Friday, August 7, 2026 – 9:40-10:30 AM
Middle School Track Sessions
- Leveraging story to inspire, educate, and empower: Lessons from The Way to College Podcast | RLP 1.302B
- Know Yourself, Lead Others: How Identity Shapes Leadership | RLP 1.302C
- Strategies for Navigating Middle School and Beyond | RLP 1.302E
College Bound Track
- Meet inside the WCP 1.402 (Auditorium)
College Track
- Money Management for First-Generation Student Success: Building Financial Confidence for College, Career, and Life | WCP 3.106
- Bachelor Bound Boss: Taking Flight on Your Transfer Journey| WCP 3.112
- This is What Leaders Do: Service, Purpose, and the Responsibility of Influence | WCP 3.116
Leveraging story to inspire, educate, and empower: Lessons from The Way to College Podcast
Location: RLP 1.302B
Presenter(s):
Dr. Jose Saldivar, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Description: Utilizing selected stories from The Way to College Podcast, students will learn practical lessons about perseverance, goal setting, academic success, and future planning. The workshop is open to all students and is designed to support student achievement and college and career awareness through guided reflection and storytelling.
Pillar(s): College & Career Readiness
Know Yourself, Lead Others: How Identity Shapes Leadership
Location: RLP 1.302C
Presenter(s):
Mr. John Williams, Richardson High School & Texas State University
Description: This interactive session explores how self-awareness, values, and personal experiences shape leadership. Through storytelling, reflection, and dialogue, students will examine their leadership potential, identify personal strengths, and reflect on the type of leader they want to become within their school and community.
Pillar(s): Identity; Leadership
Strategies for Navigating Middle School and Beyond
Location: RLP 1.302E
Presenter(s):
Mr. Clint LaFuente, University of Texas at Austin
Description: Academic success strategies help students at all grade levels. Goal setting and community building are two examples. After identifying our goal, we can develop a plan to reach that goal, and supportive communities can support our efforts. This presentation focuses on academic strategies that assist with school and beyond.
Pillar(s): Fellowship; College & Career Readiness
Money Management for First-Generation Student Success: Building Financial Confidence for College, Career, and Life
Location: WCP 3.106
Presenter(s):
Mr. Wayne Jackson, Jackson/Davis Educational Consulting
Mr. Tony Davis, Jackson/Davis Educational Consulting
Description: This interactive workshop equips students with essential money management skills needed for success in college, career, and life. Participants will explore the fundamentals of budgeting, saving, and responsible spending while gaining practical tools to make informed financial decisions. Emphasis is placed on developing financial discipline.
Pillar(s): College & Career Readiness
Bachelor Bound Boss: Taking Flight on Your Transfer Journey
Presenter(s):
Mr. Tim McDuffie, Dallas College
Description: This interactive session equips students with practical strategies for their journey to a bachelor’s degree. Participants will explore what it means to be a bachelor bound boss, ways to navigate their transfer experience, how to have a smooth landing at their 4-year university and the importance of campus visits.
Pillar(s): College & Career Readiness
This is What Leaders Do: Service, Purpose, and the Responsibility of Influence
Location: WCP 3.116
Presenter(s):
Mr. Javier Jimenez, Harvard Latino Alumni Alliance – South Central Texas
Mr. Ariel Gamiño, Harvard Latino Alumni Alliance – South Central Texas
Description: Great leaders don’t just build careers — they build communities. This session invites students to expand how they think about leadership by exploring public service not as a career choice to be made, but as a dimension of leadership to be lived. Whether you go into business, healthcare, law, education, or tech, the question this session asks is simple: What will you do with that platform?
Pillar(s): Leadership
