Young Owls fly to campus this summer

Participants in the Young Owl Leadership Program test an invention in the Engineering Quad.

Rice University welcomed a new parliament of Owls to campus May 30 through June 6 for the fourth annual Young Owls Leadership Program (YOLP).

Founded by Rice graduates Norma Torres ’13, Vanessa Morales ’12 and Zack Marx-Kuo ’13, YOLP focuses on college preparation and leadership development for students from underserved communities in the Houston area, especially those who will be the first in their families to go to college. The program included 60 students from 10 high schools in the Houston Independent School District and 18 student advisers from Rice and other universities across the nation. The program was led by rising seniors Derek Brown and Monica Melendez and rising sophomores Meron Teklu and Aric Barnes.

YOLP students participated in mock classes and admission interviews during their week at Rice.

For the college student coordinators and advisers, YOLP has served as a strong motivator in inspiring them to work for education advocacy. Past coordinators Morales and Marx-Kuo joined Teach For America (TFA) after graduating and committed to teach in a low-income schools for two years. Outgoing coordinators Crystal Olalde-Garcia ’15 and Cecilia Liang ’15 were also recruited by TFA and will enter the classroom in August in Memphis, Tenn., and Houston, respectively.

School administrators and counselors selected students for the program, which was made possible by a $48,541 grant from HISD-EMERGE. EMERGE was started in 2010 by a group of HISD educators and community leaders who shared a vision of sending many more bright and driven low-income students from the Houston community to the country’s top colleges.

YOLP students spent the week experiencing Rice firsthand by staying at Lovett College and dining at residential college serveries. During the week, the students participated in leadership activities, mock classes and mock college admission interviews and learned about the college application and admission process.

The students also sat in on lectures by Rice faculty members, including Richard Tapia, University Professor and the Maxfield-Oshman Professor in Engineering, and Stephen Klineberg, professor of sociology and founding director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

“It has been so special seeing this program come together,” said Barnes, a Martel College junior who joined the coordinating team this year. “We have worked so hard preparing for nearly a year, and for the one week the students are on campus we see them grow so much. The students make everything we do worth it.”

“It’s been a great week,” said Manuel Cruz, a rising sophomore at Chavez High School. “I’ve learned a lot from the program and have made a lot of friends.”

Cruz said he is interested in studying architecture and was excited to learn from one of his advisers that Rice has one of the best architecture programs in the country.

“That really caught my attention,” he said.

Jwana Thompson, a rising sophomore at Sharpstown High School, said Rice is a very friendly and welcoming place.

“It has everything you could want in a college,” she said.

Thompson said she enjoyed the experience, which provided her with important information about the college admission process and all aspects of the college experience.

“I’ll be sad when it ends!” she said.

For more information on YOLP, visit http://youngowls.rice.edu/.

Students from 10 Houston Independent School District high schools took part in the program to help them understand the college application and admissions process.