NHI announces Mexico Great Debate at Arkansas State-Queretaro

The National Hispanic Institute, providing Latino leadership education programs to top-performing high school students in the United States, Mexico, and Latin American and South American countries, will partner with Arkansas State University’s Campus Querétaro in Querétaro, Querétaro to present a Mexico Great Debate program to launch in 2019.

The program, scheduled for July 2-7, will give students throughout the hemisphere an opportunity to develop public speaking, debating, and presentation skills in a Mexico-hosted program for the first time in NHI’s extensive history of developing Latino leaders. NHI will celebrate 40 years of service in 2019, with the Mexico Great Debate happening just two weeks prior to the anniversary of the organization’s founding.

“NHI and our alumni throughout Mexico are greatly excited by this news,” said Nicole Nieto, NHI’s Executive Vice President, of the partnership. “We have worked for years to bring NHI leadership development opportunities to Mexico, making it both accessible and national in scope so that young people may come together to define their ideas for the future. Arkansas State Campus Querétaro is led by visionary leaders who want to make possible a new educational model for Mexican youth.”

“We are excited to partner with NHI on offering the first Great Debate program in Mexico,” said Dr. Brad L. Rawlins, Vice Rector of Arkansas State Campus Querétaro. “We share the same goals of developing young people to be the leaders of tomorrow. We also share the same values of providing an education and an experience that enhances intellectual growth, strengthens communication skills and encourages personal responsibility. By partnering with NHI on this project, we will make a difference in the lives of many young people and open them up to the myriad of opportunities that education affords.”

The Mexico Great Debate will join programs in Texas, Illinois, and Pennsylvania as the first of a three-part leadership series intended to take students from the close of their ninth grade year to high school graduation. The program has an impressive track record — with 98 percent of participants going on to college, and 90 percent of those completing a degree within five years of enrollment. Its alumni, leading in a range of professional roles in their communities, notably include two recently-elected members of Congress, New Mexico’s Xochitl Torres Small and New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

NHI is now taking applications for all 2019 Summer Programs at the NHI website.

The Great Debate program is sponsored in part by State Farm.