High school outreach - higher
The Hmong Student Association at UCI annually holds a conference for Hmong high school students called HIGHER (Hmong Inspiring to Gain Higher Education and Recruitment). The high school outreach program is a two day one night conference that consists of workshops and activities that help high school students be encouraged to pursue higher education and not be afraid to leave home for college. The program's theme changes every year, depending on the High School Outreach chair. Despite the theme change, the main goal of the conference to help high school students be comfortable in any decision they make when it comes to choosing a college as well as helping them understand what college is about. And although we try to prioritize Hmong students, we are usually open to other students that are not Hmong. We usually aim to help students from Northern California due to the higher population of Hmong students in the North.
This year our theme for the conference is Community. The conference is ran by our High School Outreach chair Chou Xiong. He is very passionate in helping students pursue higher education and is dedicated to make students feel welcomed. He wants the students to understand the importance of community and how they could "Lend a hand to those who come after you."