Feria Para Aprender (The Learning Fair) is the largest Hispanic education and college-readiness event in the country, and it hopes to help stem the tide of high school dropout rates in Dallas.

 

By Kevin Woo | One+

 

The dropout rate among high school students in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) hovers around 60 percent annually. The problem is especially profound among Hispanic youth who represent nearly two-thirds of the district’s 150,000 students and have a high dropout rate.

 

The unemployment rate among Hispanic youth is equally distressing. While U.S. unemployment stands (at press time) at 8.7 percent, among Hispanics in Dallas County the jobless rate is 12.4 percent. To stem the tide of high school dropout rates and increase the percentage of Hispanics who go on to college, two Texas educators, Sylvia Acevedo and One (pronounce O-nay) Musel-Gilley.

 

The founding of the learning fair

 

Musel-Gilley, started Feria Para Aprender (The Learning Fair). The program kicked-off five years ago in Austin, Texas, and has since become the largest Hispanic education and college-readiness event in the country. In addition to Austin, Acevedo and Musel-Gilley have produced Feria Para Aprender events in Miami, Florida, and Los Angeles, California. In October, Acevedo and Musel-Gilley will bring Feria Para Aprender to Dallas.

 

“It’s important to understand the demographic changes and trends that are happening in places like Texas, Florida and California,” Acevedo said. “These three states represent more than half of our future workforce. And there is no place in the U.S. that is changing as fast and as dramatically and on such a grand scale as the state of Texas.”

 

Acevedo adds that the current education model, where fathers work and mothers stay home, was designed for the baby boom generation. That model no longer applies, because today both parents are likely to work and fathers are becoming more involved with their children’s education. Because of this change, Acevedo says it’s critical to produce educational events that reach mothers and fathers.

 

The educational journey

 

The format for Feria Para Aprender is unlike other education events where vendors are scattered around a large meeting hall and attendees are left on their own to find information. Feria Para Aprender is designed as a one-way path that takes attendees on an educational journey from pre-K to college. Each step along the way, from early childhood education to elementary school and beyond, is called a “zone.” The goal of each zone is to help parents and children navigate their way through the education process and connect the dots between education, parental involvement and success.

 

Musel-Gilley says that biggest challenge facing parents who are new to the U.S.—or for whom English is a second language—is that the education system isn’t hospitable and it’s hard to learn how to be assertive and advocate for their children.

 

Involved parents

 

Parents who attend Feria Para Aprender will learn how to become more involved with their children’s day-to-day education, how to create home study programs, how talk with teachers, how to feel at ease when visiting their children’s school and how to feel more comfortable as their children grow older and begin to think about college.

 

“Educational opportunities aren’t as widely available in Mexico,” Musel-Gilley said. “When parents come to the U.S., they learn that education is compulsory. Because of their lack of familiarity with formal education, the parents aren’t able to understand how education works. We teach the parents that if a child graduates from high school, they’ll earn a million dollars over a lifetime. If they graduate from college, they will earn an additional million. The more education someone has, and being bilingual, means there will be better opportunities for pay and jobs. When we explain this, the parents get it.”

 

The importance of family literacy

 

Parents begin their Feria Para Aprender experience in the Early Childhood and Elementary zones, where they will learn about the importance of early childhood education.

 

Teachers and administrators will explain the importance of learning to read and developing other skills prior to attending elementary school. A mock classroom will be set up so the parents can have the opportunity to experience a classroom setting (perhaps for the first time in their lives) and get first-hand knowledge of what their children will go through in school.

 

Because much of the focus of Feria Para Aprender is on reading and family literacy, there will be reading pods and reading gardens located throughout the hall, and parents and kids are encouraged to spend time reading together. To extend the reading experience into the home, Acevedo and Musel-Gilley have arranged for more than 20,000 books to be given away at the event. Families will receive bilingual copies of books such as Where The Wild Things Are, Thomas the Tank Engine and Pirates of the Caribbean. The goal, Musel-Gilley says, is for families to take the books home and make reading part of everyday life.

 

As the families progress into the high school zone, educators from DISD, community colleges and local universities will be on hand to talk about college, scholarships and financial aid. Representatives from Southern Methodist University, the University of North Texas in Denton and the University of North Texas at Dallas will be in attendance.

 

Community groups—including Education is Freedom, Communities in Schools and the United Way—will also be on site to provide parents with information about education resources available.

 

University of North Texas at Dallas participates

 

Gloria Bahamon, the assistant provost at the University of North Texas at Dallas, says the key to getting kids to attend college is to bring the university to the parents to show them that college is accessible. “In the Hispanic culture, parents have a lot to say about what children do,” Bahamon said. “The parents need to be assured that universities are there to help their kids. Many [Hispanic] parents don’t have the education to know that there are resources, such as scholarships and financial aid, to help their children.”

 

To help parents understand the connection between money and education, Feria Para Aprender will feature a financial literacy zone, where parents will learn how to save for college, and a financial advisement zone, where university representatives will provide information about financial aid and scholarships.

 

The enrichment zones

 

Feria Para Aprender concludes with a trip into the enrichment activities zone where parents and their kids can see how education pays off. The zone features demonstrations that represent various careers. Parents and kids can play with flying saucers (for those who want to be astronauts), watch science experiments, talk to nurses and other medical professionals and meet firefighters and police officers. Kids can dress up in job-related uniforms and have a career picture taken while parents learn about the type of education that is needed for various professions.

 

Associated with the enrichment activities zone is the commitment zone, where parents and kids will make commitments to each other. Families will be encouraged to talk about what they learned at Feria Para Aprender and write down what they’re committed to do to make education a priority within the family.

 

Musel-Gilley has high hopes for the upcoming event. She anticipates that 20,000 parents and kids will attend and knows that Feria Para Aprender is making a big impact throughout the Hispanic community.

 

“After an event in Austin, a mother frantically tried to find our photographer because she forgot to pick up her daughter’s career picture,” Musel-Gilley said. “The mother pleaded for our help. I asked the mom what her daughter was dressed up as so we could find the photo. She said her daughter was dressed up as a teacher.”

 

For Musel-Gilley, that was confirmation that Feria Para Aprender is sure to be muy importante para los ciudadanos de Dallas. One+