MCISD Migrant junior high and high school girls participated in this year’s leadership conference entitled “From Harvest to Harvard,” Discovering the Wonder-Woman in You Through Empowerment, Leadership and Education. This conference was held at the Pharr Boggus Event Center on Wednesday, March 28, 2018.
This Migrant female student conference was a full day of motivation, education, and personal evolution. They had the opportunity to meet and become inspired by “heroic” women who have overcome obstacles and challenges, only to become real-life Superheroes.
The conference featured four “Wonder Woman” speakers such as Dr. Maria De Lourdes Coimbra, Christina DeMara, Norma Flores Lopez, and Marissa Cano. These women demonstrate intelligence, strength, perseverance, and determination. All of them have their own story of how they overcame obstacles and talked about the steps that each of them took in order to persevere.
Dr. Maria Lourdes is a board-certified family physician, owner of the Coimbra Family Medical Center, and received the Top Doctor Award for the RGV 2017. She grew up in Brazil and came to the United States as a young female doctor without speaking any English. She worked extremely hard to acquire the knowledge needed and through her faith she was able to fulfill her dreams of helping others. Her topic for the presentation was “If I were afraid of change, I wouldn’t be who I am Today.”
Christina DeMara was a high school drop-out but was able to complete her educational journey by dedicating time to her studies. She currently holds three Master’s degrees from the University of Texas. She has a Master’s degree in Special Education, Educational Administration and Leadership, and Curriculum & Instruction. She is an Assistant Principal, book publisher, advocate for kindness, entrepreneur, international author just to mention a few. She presented on the topic, “I follow three rules: Do the Right Thing, Do the Best You Can, and Always Show People that You Care.”
Norma Flores Lopez grew up in a migrant farm working family and she started to work in the fields at the age of nine. She was determined to change the course of her family history by changing her outcome. She was offered a paid internship and that allowed her to stop working in the fields and that experience opened her eyes to career advocacy. She earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas Pan American and a Master of Public Policy from George Mason University. She is currently the Governance and Collaboration/Development Manager for East Coast Migrant Head Start Project in Washington, D.C., Chair of Domestic Issues Committee for Child Labor Coalition and serves on the board of many organizations. Her presentation to the attendees was “Si Se Puede.”
Marissa Cano addressed the audience with her topic of “Your Success is not What We’re Looking for It’s Your Story.” She was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas and started to work at the age of 15 as a telemarketer to help the family pay the bills. She moved to the Rio Grande Valley in 2003 after having experienced domestic violence for many years. She started college at the age of 33 and by 40 she had received her Master’s degree. She currently is the Regional Director of South Texas for BCFS Health and Human Services, M.S. in Rehabilitation Counseling.
All of these women, demonstrated that although sometimes life may be difficult you can still reach your goals through determination. This conference provided MCISD female students with motivation and encouragement to set their goals and then to work hard to achieve them.