First year adviser Cecilia Flores will be representing the College Advising Corps (CAC) at the national Education Writers Association Conference, which will be held from July 18-21 in Miami, Florida. Flores will be serving on a Spanish-speaking panel for journalists. Topics will revolve around issues related to access and success for Latinx students in higher education.

The College Advising Corps selected an adviser from the UT Austin branch of Advise TX, due to the university’s track record of success serving this population of students and parents. Flores was also chosen to represent the CAC and its work across the country based on her success in serving Latinx students at Juarez-Lincoln High School in Mission, Texas. All of her expenses for the conference will be funded by the CAC.

The panel, scheduled on July 20, will be comprised of up to four speakers, all of whom will be speaking entirely in Spanish. A moderator will ask specific questions about best practices for ensuring access and success for Latinx populations in higher education. Journalists in the audience will have the opportunity to ask additional questions.

Flores is a first-generation college graduate and UT Austin alumna going into her second year as an adviser serving students in the Rio Grande Valley. At the beginning of the school year she was faced with a majority of students who expressed an interest in going straight into the workforce after high school graduation. Due to her efforts, she met with 100 percent of her senior class (374 students) and was able to get them all to apply to at least one college. She was also able to get 80 percent of her seniors to submit their FAFSA forms. She was asked to be the speaker at three Advise TX high school Decision Day ceremonies in the Rio Grande Valley, where she cleverly used a Rubik’s Cube as the focal point to describe the college journey.

About Advise TX: Housed within the Longhorn Center for School Partnerships, the UT Austin chapter of Advise TX is part of the national College Advising Corps, an ever growing consortium of more than 20 partner institutions around the country that have committed to recruit and train talented, enthusiastic recent college graduates to serve as college advisers within designated high schools in 14 states.

Through this nationwide consortium of colleges and universities, the program aims to increase the number of low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students entering and completing higher education. By placing recent graduates of partner institutions as college advisers in underserved high schools and community colleges, the programs work in communities across the country to provide the advising and encouragement that students need to navigate college admissions.

Advisers work full-time to help students plan their college searches, complete admissions and financial aid applications and enroll at schools that will serve them well.
The University of Texas at Austin Chapter manages 21 college advisers who serve in low-performing high schools within 12 school districts in Central Texas, Houston, Dallas, El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley. These advisers serve in their high schools for a maximum of two years.

For more information, contact: Cheryl Sawyer, AdviseTX Program Director at 512-471-6173 or cheryls@austin.utexas.edu.