by Navya Kartha | Staff Writer

San Antonio has one of the highest high school drop-out rates in the United States.

“Most students don’t see the relevance from school to their lives and most want to work and make money,” Counselor Shar Huffman said.

In order to change this statistic and make sure that students achieve success, a new organization called Generation Texas, whose major goal is to emphasize the necessity of attending college as well as to make “San Antonio a college-going and career-ready community” in just one generation, has been established. One of the ways that Generation Texas will accomplish this goal is by hosting many events that bring college awareness to students in San Antonio.

“These events are important because they expose information and make it more accessible to people who didn’t know where to get it,” Huffman said.

“Rock your Future: GenTX Festival”, the most recent event, took place on January 29. The festival was hosted at the Alamo Convocation Center and included inspirational stories, band performances and competitions, as well as a speech by Mayor Julian Castro. Castro spoke of his own decision to attend college and shared some of his personal experiences at Stanford University and Harvard Law School.

“[It was never a] question whether I was going to college, but rather what college that I was going to go to,” Castro said in an interview featured on the Generation Texas website.

Castro hopes that every kid in San Antonio will make similar decisions and insists that financial aid should not be an issue. The Generation Texas organization pledges to financially assist students who aspire to go to college.

However, some students did not fully appreciate the organization’s efforts.

“The event seemed more like a pep rally and did not provide information for students that had already planned on going to college,” freshman Dylan Puente said.

Others might have experienced a different change in perspective.

“It was beneficial to students who believed that going to college was not for them,” freshman Kayla Davis said.

The Generation Texas website (www.gentx.org) provides information on financial aid, prerequisites for certain degrees, and basic information on what students can do in order to have a less stressful college experience. College websites usually can offer more specific details.

“All colleges hold open houses which students can attend. [For example], on February 19 the Aggie Land festival takes place. Students can also visit the colleges’ websites to get more information,” Huffman said.