Northwest is Recruiting More Hispanic and Latino Students

The population of Hispanics and Latinos is rapidly growing in the U.S. Likewise, the number of Hispanic and Latino students who are looking for suitable universities are also on the rise. This year, the Northwest Diversity and Inclusion coordinator, with the support of the Hispanic Development Fund, has pivoted to include recruiting more Hispanic and Latino students in Missouri metropolitan areas.

Adam Gonzales, coordinator of Diversity and Inclusion, has been attending college fairs in St. Louis and Kansas City to recruit Latino high school students to Northwest. Gonzales is the son of an immigrant and he speaks Spanish as his first language.

In an article published on Northwest Missourian, a study conducted by Pew Research in 2018 claimed that the number of Hispanic and Latino students has increased into 20 percent in 10 years, making the them the fastest-growing youth population and U.S major ethnic group. In addition to that, the Hispanic and Latino students are made up of 25 percent of K-12 students in the country.

Moreover, the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund, where Gonzales works directly, provides assistance to students who are filling for college application through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and Scholarship, since there are many college applicants who are first-generation Americans.

Gonzales said that he is the only bilingual recruiter in the campus and he found out that there are still Hispanic and Latino students who are undocumented and have difficulty in speaking English. Gonzales added that through the Diversity and Inclusion, there will be recruitment for the underrepresented students. The recruitment is not only about having more students, more hours to study, staff, trainings and scholarships, but also to recruit people who are capable of understanding the diverse culture of students even if they do not come from the largest minority group.

The Hispanic Development Fund Scholarship Program has been a partner of Northwest for 15 years. Recently, the Vice President for External Relations Lonelle Rathje presented the two-year memorandum that will extend the partnership of Northwest and Hispanic Development Fund Scholarship Program. The memorandum stipulates that the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund will support up to $5,000 per student but is only limited to 10 students per year. On the other hand, Northwest has provided 18 scholarships amounting to $14,625 for the past five years.

The underrepresented students will be at the ease of their comfort zone. The University of St. Louis in Missouri as example created an organization intended for the Hispanic and Latino students. According to their website www.umsl.edu, the UMSL Hispanic group association was established since 1988 and it aims to help awareness on Hispanic culture through different activities. Likewise, the organization is not only intended to the said students but also for everyone who wants to learn more about the Hispanic culture.

Meanwhile, Gonzales said that the presence of Latino and Hispanic faculty and staff would help to boost the Latino students to succeed in their career and it would also help him to take off the burden in representing the Latino employees. Gonzales added that the University is taking steps to increase its diversifying recruitment and he believed that there will be more rooms to grow the increasing diversifying staff.

Read more: Northwest invests in recruiting Hispanic and Latino students and Hispanic and Latino Student Organization