push the best I can,” she said in Spanish.
Almost 14 percent of students in the county are of Hispanic descent and another 6 percent of students are enrolled in English for Speakers of Other Languages classes, according to a 2006 Prince George’s County report.
An abysmal national drop-out rate of almost 34 percent according to the National Center for Education Statistics makes the success of just a few students a hard-won achievement. They cite the lack of support outside their family as a letdown that impedes their ability to get ahead, so events like Saturday’s help Latino students aspire to college.
“I say I want to go college, and I say I’m going to do stuff, but I never do it,” said DuVal High School senior Ana Orellana. “That’s why I’m here – it is a step further.”
The visibility of young successful Hispanics at these events has motivated 10th-grader Karen Orellana to become a lawyer and possibly apply to Harvard Law School. Other prepared Latinos show up at the workshops.
“Then I ask myself if they can do it, then why can’t I? Querer es poder (to want is to have),” said the Northwestern sophomore.
The university is making other efforts to accommodate non-English speaking parents and has translated a number of its websites into Spanish, including a library reference page that makes links to educational resources available.
Thanks to this help, Parrilla will attend Bucknell University in the fall with a full scholarship to double major in engineering and physics.
“It is possible, all you need is ganas – desire,” he said.
Contact reporter Arelis Hernandez at hernandezdbk@gmail.com.
