As the featured speaker at Calvin’s first Aspirando Alto conference, held at the college Oct. 13-15, Michmerhuizen reminisced about her experiences as a Mexican immigrant attending high school in the United States. Her audience of 42 Latino seventh-grade through 10th-grade students was a little shy of the 75 attendees expected for the event, but conference organizers were pleased nevertheless.

“As the students entered the seminary auditorium for registration, they were very excited,” said Rhae-Ann Booker, Calvin’s director of pre-college programs (PCP) and the creator of Aspirando Alto, which is Spanish for “aspiring high.” “And the parents and school counselors who came expressed gratitude.”

Michmerhuizen echoed the conference’s theme in her hourlong speech. She told her own story, of how God diverted her from her career in Mexico to mentor Calvin’s Spanish house — an off-campus residence for students studying Spanish — as a post-baccalaureate student (“I took political science courses and religion courses and theology courses, and it was wonderful”). He then directed her, she related, into ministry in Mexico and Central America through Merge Ministries.

“God doesn’t want you to settle,” she exhorted her audience. “He wants you to be excellent in everything that you do. … If you go to college, you will be better equipped to build a life for yourself.” Michmerhuizen emphasized more than academic success: “You should think about being successful overall,” she urged. “Work on your relationships with your parents and siblings and friends. You need to have dreams for the family you will one day have. Think about what kind of mother you want to be and what kind of father you want to be.”

Aspirando Alto was modeled on PCP’s successful Striving Toward Educational Possibilities (STEP) conference, a three-day simulated college experience held in the summer for seventh- through 10th-graders. Aspirando Alto represented the office’s first intentional partnership with local schools to further the interests of the Latino youths and communities.

“STEP is open to the general public,” Booker said, “but we have yet to attract many Latino youth to this conference. After accepting the fact that one size does not fit all, we got busy planning a conference geared toward Latino youth.”

Aspirando Alto drew students from Grand Rapids’ Central High and Burton Middle schools and Potter’s House Christian Middle and High schools. Students who attended — both the high achievers and those who need a little academic push — were nominated by their schools to participate. The 42 conferees lived in Calvin residence halls and were supervised by Calvin students, who served as both dorm hosts and academic coaches.

The conference began Thursday evening with dinner, icebreakers and games. On Friday, after Michmerhuizen’s address, the students attended Calvin’s popular Friday hymn sing and then visited a college class based on their interests, such as art, business, chemistry, French or engineering. Next, students participated in a workshop titled “Preparing for College,” led by admissions staff.

That afternoon, they attended “Expressions” workshops in art, journalism, film, and computer technology. “The students in the workshops I visited were engaged. They were having a good time and learning a lot,” Booker said. And Friday evening, parents joined conference participants for a family showing of the film Spanglish.

Saturday featured student workshops on preparing for college entrance tests as well as two workshops for parents: “Preparing My Child for College” and “Preparing for College Costs.” Finally, the students made presentations based on their work in the “Expressions” workshops.

Booker said the conference was a great success. “We achieved many of our established goals, such as beginning to deepen relationships with local schools and Latino communities. Also, we exposed students and their families to Calvin College. And I feel we sparked interest among the youth for pursuing higher education — and among the families for considering Calvin College as an option.”

She shared one anecdote: “It was most rewarding to have a parent stand before me and proudly share that one of her children currently attends Grand Rapids Community College, and she has another in high school. And she would like for that high schooler to come to Calvin College.”