Southeastern hosts recognition ceremony for HLP Program
Friday, December 2, 2022 
by: Tonya Lowentritt
SOUTHEASTERN RECOGNIZES HISPANIC LEADERSHIP PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS – Recently Southeastern Louisiana University’s College of Business honored 41 Hispanic high school students from Tangipahoa Parish by presenting the Certificate of Completion as part of the 2022 Hispanic Leadership Program. The HLP program provides opportunities for Hispanic youth to grow professionally, strengthens each student’s skills, and prepares them to contribute significantly to the workforce.
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University’s College of Business honored 41
Hispanic high school students from Tangipahoa Parish by presenting the Certificate
of Completion as part of the 2022 Hispanic Leadership Program.
Hispanics are the nation’s fastest growing demographic and will account for 50
percent of the new employees entering the workforce by 2025. According to the Census
Bureau, the increase in Hispanic enrollment is seen at all levels of education, from
nursery school to college. From 2010 to 2020, Hispanic high school students increased
from 13.2 percent to 23.7 percent, and college and university students increased from
8.0 percent to 19.1 percent.
Regionally, more than 13,000 Hispanic students are enrolled in high schools in
the parishes of Tangipahoa, St. Tammany, East Baton Rouge, and Livingston alone. Yet,
data shows that many Hispanics do not see a pathway for them to earn a four-year degree.
Aristides Baraya, director of the Latin American Business and Development Initiative
at Southeastern, said the HLP’s purpose is to identify Hispanic youth with potential
for education at the postsecondary level and to give them the skills and motivation
necessary to be successful as leaders and in life. The HLP program provides opportunities
for Hispanic youth to grow professionally, strengthens each student’s skills, and
prepares them to contribute significantly to the workforce, he explained.
“This program fills a critical need by supporting educational growth for Louisiana’s
Hispanic community,” he said. “Southeastern’s College of Business has a long history
of outreach to the Hispanic community. For more than 24 years, the Latin American
Business and Development Initiative has offered programs that strengthen the leadership
and entrepreneur capabilities of the Hispanic communities in the Southeast region
and abroad.”
“We are proud of the college’s long-standing relationship with the domestic and
international Latin American Community,” said Tará Lopez, dean of the College of Business.
“The HLP program is transformational because it serves as a conduit to higher education
for Hispanic youth.”
