¡La Chispa! (The Spark!)
“It’s been about a week since we attended ¡La Chispa! and students I never knew before have sought me out in the halls telling me what it means to be Latino. The ¡La Chispa! experience gave them recognition many have never had before. They want to be able to achieve a high GPA to rid the stigma that Mexicans are ‘dumb.’ Most of all, they want to learn how to be successful.”
What is La Chispa?
Ignite a passion for leading and learning
The goal of our ¡LA CHISPA! program is to ignite a spark and create a flame of focused energy with middle-level Latino students in Washington State.
¡La Chispa! 2024 - 2025
An engaging bilingual (English-Spanish) program for middle-level Latino students settings! The culturally responsive program aligns with Washington State and CASEL social-emotional learning standards and builds positive academic and self-identity agency within Latinx students.
¡La Chispa! (The Spark) helps students build their self-confidence, strengthen their cultural identity, and increase their academic success. Student success is largely dependent on three factors: positive adult role models, involvement in school, and community service. ¡La Chispa! offers students advancement in all three areas.
Student participants will:
Build positive connections with Latino high school student leaders and college-age role models
Engage in a bilingual & biliterate environment designed to promote the value of reading, writing, and speaking in two languages
Learn leadership and life skills including goal setting, team-building, leadership styles, resiliency, service to one’s school and community, and navigating a bicultural life
Explore three overarching questions: Who am I? What can I do? Where do I go from here?
Adults attending the workshop or retreat will learn with their students and will also have networking time with other committed educators and community members.
La Chispa 2024-2025 (Regionals)
Dates (more dates will be announced soon):
(Postponed) @ Centralia High School (Grand Mound Region)
(Postponed) @ Mark Morris High School (Cowlitz County Region)
*Nov. 7th @ Vancouver iTech Preparatory (Clark County Region) ~ 10:00am - 1:30pm
Nov. 14th @ Cascade High School (Leavenworth Region)
Nov. 14th @ La Venture Middle School (Mount Vernon Region)
(Postponed) @ Moses Lake High School (Moses Lake Region)
Nov. 19th @ Wahluke Junior High (Grant County/Central Washington Region)
Nov. 26th @ Columbia Basin College (Tri-Cities Region)
Workshop Information:
Program begins at 9:30am, and concludes at 1:00pm. Plan to arrive between 9:00am - 9:15am the day of your regional program.
(Vancouver La Chispa ONLY) ~ Special time 10:00am - 1:30pm!
Wear comfortable casual clothes and soft soled shoes.
Cost of the workshop includes all materials.
Participants need to bring a brown bag lunch and a snack for our mid-morning break.
Facilitators are staff members from the Association of Washington Student Leaders.
One school adviser/adult for every 16 students registered.
Cancellations accepted up to 5 business days before the conference; after this date full fees apply.
Please contact Travis Ruther, AWSL Associate Director (travis@awsleaders.org) with any questions.
Registration Information
$30 per participant (student and adult) for AWSL Member Schools/$40 per participant (student and adult) for Non-Member schools.
Cancellations accepted up to 5 business days before the conference; after this date full fees apply.
Register using your AWSL Member Portal.
Need support accessing the portal? Contact AWSL Fiscal Coordinator, Christine Bryan
Want to make a payment over the phone? Give us a call! (360) 359-7060