HOW CAN WE ENCOURAGE HISPANIC STUDENTS TO PURSUE THEIR DREAMS AFTER GRADUATING?

PROJECT MOTIVATION

As we were planning what impact we wanted to have with our members for the semester, The Hispanic Business Students Association (HBSA) executive board noticed a predominant issue within the Hispanic student demographic throughout the university.Even though Hispanics represented one of the largest student groups, we had some of the worst retention and graduation rates. A large part of that is because most of these students are first generation students who don’t really have a framework that helps them to exceed in college. On the other hand, students who did go through with college saw graduating as the top of their human potential. We wanted all Hispanic students to feel motivated to not only finish school but also to seize every opportunity this world has to offer. In order for that message to be heard and acted upon, we decided that it would be best if it didn’t come from fellow students, but through a new method of motivation and empowerment.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Ernie G. is a nationally recognized speaker and comedian that has performed for many of the country’s schools and universities, T.V broadcast shows, Fortune 500 companies, and national organizations. After being introduced to his work, we reached out to Ernie to develop a two-day program to empower students. The program consisted of a live “Empowerment Comedy” performance which was an intersection between stand-up comedy and motivational speech with topics ranging from “being proud of your roots” to “overcoming adversity through self-worth”. This was followed the next day by an intensive Leadership Workshop that helped students eliminate some of the limiting beliefs that were holding them back. In order to get the most number of Hispanic students to participate in the program, HBSA decided to co-host the event with the Tau Psi Omega fraternity and we also included this event as part of the Hispanic Heritage Month programming.