Middle school, high school, and college-age Latino students are being helped to achieve their dream of attaining higher education through a joint Ivy Tech-Columbus/IUPUC student organization called LOVE—Latino-American Organization of Volunteers in Education. The organization’s goal is to motivate Latino students to pursue higher education and to connect them with mentors in the community.
LOVE was begun in 2006 by Fabiola Cabrera, an Ivy Tech liberal arts student who has since transferred to IUPUC, with financial assistance from the Heritage Fund: the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County. The group is comprised of Ivy Tech and IUPUC students, members of the Cummins Latino-based affinity group, and Rocio Rodriquez, President of the Columbus Latin American Association and a board member of CAMEO, the Columbus Area Multi-Ethnic Organization. Sylvia Babcock, Student Affairs Assistant at Ivy Tech, and Susie Blizard, Director of Admissions at IUPUC, are the advisors for the student organization.
“Indiana Department of Education records indicate that Latinos, as a group, have the second highest high school dropout rate and the lowest college graduation rate in the state,” Babcock commented. Blizard added, “Our mission is to help as many Latino students succeed as we can.” LOVE student members have given numerous presentations over the three years of the organization’s existence to Latino middle and high school students and at parent conferences, encouraging them to become more aware of the importance of higher education and offering assistance with such processes as completing applications, applying for scholarships, and searching for colleges. Their most recent presentation at Northside Middle School drew 60 students.