ABILENE – The Hispanic Leadership Council presented its 25th annual College and Career Seminar virtually on Jan. 30. Like most everything in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, changes had to be made to format and function, but the seminar was a chance to for several local entities to partner with the Hispanic Leadership Council to help students and their families learn about college and careers and the resources available to them.

This seminar provided information to local students about how to pay for college (financial aid), the admissions process, tips for parents as their child goes to college, careers in manufacturing and other high demand areas.  

Because of the virtual nature of this year’s event, the Abilene ISD’s Technology Department played a key role in making the seminar happen.

“We would like to specifically thank Cary Owens, the district’s Chief Technology Officer, for her time and the direct support she gave to this project,” said Hispanic Leadership Council president Sammy Garcia. “We would also like to thank (AISD superintendent) Dr. David Young for his participation and the AISD’s support. We had never undertaken such a project and couldn’t have done it without their support. This effort has taught us new ways to reach out that we will continue to use.”

The event was sponsored by the Hispanic Leadership Council, AISD, the Big Country Manufacturing Alliance, TSTC and Abilene Christian University. Maria Aguirre of TSTC and Daniel Garcia from ACU built the Google site platform, which will continue to serve as a place for students, parents and organizations to go for information at one location.

Garcia said the idea of the site would be to become a central location for any person or organization to reach out to students about college and careers; a place where any student or parent can find information on careers, internships, college admission and financial aid. It would also be used as a site for entities like the AISD, HLC, Big Country Manufacturers Alliance, TSCS, ACU and other universities to plant and update information about the resources they offer.

The site can be accessed at https://sites.google.com/view/pfcs2021/home.