LOS ANGELES, May 13, 2010 — Six Loyola Marymount University students will be part of the inaugural class in a program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government to help develop the next generation of Latino leaders.
The LMU students were chosen after a highly selective application process for the Latino Leadership Initiative, which will be modeled on other programs run by the Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership.
The LMU students selected for the program are: Alexandra Escobar of Long Beach, Yuliana Espinoza of Inglewood, Jesse Jovel of Compton, Adrienne Soto of Inglewood (pictured), Tania Zaldivar of Claremont and Karina Zamora of La Puente. They will join 22 students from the University of California, Merced, Texas A&M International–Laredo, the University of Houston, and the University of Massachusetts–Boston.
The program was developed with seed money from Walter Ulloa, an LMU trustee, Loyola Law School Alumnus, and chairman and CEO of Entravision Communications.
“The Latino Leadership Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School is all about enhancing the capacity of young people in a positive and productive manner, so that they can become our future leaders,” said Ulloa. “This is a cause we can all understand and one that I believe our country will benefit from.”
The inaugural class will convene June 12 in Cambridge, Mass., for a weeklong program that will include classes on decision making, negotiation, and public narrative — taught by leading professors from Harvard, Georgetown University and Stanford University — as well as sessions to help students develop greater self-awareness and knowledge of their own strengths and weaknesses as leaders. Participants will also have opportunities to build relationships with respected Latino mentors from the government, nonprofit and business sectors.
Adrienne Soto, 20, an LMU junior, said she expects the program will help improve “my leadership skills and how to speak in public, all things I need to become a teacher.” Soto, who described herself as a first-generation American, also wants to give back by encouraging young Latinos in middle and high school to realize their ambitions, attend college and to not be discouraged by costs, stereotypes or other road blocks.
“I think education is fundamental in anything you do in life,” she said. “What I would say to these students is that ‘You have to be prepared to have a vision of what you can be. You can become a professional. Everything is possible as long as you are hard-working and you set your mind to it.’ ”
Regular teleconferences hosted by the center will enable the participants to continue their leadership development during the ensuing academic year. In addition, students from each of the five participating universities will work as teams to design a community service project that will be implemented in collaboration with faculty and/or administration at their home university.
“The Latino community is young and growing and its success is vital for our country,” said David R. Gergen, professor of public service at Harvard Kennedy School and director of the Center for Public Leadership. “We see this program as an opportunity to develop the talents of the next generation of Latino leaders and help them connect with each other to form a broader network.” Gergen, will be a member of the LLI’s teaching team.
“For this vision, and also for the seed money that has enabled us to launch,” Gergen continued, “we are profoundly grateful to Walter Ulloa, chairman and CEO of Entravision Communications.”