Puertas Abiertas Leadership Academy

Summer Leadership Academy: July 7-23
Academia de Liderazgo de Verano: 7 al 23 de julio

The application deadline for the summer session has been extended to Friday, June 24, 2022.

The Puertas Abiertas/Pasos al futuro Leadership Academy provides a bicultural empowerment/life skills experience for students with a focus on identifying positive, proactive values and habits that will maximize students’ opportunities for success. Students will learn within a cultural framework based on Chicano/Mexicano, Hispanic, Latina/o and Caribbean experiences.

The Summer Leadership Academy will prepare high school students to successfully transition into a college environment. Students will attend workshops presented by University of Oregon, Lane Community College and Downtown Languages faculty and staff. Presentations will focus on high school graduation requirements, college admission requirements, college academic programs, and available support services. Students will complete a portfolio containing scholarship applications and essays, college applications, résumés and a financial plan.

La Academia de Liderazgo de Puertas Abiertas/Pasos al Futuro es un programa que facilita la adquisición de herramientas de liderazgo y de valoración de sí mismo en un ambiente bicultural cuyo fin es identificar valores y hábitos positivos y dinámicos que ayuden a cada estudiante a tener éxito. El programa se desarrolla en un marco cultural basado en experiencias de chicanos(as)/mexicanos(as), hispanos(as), latinos(as) y caribeños(as).

La Academia de Liderazgo de verano preparará a los estudiantes de preparatoria a hacer la transición a la universidad o colegio comunitario. Los estudiantes asistirán a talleres organizados por personal de la Universidad de Oregon, de Lane Community College y de Downtown Languages. Las presentaciones cubrirán cuáles son los requisitos necesarios para graduarse de la preparatoria, así como los requistos para entrar a la universidad o colegio comunitario, programas académicos y los recursos disponibles. Los participantes completarán un portafolio con solicitudes y ensayos para becas, solicitudes para entrar a la universidad, un curriculum vitae y un plan de finanzas personales.

Enrollment is limited to 25 students / La matrícula está limitada a 25 estudiantes

Important Dates /Fechas Importantes

May 1 - Applications are available online
1 de mayo - Las solicitudes estarán disponibles en la red

June 24 - Application Deadline
24 de junio - Fecha límite para entregar la solicitud

June 28 - Students will receive acceptance notice
28 de junio - Los estudiantes recibirán una carta de admisión al programa

July 1 - Students will confirm their attendance before this date
1 de julio - Los estudiantes deberán confirmar su participación a más tardar en esta fecha

July 7 - Required orientation session for all students and their families
7 de julio - Orientación requerida para todos los participantes y sus familias

July 8 - Program begins
8 de julio - Las clases comienzan

Schedule

July 7 - Parent/Student Orientation 5:30pm-8:00pm

July 8 - Student Bonding Day 9am-2pm

July 8-19 - Classes: 9am-2pm

• Entre Dos Mundos
• Financial Literacy
• Résumé Writing
• Healthy Relationships
• Lane Community College Tour
• Scholarship Writing
• Oregon State University
• University of Oregon
• Field Trips

July 23 - Graduation

• 16 years and older, Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors.
• No costs for students.
• Includes meals, bus passes and school supplies.
• Priority consideration is given to completed applications.
• Deadline for submitting applications is June 24, 2022.

Complete and submit the PALA 2022 Application by June 24, 2022.

The Puertas Abiertas Latino/Latina Rites of Passage summer academy is an academic and cultural enrichment experience for Chicano/Latino high school students in Lane County. The primary goal of the program is to develop positive values and proactive habits that will maximize the students' opportunities for success. In the Puertas Abiertas ("Open Doors") academy, students learn about cultural history, how to excel in their classes, how to become a bicultural leader, and how to accomplish their goals. The program uses a cultural framework based on Mexican American, Latino/Latina, Caribbean, and Hispanic experiences.

Program Description/Vision

The Puertas Abiertas Leadership Academy at Lane Community College provides a holistic and contextual bicultural learning environment for Latino high school students. The curriculum is responsive to Chicano / Mexicano, Hispanic, Latina/o and Caribbean experiences in the United States and the Americas.  Leadership knowledge is based on re-claiming world-views that students receive at home, and bring to schools. Puertas Abiertas students posses first-hand testimonies reflecting subtractive schooling and diminishing societal experiences. The Puertas Abiertas Leadership Academy allows students to re-frame their stories and re-center their place in humanity as individuals and communities worthy of respect and dignity.

Puertas Abiertas students receive a context to assess the integrity of systems presenting stories of legitimacy and neutrality. Students engage in critical thinking to explore the forces of culture and power in schools and society as a way to discern appropriate focus of leadership. Student learning is a process of critical self-reflection of their role and actions in sustaining and maintaining mentalities of emanation that is detrimental to themselves and all persons/beings. Our approach to teaching and learning allows Puertas Abiertas students to re-store meaning and dignity in their lives.

Our experience working with Latino students the past 18 years is that they have engage in re-centering their lives as Latinos. They have emptied themselves of stories of deformation, which diminish themselves and others. They have created new stories and understandings that are just and compassionate, for themselves, and as Latinos. This re-centering is a life-long change for many students. The re-centering has led to their high school completion and entrance into post-secondary institutions as full bicultural human beings worthy of respect and dignity.

Mission Statement

The Puertas Abiertas Leadership Academy is an intense academic and cultural enrichment experience for Chicano/Mexicano/Latino high school students in Lane County. Puertas Abiertas students demonstrate a:

• desire to learn about cultural history
• desire to excel in academics
• desire to become a bicultural leader and a
• desire to accomplish goals

The Summer Academy serves to enrich and enhance the academic preparation for the college experience within a framework based on Mexican/Mexican American, Latina/o, Caribbean, and Hispanic experiences.

Goals

The goal of the program is to develop positive, proactive values and strategies that will maximize students' opportunities for bicultural success. Puertas Abiertas empowers Chicano/Mexicano, Latino/Latina students to negotiate North American mainstream culture while preserving the rich cultural foundations of the Chicano/Latino community. These goals are accomplished through a combination of classroom instruction, workshops, field trips, and interaction with Chicano/Latino community members.

Objectives

The principal objectives of the Puertas Abiertas Leadership Academy:

• Exercise bicultural leadership in the schools and community
• Promote personal growth, biculturalism, and self-confidence
• Acquire in-depth awareness of educational and career opportunities
• Gain an awareness of Mexican/Mexican American, Latino, Caribbean and Hispanic experiences in the Americas and schools
• Foster successful transitions to Lane Community College and four-year colleges & universities.

Articles:

• Lane Open Doors for Minority Students

The Summer Leadership Academy will prepare high school juniors and seniors to successfully transition into a college environment. Students will attend workshops presented by the University of Oregon and Lane Community College faculty and staff.

Presentations will focus on high school graduation requirements, college admission requirements, college academic programs, and available support services. Students will complete a portfolio containing scholarship applications and essays, college applications, and resumes. Enrollment in Puertas Abiertas is very competitive and will be limited to 25.

Expectations

• Students should be able to attend the full two-week experience, from 9:00 am-2:00 pm.
• Students should be able to attend an opening orientation
• Students should be able to attend a Bonding day More information:

Road to College

• Opportunities - Preparing for College Guide and Workbook
• Oportunidades - Guía Y Cuaderno de Ejercicios de Preparación Para la Universidad

• Postsecondary Education English to Spanish Glossary
• Postsecondary Education Spanish to English Glossary

• Students Rights to Know About College
• Students Rights to Know About College Spanish

• Guide for Parents in the College Admission Process
• Guia para padres en el proceso de admisión a la universidad