Aspirando Alto Begins October 13

October 12, 2005 == MEDIA REMINDER

A reminder that Aspirando Alto, a new conference from the Calvin College
office of pre-college programs aimed at building college aspirations in Latino
students, is set to begin tomorrow.

The conference (the name is Spanish for "aspiring high") will be held at
Calvin Thursday, October 13 through Saturday, October 15. It is being funded by
a $10,000 grant from Bank One and a $500 grant from Mercantile Bank.

"Aspirando Alto" will bring 75 Latino seventh through 10th-grades students
from Central High and Burton Middle schools and Potter's House Christian Middle
and High schools to Calvin's campus for a weekend full of activities.

The conference will commence with check-in at 5 p.m. Thursday, followed by
dinner, ice-breakers and games.

Friday morning will feature an address by keynote speaker Edith Michmerhuizen,
who works with Merge Ministry, helping churches around Latin America.
Michmerhuizen will speak about adapting to America as a Latino immigrant.
Following a morning chapel, the students will attend a workshop titled
"Preparing for College." Then students will attend a Calvin class along with
Calvin students.

That afternoon, the students will attend "Expressions" workshops in art,
journalism, film and computer technology. And Friday evening, parents are
invited to join their children for a showing of a movie.

Saturday will feature student workshops on preparing for the ACT and SAT tests
as well as two workshops for parents: "Preparing My Child for College" and
"Preparing for College Costs." The student attendees will also make
presentations based on their work in the "Expressions" workshops.

"Aspirando Alto" not only represents the first intentional partnership for
Calvin's pre-college programs with the Latino community, it also represents the
office's first partnership with schools.

-end-
Received on Wed Oct 12 15:41:13 2005