FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 14, 2004
CONTACT: Roland Ruiz, St. Philip's College Director of Community and Public Relations
210.531.3260
SAN ANTONIO YO! STUDENTS PLACE IN NATIONAL COMPETITION
Members of the San Antonio YO! (Youth Opportunity Program) Skills Team returned from the nation's capital recently with three awards in the second annual Youth Career Skills Challenge at Catholic University in Washington D.C. Competing against peers from 35 cities nationwide, local YO! team member Sharri Jones placed first in public speaking in the younger youth category and earned an honorable mention in career vocabulary, while teammate Christina Martinez placed second in employment review.
The local YO! team, made up of students representing participating Youth Opportunity Program partners St. Philip's College, San Antonio ISD, Edgewood ISD and the City of San Antonio, included Jones and Martinez, Sulema Mendoza, Rosario Don, Tino Ruiz and Angela Avidikian. The group traveled together to Washington D.C. in July to face off against other YO! students in a broad range of competition categories such as current events, language arts, career vocabulary, employment interviews, college essay and public speaking. The team spent four months training for the national contest at the St. Philip's College YO! Skills Challenge Academy at St. Philip's College-Southwest Campus. In addition to the competitive events, students attended workshops designed to gauge and improve their work readiness and academic skills. Participants also took to the streets of the metro D.C. area for a day of community service projects.
The Youth Career Skills Challenge is supported by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration with the help of volunteers as part of the national YO! Program. YO! is a community partnership initiative designed to help youth (between the ages of 14 and 21) living in federally designated Enterprise Communities to develop the necessary skills to become contributing self-sufficient members of the community by creating educational, career and cultural opportunities.
St. Philip's College, one of the Alamo Community Colleges serving the greater Bexar County region, is a comprehensive community college designated as both a Historically Black College and a Hispanic Serving Institution. St. Philip's College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.