Zulema
Ramos, Battalion Commander for Milby’s JROTC received the highest honor
bestowed on a high school senior by LULAC International. Zulema
represented the Houston Chapter of LULAC and the State Chapter of LULAC
at the LULAC National Education Conference held in Washington, DC
October 1st through 5th.nThe
significance of this honor is that only one high school senior student
is selected from each state to attend. Zulema faced intense competition
from through Texas and was eventually chosen by the LULAC committee
representing LULAC National.nMore
than 25,000 applications were turned in across Texas competing for the
coveted award. Nationally, more than 500,000 applications were from
submitted across the US.During the conference in Washington, Zulema worked with the other 49 honorees in drafting ideas for presentations to Congress regarding the theme of the convention, How Can the Hispanic Community Benefit from Embracing an Energy Lifestyle? Zulema met with members of both the House and Senate and helped present before each body. However, it was not all work and no play. Zulema and her group were treated to multiple sites-seeing tours (and provided spending money) that allowed her access to the majority of the major sights and sounds of Washington DC, including a visit to the White House.n”I’m still trying to catch my breath from this trip of a lifetime,” Zulema said. “Although we had very little time to sleep, we worked hard throughout the day and late night sessions to present meaningful information to the US Congress. While the site-seeing was breath-taking, our group’s true legacy will be how much of an impact we will be able to make regarding our ideas for the future. We all will be watching and listening over the coming years to measure the effectiveness of our work, especially on our local communities.nI continue to be overwhelmed that I was chosen from throughout the state from so many applications to be the one student to represent Texas.”nZulema plans to attend Texas A&M in the fall, majoring in International Business and Political Science with an eye on the future for politics. Zulema is a Milby Magnet student.
Article & photos by: Wally Sisk