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News Article

A-State Students Attend 32nd Annual United States Hispanic Leadership Institute

02/28/2014

JONESBORO – A-State students Angelica Munoz, Kayla Hardy, and Miguel Castillo from the Hispanic Outreach and Latino Appreciation (HOLA) Student Organization and HOLA advisor, Niya Blair, attended the 32nd annual United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI) recently in Chicago.

Miguel Castillo, membership chair for HOLA said, “Attending USHLI was extremely amazing. To be surrounded by thousands of other Latinos who share the same belief is simply inspiring. This leadership conference was so empowering to me as a Latino student because it taught me that no matter where you are from or how under represented you are, you can still make a difference at your school.”

The conference had more than 5,000 attendees who participated in workshops on leadership development and communication skills, running successful Latino student organizations, and succeeding as professionals. Prominent conference speakers included Dr. Antonia Novello, former U.S. surgeon general; April Lee Hernandez-Castillo, actress and motivational speaker for CoolSpeak, LLC and Hon. Ruben Gallego, Representative, 27th District Arizona House of Representatives.

“It was the best conference I have ever taken a group of students to. It was amazing to see our students eyes light up seeing their peers and workshop presenters who look like them. I am ecstatic that as a university, we were able to provide this experience for our students. I look forward to taking other students to future conferences,” stated Blair, director of the Multicultural Center.

USHLI is a Chicago-based national, nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA).

USHLI has developed into one of the most internationally recognized Latino organizations in the country by organizing and conducting nonpartisan voter registration and leadership development programs in 40 states.

For more information, one may contact Blair at the A-State Multicultural Center, astatemc@astate.edu or (870) 680-4052.

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A-State Students at USHLI
Niya Blair, HOLA advisor, and
(from left)
students Miguel Castillo of Glenwood,
Angelica Munoz of Jonesboro,
and Kayla Hardy of Muskego, Wis.,
represented Arkansas State University
at the United States Hispanic
Leadership Institute
(USHLI) conference.