Helping Hispanic Students Prepare to Lead in Business

Studying at laptop
Schools, parents and the entire community—including businesses—come together to help Hispanic students.

Editor’s note: This article concludes a two-part series.

The African Proverb, “It takes a whole village to raise a child” is as true in 2013 as it has ever been. Parents, teachers, school administrators, communities and businesses need to come together to support the learning needs of students and help prepare them for success, according to Tami Espinosa. The principal at Brentwood Academy in East Palo Alto, Calif., Espinosa has been working to turn around her elementary school but the lessons she’s learned can be applied anywhere.

Brentwood Academy serves a population of working-class families. More than 90 percent of the school’s 600 students qualify for free or reduced price lunches. About 80 percent are English learners. Latino students comprise 75 percent of the population. To take those 600 students who are future parents, future taxpayers, future business owners, future employees, etc., and help them achieve starts early and continues on through their school careers.

Despite the socio-economic status of the school’s population, Espinosa refuses to lower her expectations for Brentwood’s students. “We know what challenges they come with and it’s important to know those challenges, but it’s really important not to use those challenges as excuses,” she explains.

“So it can’t be an excuse for the school staff to not meet with families because they don’t speak their language. It can’t be an excuse that kids don’t do their homework because the whole family lives in one room. Things need to get done so we need to work with the families to come up with an action plan so students are able to do homework, so they’re able to practice what they learned in school.”

It’s the school system’s job, with the help of the community at large, to figure out how to overcome those obstacles, according to Espinosa.

RELATED POSTS

Life Lessons from Chef Aarón Sánchez

Life Lessons from Chef Aarón Sánchez

Chef Aarón Sánchez and the Importance of Mentorship Award winning chef, restaurateur, TV personality, author and philanthropist, Aarón Sánchez joins me for a multi part series on lessons learned through his career as a chef. I’m incredibly honored to get some time...

June Is Inclusivity Month – What It Means for Us

June Is Inclusivity Month – What It Means for Us

An inclusive workforce whether Hispanic or other is one in which everyone feels welcome. All employees, managers, distributors, vendors, clients, and consumers feel seen and appreciated as part of the workplace culture. In today's era, it's important for businesses to...

Video Gallery

Polls

Sign Up for the Latin Biz Today Newsletter

PR Newswire

Featured Authors

Innovation & Strategy

Money

Talent/HR

Legal

Marketing

Culture

Fashion

Food

Music

Sports

Work & Life

Mindfulness

Health & Fitness

Travel & Destinations

Personal Blogs

Pin It on Pinterest