HACEMOS Looks to Inspire Minority Students With One-Day National High Technology Event

/PRNewswire/ -- AT&T's* Hispanic/Latino Association, HACEMOS, joins forces with Junior Achievement (JA) and its JA Job Shadow® initiative, to host more than 1,400 low-income and at-risk high school students in 22 cities across the country for the 13th Annual HACEMOS National High Technology Day.

HACEMOS National High Technology Day is designed to give students a better grasp of the opportunities available in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields—areas where minorities are underrepresented. The sessions and job shadow opportunities will enable minority students to team up with AT&T employees and experience the world of work firsthand, tour AT&T facilities, and participate in hands-on activities and interactive workshops related to careers in technology.

"AT&T's High Technology Day gives students real-world insight and hopefully will inspire them to join a high-growth field in technology, where they can establish a great future for themselves," said Delia Hernandez, national president of HACEMOS, the Hispanic/Latino Association of AT&T. "Statistics show that Latinos and other minority students are considerably underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. That's why we are proud to join forces with Junior Achievement as we look at doing our part to help reverse these disheartening trends."

"Junior Achievement is deeply committed to building the work-readiness of our young people so they can successfully compete in the global marketplace," added Jack E. Kosakowski, president and chief executive officer of Junior Achievement USA™. "It is through these potentially transformative mentoring and experiential learning opportunities that students make the important connections between their daily school curricula and life after graduation."

The theme for this year's National High Technology Day is "Rethink Your Future," intended to challenge students to consider rewarding careers in science and engineering. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Hispanics received only eight percent of bachelor's degrees in these fields.

In addition to the workshops and sessions, students will be able to connect with thousands of other high schools using AT&T's Telepresence Solution®, which is an advanced, high definition videoconference, that creates the sensation of an in-person meeting. Each student group will be able to see and talk to other students participating in their respective cities.

This year, Jeff Gomez, President and CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, will present his celebrated seminar "Never Surrender: The Kids Guide to Winning at Life," which he has presented to over 200,000 young people, parents and teachers around the world, using webcast technology. As part of this keynote, Gomez will address students nationwide drawing from his inspirational life story of being born in Manhattan's Lower East side to working on global movie and television multiplatform franchises including Avatar, Transformers, Tron: Legacy, Pirates of the Caribbean and Hot Wheels. He is now sought by executives and companies around the world as a leading transmedia producer and expert. As part of his ongoing dedication to instilling the values of leadership and empathy in young people Gomez has long supported causes like HACEMOS that reinforce these ideals.

Additionally, Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, will speak via video to the students. Mr. de la Vega is extensively involved in nonprofit and community organizations, serving as chairman of Junior Achievement Worldwide and of Hispanic Initiatives for the Boy Scouts of America.

This year's event will link nearly 1,400 high school students from close to 55 schools in:

* Anaheim, California
* Atlanta, Georgia
* Austin, Texas
* Charlotte, North Carolina
* Chicago, Illinois
* Dallas, Texas
* Florham Park, New Jersey
* Fresno, California
* Houston, Texas
* Irving, Texas
* Lake Mary, Florida
* Los Angeles, California
* Middletown, New Jersey
* Mission, Kansas
* Norman, Oklahoma
* San Antonio, Texas
* San Diego, California
* San Ramon, California
* St. Louis, Missouri


Through the AT&T/JA Worldwide Job Shadow Initiative, a $5.5 million commitment, AT&T will provide job shadow opportunities for 100,000 students, in grades 9-12—as well as second semester eighth graders—across the United States over five years. Since the initiative started in 2008, more than 65,000 students have participated in 211 cities. AT&T employees have volunteered more than 21,000 times for Job Shadow, dedicating more than 170,000 volunteer hours, to help students learn.

AT&T's Hispanic/Latino Association HACEMOS, with over 1,500 members, recognizes the importance of educating Hispanic youth and preparing them for a technology-intensive future. Its members are dedicated to developing and supporting technology education projects in communities where they live and work. For more information about National High Technology Day, please visit HACEMOS.

AT&T is deeply committed to the Hispanic community and organizations that support education and community vitality. For more information please visit espanol.att.com.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc. 

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Teach For America Offers Hispanics the Opportunity to Have a Positive Impact in Their Community

/PRNewswire/ -- Teach For America, the prestigious national team of teachers, announced today that it will soon end their selection period for new teachers for the 2010-2011 school year. The final deadline for submitting applications is February 19, 2010. Those interested can obtain information about requirements and present their applications online at www.teachforamerica.org.

Teach For America is a non-profit organization whose goal is to eradicate inequality in education through the recruitment and training of professionals and outstanding recent college graduates from all backgrounds and professional areas. The organization offers them an excellent opportunity to help their communities while at the same time allowing them to obtain a full-time job with a competitive salary, health benefits, financial support and training in different areas to ensure their success as educators and offer them the tools to become leaders and highly qualified professionals inside or outside the field of education. Additionally, becoming a member of Teach For America carries great prestige. BusinessWeek's 2009 ranking of "Best Places to Launch a Career" Teach For America came in at #7 and for the third year in a row was the top ranked non-profit organization.

Teach For America seeks individuals from all origins who have demonstrated leadership skills, high achievement in academic and extracurricular activities as well as in their work and family responsibilities. They will dedicate themselves to teaching in public schools, both in urban and rural areas, for a period of two years, offering the students in these low income communities, such as Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Chicago and Dallas, the opportunity to receive a high standard of education that is comparable to that found in schools in higher-income communities.

This 2009-2010 school year, Teach For America placed more than 4,000 new teachers in public schools in low-income communities across the country, representing the largest incoming corps in its history. They are now teaching in 35 urban and rural regions in over 100 school districts in 27 states and the District of Columbia. Some 7.3% identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino, which represents an increase of over 1.3% compared with the previous school year.

Although students in low-income communities have the potential to reach the same academic levels as those students in more affluent communities, they confront additional challenges associated with growing up in poverty. On average at a national level, nine year-old students who live in low-income communities are academically three grade levels below students who live in high-income communities. Only 50% of these low-income students will graduate from high school, and those who do, on average, perform on an eighth-grade level. Only one in every 10 of these students will obtain a college degree. This considerably affects Hispanic students, who are three times as likely to live in low-income communities.

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SAT: Georgia's Minority Students Outperform Nation

Minority students in Georgia public schools continue to outperform African-American and Hispanic students across the country on the SAT.

But, the College Board's 2009 SAT report also shows that Georgia must remain committed to closing the achievement gap and preparing all students for the 21st century.

"It is good news that our African-American and Hispanic students are doing better than their peers nationally," said State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox. "But Georgia is a very diverse state and if we are serious about raising our SAT scores, we must be fully committed to closing the achievement gap.”

Overall, Georgia, like the nation, saw a slight drop in the SAT scores of 2009 high school graduates.

Georgia's public, private and home school students scored 1,460 on the SAT, down six points from 2008. The national average was 1,509, down two points from the previous year. Public school students scored 1,450 on the exam, down three points from 2008. The national average score was 1,493, down two points from the previous year.

The Need to Close the Gap

The 2009 SAT report clearly shows that African-American and Hispanic students in Georgia's public schools are outperforming those subgroups nationally.

- African-American students in Georgia public schools scored 1,274, which was 10 points higher than the national average for African-American public school students (1,264).

- Hispanic public school students in Georgia scored a 1,412, which was 66 points higher than the national average (1,346).

The difference between the scores of African-American and white public school students -- called "the achievement gap" -- is 274 points in Georgia, which is 34 points smaller than the achievement gap nationwide (308). The gap between the scores of Hispanic and white public school students in Georgia is 136 points, 90 points lower than the nation (226).

However, Superintendent Cox pointed out that Georgia has very high minority participation on the SAT and the achievement gap impacts our overall SAT scores more than most other states.
“We certainly should be pleased that our achievement gap is smaller than the nation’s, but we should not be satisfied with 274 and 136 point gaps,” Superintendent Cox said. “As a state, we have made progress on many state and national tests, such as the ACT and the National Assessment of Educational Progress. But clearly we must maintain – and expand – our commitment to providing all students a world-class education.”

Superintendent Cox said a lot of work is already being done. For instance, the state has been pushing to increase the number of students who are taking Advanced Placement (AP) classes and the 2009 data shows that it is working. The number of students taking AP classes jumped more than 11 percent, overall. The biggest increase in enrollment was among African-American students (+16.2%) and Hispanic students (+19.3 percent). This is important because students who take even one year of AP classes in any subject will score higher on the SAT.

“Our school districts have been working to engage more of our minority students in rigorous classes,” Superintendent Cox said. “But I want us to come together and agree to redouble our efforts to close the achievement gap in Georgia once and for all. I am confident that working hand-in-hand we can make it happen.”

Over the next several weeks, Superintendent Cox said she will be in contact with local school districts, especially those with a high minority enrollment.

Raising Math Achievement

Superintendent Cox pointed out that, overall, Georgia trails the national average on the mathematics portion of the SAT by 24 points, which is far more than the state is trailing in reading (11 points) and writing (14 points).

"If we are going to improve student achievement, including our SAT scores, then we must be serious about improving math achievement in Georgia," Superintendent Cox said. "With our new curriculum, we are making sure that all students are getting a strong foundation in mathematics that will prepare them not only for the SAT, but for the colleges and careers of the 21st century."

The 2009 SAT Report to the Nation reflects the scores of last year's senior class. None of those students were taught using the state's new math curriculum, the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS). Implementation of the math GPS began with sixth-graders in 2005 and has been phased in one grade per year. Students in the class of 2012 will be the first graduating class to have been fully instructed in GPS mathematics during secondary school.

High Participation and Ongoing Analysis

Georgia remains one of 24 "high participation" states, where more than 40 percent of the students take the SAT. In Georgia, 71 percent of all students took the SAT, much higher than the national participation rate of 46 percent.

While overall SAT participation in Georgia went up slightly this year, participation in Georgia public schools dropped more than eight percent. Meanwhile, the number of public school students taking the ACT increased over 11 percent in 2009. (ACT RESULTS)

The state continues to offer all high school students free access to the College Board’s Official SAT Online Course. In 2008, students who used the course scored 48 points higher than those who did not.

“If you have a high school student, get them enrolled in this course today and make sure they start using it,” Superintendent Cox said. “This is an incredibly valuable tool that has a big impact on SAT performance.” For more information, go to: www.gadoe.org/SATPrepClass

ABOUT THE SAT:
The SAT is a college entrance exam that is developed, administered and scored by the College Board. The SAT is designed to test the subject matter learned by students in high school and the critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in college. The test has three sections – critical reading, mathematics and writing – each worth 800 points, for a highest possible score of 2,400.

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The Goizueta Foundation of Atlanta Funds New Grant for Latino/Hispanic Students at Berry

Scholarship support for Hispanic/Latino students at Berry College has grown substantially thanks to a $750,000 grant from The Goizueta Foundation, based in Atlanta. This new grant provides need-based scholarship assistance to Hispanic/Latino students whose families currently reside in the United States. The Goizueta Foundation Scholars Fund is the third scholarship fund created by The Goizueta Foundation at Berry.

“We believe strongly that a quality private education should be available to all students,” said Berry President Stephen R. Briggs. “In these tough economic times, we commend The Goizueta Foundation for affirming the power of this dream by establishing a scholarship fund that will provide additional aid for students in the Hispanic/Latino community whose financial need is especially acute.”

Previous scholarship funds established by The Goizueta Foundation have been tremendously beneficial for Hispanic/Latino students as well as the Berry community at large. The overall number of Hispanic and Latino students enrolled at Berry has grown from 15 in 2003 to 41 in 2008, making Hispanic and Latino students the second largest minority group on campus for the third consecutive year. College leaders credit The Goizueta Foundation and its support as a key factor in this steady growth.

“The Goizueta Foundation’s continuing generosity is making it possible for us to attract talented students from diverse backgrounds,” Dr. Briggs said. “Our campus community is enriched, because we know that all students benefit from interaction with those whose culture, background and life experiences are different than their own.”

The Goizueta Foundation was established in 1992 to provide financial assistance to educational and charitable institutions. Its purpose is to assist organizations that empower individuals and families through educational opportunities to improve the quality of their lives.

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FedEx Invests $352,500 in Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholarships and Outreach Programs

/PRNewswire/ -- The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF), the nation's leading Latino scholarship organization supporting Hispanic higher education, will receive $352,500 over the next three years from FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX) . This funding from FedEx will provide scholarships for deserving students and support for four community education programs in local markets.

FedEx recently completed a previous three-year, $332,500 commitment that provided 15 four-year scholarships to deserving students. This renewal will fund five, four-year scholarships for each of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 academic years. This funding will impact HSF's ability to continue the current level of support to Latino students and help HSF work toward its mission of doubling the rate of Hispanics earning college degrees, to 18 percent.

"FedEx believes that educating and inspiring leaders is vital to our future," said Juan N. Cento, president, FedEx Express Latin America and Caribbean Division (LAC), and the Corporation's highest-ranking Hispanic executive. "Education has always been key to unlocking potential in people, and that is why we are committed to providing minority students with the scholarship funds they need to obtain a higher education."

Funding from FedEx Corp. will also provide support for four HSF Town Hall Meetings across the U.S. -- in San Francisco, Dallas, Miami and Indianapolis -- in 2008-2009. These bilingual, multi-media sessions cover the essentials of college preparation and financial aid for students and their families.

"We are delighted that FedEx has invested in the youth who will become tomorrow's leaders in their communities and in corporations across America," said Frank D. Alvarez, HSF President & CEO. "We very much value our relationship with FedEx Corp., and this additional investment further enables HSF to support the growing number of Hispanic students seeking access to higher education."

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Hispanics are One-in-Five of all Public School Students Nationwide

The number of Hispanic students in the nation's public schools nearly doubled from 1990 to 2006, accounting for 60% of the total growth in public school enrollments over that period. Presently, 10 million Hispanic students attend the nation's public schools, 20% of all public school students.

In 2006 Hispanics were about half of all public school students in California, up from 36% in 1990. They were more than 40% of enrollments in three additional states (Arizona, New Mexico and Texas) and between 20% and 40% of all public school students in five states (Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, Florida and New York). Overall, Hispanics are the largest minority group in the public schools in 22 states.

Strong growth in Hispanic enrollment is expected to continue for decades, according to a recently released U.S. Census Bureau population projection. In 2050, there will be more school-age Hispanic children than school-age non-Hispanic white children.

In order to illuminate this growing group of public school students, the Pew Hispanic Center today releases "One-in-Five and Growing Fast: A Profile of Hispanic Public School Students," a statistical portrait of the demographic, language, and family background characteristics of the nation's 10 million Hispanic public school students.

Key findings from the report:

The vast majority of Hispanic public school students (84%) were born in the United States.
Seven-in-ten (70%) Hispanic students speak a language other than English at home.
Nearly one-in-five (18%) of all Hispanic students speak English with difficulty.

Nearly three-in-five Hispanic students (57%) live in households with both of their parents compared with 69% of non-Hispanic white students and 30% of non-Hispanic black students.
More than seven-in-ten U.S. born Hispanic students of immigrant parents (71%) live with both parents. Smaller shares of foreign-born students (58%) and U.S.-born students of native parentage (48%) reside with both parents.

More than a quarter of Hispanic students (28%) live in poverty, compared with 16% of non-Hispanic students. In comparison, more than a third of non-Hispanic black students (35%) reside in poverty and about one-in-ten non-Hispanic white students live in a poor household.
Foreign-born Hispanic students (35%) are more likely than their native-born counterparts (27%) to live in poverty.

The report, One-in-Five and Growing Fast: A Profile of Hispanic Public School Students, is available on the Center's website, www.pewhispanic.org.

Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, is a non-partisan, non-advocacy research organization based in Washington, D.C. and is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
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