Tomorrow morning, I will be speaking before hundreds of students of color, primarily Chicana/o and Latina/o students at Portland State University for the MEChA chapters’ 2010 Edúcate Conference. The leadership invited me to keynote and will last 15 minutes. The intent of the day-long activities is to motivate, inspire and provide opportunities to the participating students. From the keynote to the workshop presenters and college/career fair, the conference is a reminder that MEChA stands for educational opportunities for all and strives to provide minority communities access to the university.
The audience will primarily be a mix of first-generation students with majority attending public schools in the greater Portland-metro area, but I understand some will be coming from a distance. I’m not going to talk numbers and how many Latina/o students in particular drop-out. These we know. But I will have an awesome responsibility, one that I take very seriously. I’ve been asked to discuss my upbringing as a migrant farm worker, and educational experience (as a former high school drop-out). To share with the students lessons learned and how I solved problems. And I will. But my overarching thesis is on creativity and education, and why their efforts today will shape their future.
I know many of you have great ideas. If you were given the opportunity to speak before this audience what would be your main driver? What would you want to instill? What message would most resonate? What challenge would you impart?
The floor is yours.
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