Each spring, students and staff look forward to attending one (or more) of our student affinity summits. The summits provide students an opportunity to celebrate their identities and build relationships within the communities with which they identify. This year we welcomed over 680 students from our secondary schools- which makes it our biggest turnout yet!

Here’s a short recap of each of our student affinity summits-

Brotherhood & Sisterhood Summit - B.O.S.S. Up

This year’s summit was held on Saturday, February 26 at YES Prep Southside Secondary. The theme of the summit was B.O.S.S. Up (Building on Self Respect and Self Determination). The Brotherhood & Sisterhood Summit welcomed over 150 students to the Southside campus. Students received swag like t-shirts and stickers and partook in multiple activities and sessions.

This year’s sessions included: "Careers, but in Black," where panelists shared about their backgrounds, how they came into their careers and what it is like being Black/African American in their field; "Mental health & the art of coping," about the effects of mental health on the Black community and taught positive coping strategies through various forms of art; "Let’s talk about media – Black representation in the media," focusing on Black/African American representation, stereotypes and colorism in all forms of media; "Senior wake up," helping seniors prepare for life after graduation and how to navigate their first year of college; "Time to B.O.S.S. Up," where 9th-11th grade students turned their dreams into goals through vision board making and engaged in critical conversations on what it means to “boss up” and how to support themselves and the Black community.

A special thank you to the summit’s leads Carnetta Griffin, manager of Afterschool Centers on Education (ACE), and TeRon Simmons, behavior support specialist at YES Prep Southside Secondary.

Latinx Leadership Summit - La Familia YES Prep

This year’s summit was held on Saturday, March 26, at YES Prep Brays Oaks Secondary. The theme of the summit was La Familia YES Prep, inspired by the film that has captivated families across the country, Walt Disney's Encanto. The Latinx Leadership Summit welcomed 200 students to the Brays Oaks campus. Students received swag like t-shirts and stickers and partook in multiple activities and sessions. They were able to listen and interact with Latinx panelists ranging from leaders at YES Prep to alumni and professionals outside of YES. Students unpacked Encanto and identified what character or storyline they identified with. Students also talked about the relevance of the movie in Latin culture and how it displays different but relevant roles played in families and society. Activities included mingling, dancing and enjoying Latin cuisine and sweets from a surprise churro truck.

A special thank you to the summit’s leads Kimberly Gallegos, manager of program vendor operations, Natalie Garcia, director of student support at YES Prep Brays Oaks Secondary, and Lilian Macias, director of YES Prep Thrive.

Pride Plus Summit

This year’s summit was held on Tuesday, April 12, at the University of Houston and welcomed over 270 students to the campus! At the event, students were able to participate in a range of sessions on topics like healthy relationships, mental health, and knowing your rights. Students also participated in a community fair, face-painting, karaoke, screen printing, small group dialogues, a prize raffle, fun swag and a truly Insta-worthy photo booth. This year’s leads worked with the YES Prep Pride Plus committee and community partners such as Legacy Community Health, Equality Texas, University of Houston’s LGBTQ Resource Center, Gender Infinity, PFLAG, Harris County Votes, and Hatch Youth, a program of the Montrose Center to ensure the 2022 Pride Plus Summit was a success.

A special thank you to the summit’s leads J.C and J.W.

APIA Summit

This year’s summit was held on Saturday, May 14, at YES Prep Brays Oaks Secondary. The APIA Summit welcomed over 60 students to the Brays Oaks campus. Students who attended the summit both identified as APIA or as allies supporting the summit’s overall mission.

Students participated in teambuilders and were entertained by a Tae Kwon Do student performance, a Bollywood dance performance and a Burmese singing performance at the beginning of the summit. They later were able to choose sessions to participate in including a panel with APIA leaders across Houston, a separate panel with APIA alumni from YES Prep, as well as discussions around allyship, the significance of Asian names and the model minority myth. Throughout the day, students were able to enjoy delicious Asian bread in the morning and a full Pakistani lunch. Finally, students left with tons of goodies including the APIA summit shirt, as well as a gift box and separate gift bag with tons of Asian snacks and gifts from across the globe. 

A special thank you to the summit’s leads Natalie Garcia, director of student support at YES Prep Brays Oaks Secondary, Jeevan Moses, director of college initiatives at YES Prep Brays Oaks Secondary, and Jennifer Reyes, director of school operations.

There’s no doubt that the 2022 student affinity summits were a hit! The lasting impact these events have on our students and staff help us better understand one another, whether students and staff attend these summits because of their identity or because of their allyship. We look forward to welcoming our students to the 2023 student affinity summits next spring.

To learn more about student affinity summits at YES Prep, click here.

Thank you to our 2022 Student Affinity Summit corporate supporter – Enbridge.