STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Port Richmond High School students recently returned from the state capital after participating in the annual Puerto Rican/Hispanic Youth Leadership (PR/HYL) conference, with four of them earning scholarship prizes.
The PR/HYL conference, which was hosted on Sunday, March 10, as part of a three-day event, had the Capital bustling with more than 200 Hispanic students from eight delegations statewide, turning it into a center stage for youth-led legislative debates.
The event featured various activities, including team-building exercises to foster interregional relationships, a Mock Assembly session, a career development workshop, and a student recognition dinner. It concluded with a debate over legislation on Sunday.
One of the participants of the PR/HYL program is Daniel Zapata, of West Brighton, an 18-year-old Venezuelan student who brought home a $1,000 scholarship. Zapata left his country due to economic collapse and dictatorship and first relocated to the Dominican Republic before arriving in the United States in 2021 and attending Port Richmond High School.
Daniel Zapata, an 18-year-old Venezuelan student from Port Richmond High School, participated in the PR/HYL program and attended the annual conference in Albanyl on March 10, 2024. (Staten Island Advance/ Priya Shahi)Priya Shahi
“When I came here, I used to be so shy and it was so hard to express myself in another language,” Zapata, a senior, said. “The experience with the program was great. What I have learned is that we can speak out for ourselves and talk to people that represent us. If we have a problem in our community, and we want to change that… a way to change is by advocating for ourselves and voting.”
The annual PR/HYL conference, now in its 34th year, has hosted over 7,000 students since its inception. It is a culmination of the PR/HYL program, which trains high school students across eight delegations statewide over the course of seven weeks in identifying local…
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