Princeton, NJ — HISPA (Hispanics Inspiring Students’ Performance and Achievement) will unite Hispanic mentors with 150 New Jersey students from Elizabeth, Perth Amboy and Summit at Princeton University for a youth conference themed “Take Action! Achieve Your Dreams” on Friday, June 3 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.  Co-sponsored by the Office of Human Resources at Princeton University and co-hosted by Verizon and the Verizon Hispanic Support Organization (HSO), HISPA’s 19^th youth conference will emphasize the importance of continuing education and will introduce students to campus life and careers open to college graduates.

New Jersey-based nonprofit HISPA mobilizes Hispanic professionals as role models to inspire students by showing them that they, too, can succeed academically and professionally.  Since 2007, HISPA’s 2,000 mentors have reached 7,000 students in San Antonio, New Jersey, New York City and Florida.  The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics recognized these efforts by naming HISPA a “Bright Spot in Hispanic Education” in 2015.

“I am grateful for the overwhelming support of the 100 role models joining us,” said HISPA President Dr. Ivonne Díaz-Claisse.  “Their enthusiasm in sharing their educational and professional journeys, inspiring Hispanic youth to imagine even greater future possibilities, will make for an unforgettable day.”

Díaz-Claisse and Assistant Vice President for Human Resources Romy Riddick—a longtime leader of diversity, inclusion and women’s advocacy efforts—will welcome attendees and open the day’s events.  The keynote speaker will be Alfredo Ayala of Walt Disney Imagineering.  Students and adults alike will surely be inspired by Ayala, who has designed effects and elements for Disney theme parks.  For such ingenuity and creativity, he was named one of the 20 most influential Latinos in tech by CNET, the highest-read technology online news source.

Students will also learn about life after high school from the university student participants in the NJ Governor’s Hispanic Fellows program.  Co-sponsored by HISPA and the Center for Hispanic Policy, Research and Development, it provides internships and professional and leadership development.

Among the conference’s key events are the hands-on STEM career-exploration workshops.  Students will have the option of exploring hydraulic and pneumatic power with Verizon HSO, circuits and electromagnetism with Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), fractals with Educational Testing Service (ETS), building game apps with DigitalSummit.TV and the Verizon Foundation, producing “medicine” according to pharmaceutical lab procedure with Bristol-Myers Squibb and creating networks for the Internet of Things with AT&T HACEMOS.

The day will end with an inspirational address, “Your Voice is Your Power!”, by one of the most dynamic speakers in America today, Carlos Ojeda Jr., CEO of CoolSpeak.  A youth and community advocate, Ojeda urges students to harness their unique strengths to fulfill their personal goals and dreams.

HISPA’s New Jersey 2016 Youth Conference is made possible by Co-sponsor, the Office of Human Resources at Princeton University, and Co-host Verizon and Verizon HSO.  Sponsors are BMS, ETS and PSE&G.  Collaborators are AT&T, Investors Bank, Merck, Novartis and Siemens.  HISPA’s Annual Partners are ETS, Verizon, ESPN, AT&T, Comcast and Southwest Airlines, HISPA’s official airline partner. In addition to volunteers from these organizations, members of PNC Bank, Princeton University, UPS and NSHMBA NJ will also be joining as volunteers.

For more details about the day’s schedule of events, visit: http://hispa.org/files/HISPA_YC_2016_Program__New_Jersey7.pdf.