UTRGV and The Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at The University of Texas at Austin will host the State of the Rio Grande Valley Conference on the Edinburg and Brownsville campuses Wednesday through Friday.
The conference will discuss issues such as immigration, deportation and voting in the Valley.
Conference day will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday in the Ballroom on the Edinburg campus with three different sessions.
Wednesday there will be an Internship Expo from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Main Courtyard and the same event will be held on the Edinburg campus at the same time Thursday in the Ballroom.
Also on Wednesday, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., a session titled “RGV Stories from the Border” will be held in Salón Cassia on the Brownsville campus.
“This is the second annual State of the RGV conference,” said Ronnie Garcia, assistant director for Employer Relations for the Career Center at UTRGV. “It’s a great opportunity for students to become aware of the community, get involved civically, get to know about other issues that concern the region. Last year, the entire conference was on the Edinburg campus, and so, this year we expanded a session to the Brownsville campus. … They are going to have a session called ‘Stories from the Border,’… it’s going to be a conversation reflecting on our community, and earlier that day we will have an internship expo as well.”
Texas House of Representatives members Terry Canales (D-Edinburg), Armando Martinez (D-Weslaco) and Eddie Lucio III (D-Brownsville), will also attend the event. State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen) will be a guest speaker as well.
“I believe that students should really be informed … just knowing what’s out there and learn from these individuals who are serving on the panel,” said Alyssa Guajardo, chair for the State of the Rio Grande Valley Conference and an exercise science senior. “As college students, we play a big role in our democracy. … The reason why I wanted to bring these reps and the senator is because I want people to know who they are voting for. … I think it’s really important to know who represents you and what they stand for.”
The State of the Rio Grande Valley Conference will also provide information about the 2020 census, local candidates and voting updates.
Ryan Noble, president of the Political Science Association and a committee member of the State of the Rio Grande Valley Conference, said he thinks it’s very important to know what’s going on in the Valley.
“A lot of people don’t really tend to care about local politics, just because it’s not interesting or sensational, but I think if they do come to this conference, they’ll see why it’s important,” Noble said.
For more information, call 665-2243.
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