By Spencer de Tenley, Managing Editor

Hispanic Organization and LatinX Awareness (HOLA) spent the weekend at the annual United States Hispanic Leadership Institute’s (USHLI) conference in Chicago, which featured prominent Latino speakers and workshops to empower and educate the community. 

Over the conference’s four days events were comprised of a career and undergraduate college recruitment fair, a celebration of Latino culture and Latino excellence in education, the recognition of Latino leaders and “Hispanic Legends” awards. Other smaller events such as educational forums, a high school student empowerment workshop, awards presentations and professional headshots were also offered. 

 “Being in a space with so much Latino excellence allowed me to see these leaders’ stories in myself. I related to their doubts, the struggles they faced and also their drive to make their own voice heard in settings where they used to feel small. That was the most empowering of all,” HOLA president and biology major Lola Perez said about her experience. 

This year, USHLI’s national conference drew in over 5,000 people. A variety of attendees were present consisting of students, educators and young professionals representing 35 states. 

This year’s conference focused on the “state of Latino education, celebrating Latino culture, Latina empowerment, Latino socioeconomic advancement, Afro-Latino power and influence, the Latino vote, making diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work for everyone, immigration reform and honoring courageous and dedicated men and women who are trailblazers, humanitarians and lifelong servants to the empowerment of the Latino community,” according to USHLI’s website. 

Many of the conference’s workshops centered around Latino empowerment and education with a variety of high profile Latino speakers, including the first Hispanic U.S. Surgeon General Antonia Novello and American Businessman Sol Trujillo. Each speaker shared their experiences about being Latino in the U.S., with many of these speakers being young professionals, elected and appointed officials and business leaders. 

“Every workshop I went to was personalized to us. We learned so much about each speaker’s story. They wanted to demonstrate that you not only want to pave a path for yourself, but for others in our community,” HOLA On-Campus Coordinator and political science major Ivan Colmenares said. “We are brown, we are proud and we are capable of being the best we possibly can be.”

USHLI is one of the events that HOLA prides itself on attending throughout the year, giving 12 HOLA members the opportunity to attend the conference this year. 

“USHLI is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cultivate leadership skills in the Latino community and fosters pride in my people like I’ve never seen,” Perez said. “USHLI encourages HOLA to foster these skills beyond the conference and to bring a deep sense of community back to Xavier.”

“Being at USHLI has shown me that excellence has no one route, but instead a variety of diverse journeys are necessary to reach excellence. To find the destination meant for you means your journey might be different from anyone else, but reaching excellence is key to paving paths and creating opportunities for the Latino community,” Colmenares said. 

USHLI was founded by Dr. Juan Andrade Jr. in 1982 and since then has trained over 1.1 million present and future leaders, awarded over $1.625 million in scholarships and internships, registered 2.3 million voters and published 425 reports of Latino demographics throughout its history. The organization’s mission is to “fulfill the promises and principles of democracy and empower the Hispanic community and similarly marginalized groups by promoting education, leadership development, research, and civic engagement,” with a key event being the USHLI conference each year.