Virginia State University Hosts College Prep Program for Latino Students: Among the 80 Virginia high school students that participated in the Hispanic College Institute at Virginia State University (VSU), Monica Negron found plenty of encouragement during the institute for the college plans she nurtures as a rising high school senior.
“I have to go to college and make something of myself. I have to show [my siblings] that people are going to tell you 'no', but that doesn't have to keep you down,” Negron said.
For Negron and the others, faculty and administrators at Virginia State, a historically Black university in Petersburg, Va., along with volunteers and Latino professionals, sought to make college life appear to be a natural and inevitable destination for these ambitious students.