Project MALES will host its third annual Summer Leadership Academy at The University of Texas at Austin on July 20-21, where 60 young men from Central Texas schools will get to experience what college is like. This overnight event is meant to help demystify the college experience, reinforce the leadership skills they have developed over the year, and mitigate the effect of “summer brain drain.” Through our summer academy, we are addressing the lack of programming in Austin for our students; we know from decades of research that summer learning loss is a real phenomenon, particularly for low-income students. We are also inviting a family member of each young male to join us so that they can experience what college life is like.
Participants will get a tour of the University of Texas Visualization Lab (VisLab) facilitated by Rosalia Gomez, Education & Outreach Manager. The VisLab is a state-of-the-art facility where staff explores the intersection between human perception and large-scale visual analysis through the study of visualization and interactive displays. Additionally, this year we are introducing “Identity” as our fifth theme which is part of our critical mentoring curriculum and one of the central themes of our Leadership Academy. Our identity session will be led by Grant Loveless, Assistant of Student Services at Austin Community College. This year we are also partnering with Sigma Lambda Beta Fraternity, who will lead our participants in a discussion about “brotherhood.” Our Hip Hop and Poetry Session will be led by Bavu Blakes and Jeffrey Da’Shade Johnson.
For more information on our Project MALES Summer Academy, please contact Rodrigo Aguayorodrigo@austin.utexas.edu or 512-232-4617 or Jorge Rodriguez jorge@austin.utexas.edu or 512- 471-1781
