Latino Leadership Conference includes art, poetry

Students at the IU Latino Leadership Conference mixed theater, art and poetry in attempts to become better leaders.\nMore than 200 students from around Indiana participated in the seventh annual conference Saturday, which the Latino Enhancement Cooperative and IU's La Casa Latino Cultural Center, sponsored. Saturday's conference, "Visions to Reality: In the Palm of Your Hand" taught students leadership skills and encouraged students to attend college.\nLillian Casillas, director of La Casa, said about half the students at the conference were from Indiana colleges, like Purdue, Hanover College and other IU campuses. The other half were from Indiana high schools, some as far as South Bend. \nSavino Rivera, vice president of LEC, said the conference was a success. \nThe highlight of the day came shortly before 1 p.m. when poet Oveous Maximus performed for the crowd in the Kelley School of Business. \nA native of New York City, Maximus performed about 10 poems, including one he read on "Showtime at the Apollo," an NBC show featuring acts performing at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, N.Y.\nHis poems addressed topics like gender equality, turning 30, love, life in New York City and his Latino heritage. \n"How are we supposed to be equal when everywhere we look we're being depicted by little animals, like Speedy Gonzales and the Taco Bell chihuahua?" Maximus said when performing one of his poems. \nBetween pieces, Maximus shared intimate parts of his life, including his brother's suicide, and encouraged the audience to attend college. \n"The education I received helps me in the way I express myself," said Maximus, who earned two B.A.s, one in sociology and another in graphic design. "It opened a lot of doors for me. It taught me how to speak. It taught me how to be professional."\nRivera said he was "blown away" by Maximus' performance. \n"It's hard to put into words," he said. "A lot of the topics that he covered are hushed by our society, and he just put them all out there."\nIn addition to Maximus' performance, the conference held three workshops throughout the day, each with three different segments that students could attend. \n"The majority of the workshops were very hands-on," Rivera said. "Overall, I know they went great." \nHigh school senior Claudia Montes, from Northwest High School in Indianapolis, said she was glad to hear it's never too late to apply for scholarships. \n"They answered a lot of questions about college," said Montes, who will enroll at Ivy Tech in the fall with plans of transferring to IU in the future. "It's been really helpful."\nThough Montes' school did not organize a trip to the conference, she said she thought it would be important enough to gather a group of students to attend. La Plaza, an Indianapolis social organization, assisted Montes's efforts.