About half of the Hispanic students in the Kansas City, Missouri school district will drop out. To get them to stay in school, educators are helping them dream big and find a way to pay for their education.
The program is aimed at Hispanic students, but could help any kid pay for college. A metro high school counselor said the lesson starts with teaching families how to apply for scholarships.
On Thursday night, that lesson was open to any student in any district across the metro.
In December, Carlos Dominguez will become the first in his family to graduate from college, but Dominguez would have done one thing differently.
"It's the first time I applied for a scholarship, and it was my last semester at school," Dominguez said.
He would have applied for scholarships earlier. His boss Edward Reyes also relied on scholarships to get his degree.
"Like all other kids, you don't like the idea of going back to school and having to go through four years of homework and that kind of stuff. But looking back it made a huge impact. It was huge for me," Reyes said.
East High counselor Gene Chavez wants his students to reach that level of success.
"What we're hoping is they can get the basic tools and then get excited about saying, 'Hey, I can do this,'" Chavez said.
As a group, Hispanic students face high drop out rates. So the idea is to keep these kids in school a lot longer by teaching them they can make college a reality.
"That would mean the world to me because I would be the only one in my family who graduated and that would make them so proud of me," student Magali Rojas said.
If you missed Thursday night's event, there are two other scholarship and application events starting soon that could help your student get into and pay for college.
McDonald's, which helped sponsor tonight's event at East High School offer $100,000 scholarships to four students each year. Students must be high school seniors of Hispanic descent. For more information, head to www.meencanta.com.
Starting next weekend, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce will sponsor workshops on scholarships and essay writing. For more information, head to latinosoftomorrow.org
The program is aimed at Hispanic students, but could help any kid pay for college. A metro high school counselor said the lesson starts with teaching families how to apply for scholarships.
On Thursday night, that lesson was open to any student in any district across the metro.
In December, Carlos Dominguez will become the first in his family to graduate from college, but Dominguez would have done one thing differently.
"It's the first time I applied for a scholarship, and it was my last semester at school," Dominguez said.
He would have applied for scholarships earlier. His boss Edward Reyes also relied on scholarships to get his degree.
"Like all other kids, you don't like the idea of going back to school and having to go through four years of homework and that kind of stuff. But looking back it made a huge impact. It was huge for me," Reyes said.
East High counselor Gene Chavez wants his students to reach that level of success.
"What we're hoping is they can get the basic tools and then get excited about saying, 'Hey, I can do this,'" Chavez said.
As a group, Hispanic students face high drop out rates. So the idea is to keep these kids in school a lot longer by teaching them they can make college a reality.
"That would mean the world to me because I would be the only one in my family who graduated and that would make them so proud of me," student Magali Rojas said.
If you missed Thursday night's event, there are two other scholarship and application events starting soon that could help your student get into and pay for college.
McDonald's, which helped sponsor tonight's event at East High School offer $100,000 scholarships to four students each year. Students must be high school seniors of Hispanic descent. For more information, head to www.meencanta.com.
Starting next weekend, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce will sponsor workshops on scholarships and essay writing. For more information, head to latinosoftomorrow.org
