More than 400 students from 27 high schools and five colleges across Oregon came from across Oregon and beyond to the McMinnville campus on April 14 for the seventh-annual Mente Summit.
Mente aims to close racial and gender educational disparities for Latinx males, provide localized mentorship to promote higher education and nurture healthy masculinity. It was co-founded by by Gerardo Ochoa, vice president for enrollment management and student success at Linfield University.
“It was an amazing day — we had students from all over the state, gave out 21 $1,000 scholarships, there was great energy and it could not have gone any better,” he said. “Mente Summit allows us to be in community and conversation with a group that has not been formally invited to higher education. Linfield is an Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution, and we need to work in partnership with the Latino community throughout the state.”
There are, Ochoa said, some major challenges facing Latinx high school males. The Mente Summit is a chance to see a university firsthand and connect them with college and professional role models.
“Educational inequities should be top-of-mind for every college across the country, and Latinx males are one of those student groups that require intentional efforts,” he said. “Latinx students generally are one of the fastest-growing groups in higher education, but for every four bachelor degrees awarded to the Latinx community, only one is earned by Latinx men. Women have been enrolling at incredible rates, but unless we address the inequities in higher education there is an enormous group we are not serving.”
Attendees spent a full day on Linfield University’s McMinnville campus. The event started with a keynote speech from Beaverton Superintendent Gustavo Balderas. The day also featured workshops about the college admission process, personal finances and scholarships, as well as a college fair.
As of fall 2022, 20% of all Linfield students identified as Latino; the university is an associate member institution of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. The unversity signed a three-year agreement to host the Mente Summit in 2020, hosting one event shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the second in spring 2022.
For more information about Mente Summit, visit https://www.mentesummit.com/.
