Woodland High School multilingual learner students attend Latino Youth Leadership Conference

WOODLAND — Woodland High School multilingual learner students joined students from across the region to attend the Clark County Latino Youth Leadership Conference at Washington State University Vancouver on Oct. 7. The free conference was organized and put on by Latino Leadership Northwest, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping Latino students thrive and excel.

Carlotta Propersi, a multilingual learner teacher at Woodland High School, knew of the conference from prior years, when her students attended remotely due to pandemic restrictions; 2022 was the first year her students could attend in person.

Students chose from a wide number of workshops focusing on everything from pursuing higher education including how to secure financial aid; learning about entrepreneurship and how to create businesses; building work experience to create robust resumes; and hearing life stories from Latino professionals who live and work in Clark County and the surrounding region.

A favorite workshop among Woodland’s students was a presentation by Dr. Jaime A. Nicacio, a medical doctor with PeaceHealth, called “From the Fields to Medical School.” Nicacio started by working fields harvesting crops before working his way through medical school to become a doctor. “When you find something that is important to you, you have to put it in your heart and work hard to be the example of what you want,” said Josselin Diaz-Montoya, a sophomore at Woodland High School about the presentation. Diaz-Montoya plans to attend college following graduation and hopes to become a lawyer so she can help others.

Woodland students also enjoyed having the opportunity to meet and network with others from around the region, sharing stories of the difficulty of having to learn a new language while also taking high school classes. “I started attending Woodland in the eighth grade and discovered how hard it is to learn English and take courses at the same time,” said Lujille Goloya, now a sophomore at Woodland High School. Goloya plans to become a nurse and potentially starting a bakery to pursue all of her passions.

Diaz-Montoya shared Goloya’s experience of having a difficult time learning English after moving to Woodland from Honduras. “Moving to a new country where you cannot speak a single word of the language is extremely challenging,” she said. “However, I feel like I can communicate with people better now, and I work closely with my younger sister so we can both practice our language skills; my sister is very motivated to learn new things and often asks me to help teach her.”