Orange City, Iowa — Multicultural students from northwest Iowa are getting the chance to get together and experience leadership opportunities.
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and Northwestern College will host the first-ever Northwest Iowa GRIT Conference on Friday, March 31. The one-day conference will focus on empowering multicultural students in grades 8 through 12 to ‘Get Real Together’ through leadership activities, college exploration, and cultural awareness.
Honna Brown, Sioux County Youth Coordinator with ISU Extension and Outreach says that the demographics in Iowa are evolving. She says as a youth development organization, it is their responsibility to meet the growing needs of all youth and families. She says that in Sioux County, the ethnic diversity has climbed to roughly 10 percent of the population. She says they see the GRIT Conference as a way for underrepresented youth to experience leadership opportunities and to be empowered to see the value their unique cultural experiences add to their communities. She says they hope that the conference can be a stepping stone for youth to grow motivated to seek out other leadership and educational opportunities.
She tells us about the day.
In addition to large-group leadership activities, youth will also have the opportunity to specialize and focus on an area, says Brown.
Due to population demographics, schools primarily from Sioux and Buena Vista Counties have been invited to participate; however, Brown says they hope that this will become an annual conference that will allow for more participants in future years.
The program will be hosted from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Friday on the campus of Northwestern College in Orange City. Presenters will be youth leadership specialists and multicultural faculty and students from Northwestern College and ISU Extension and Outreach.
She says while the goal is just to encourage multicultural youth to seek leadership opportunities, they also hope to get students interested in both 4-H and higher education as well.
More information from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach:
“A few of our goals for the Northwest Iowa GRIT Conference are for youth to develop their own unique leadership abilities, create connections with other students and learn about the many opportunities and programs that ISU Extension and Outreach has to offer them,” Brown said.
Brown shared that another core goal is to offer youth from underrepresented populations an opportunity to visit and take part in activities on a real college campus.
“We also hope to help the students realize that higher education after high school is attainable – all while building excitement about the possibilities of subjects they could study,” Brown said. “Research has shown that youth who attend events on college campuses in high school are much more likely to attend post-secondary education. A local principal said it best when we approached him about having students attend this conference. He said, ‘It looks like this event has the potential to be life-changing and if it changes one student’s life, it is worth doing for many.’”
For more information, contact Brown at 712-737-4230 or hlbrown@iastate.edu
