On Saturday, April 6, students from N.C. State and Appalachian State University joined with the Juntos program of North Carolina to celebrate Copa Unidos for the first time. Members from the Carolina Railhawks soccer team, including the Costa Rican forward Jake Beckford, also made their appearance.

Several students from different Triangle area high schools participated in the soccer tournament organized by the program together. The Juntos program was created in 2007 by Dr. Andrew Behnke and Cintia Aguilar. It is a program that promotes students to graduate from high school and to continue with higher education.

“We want to make a difference in the lives of the students. Step by step, to help them think about what their future can become, “said Behnke on what he wants to accomplish with Juntos.

It also seeks to create a vital connection with the goal of raising awareness of important issues for parents and their children’s education. The ultimate goal is to create a network of mentors and role models that would serve as a reference point and important source of information, motivation and inspiration to the future college students.

During the Copa Unidos tournament, students had the opportunity to interact with college students and ask all sorts of questions like how to continue studying after high school, what are the steps, what motivates them, and what should be done and when. Robert Martinez, Assistant Director for Talent Search for the TRIO program here at N.C. State, also gave a speech to the students, urging them to excel in their education and become leaders in their community.

It all happened in the span of seven hours in the park Dorothea Dix in Raleigh, and the weather could not have been better, sunny and warm. Twenty volunteers from Mi Familia, a Hispanic organization at NC State, were present to show their interest in forming positive links for future generations.

Diana Urieta, Program Director for Juntos, says that she dreams of being able to host the Copa Unidos each year and of continuing to gather students from different universities, including Chapel Hill, Duke, Wake Forest and Elon, who “are excited to work with students and are passionate about see Latinos succeed and achieve a higher education.”

In total 38 players registered, forming six teams and one pool where all teams faced each other once. The two teams with the most points participated in the final to decide the champion. In the championship game the Flying Samurai managed to beat team Barcelona Jr. The registration fee was donated to the Juntos Scholarship, which gathered $385.

Director of Outreach and Recruitment (Mi Familia), Diego Cancel, tells of his experience. “I think it was a very good collaboration and to have the opportunity to partner between Appalachian State University and North Carolina State was great. We brought the students enrolled in Juntos. I am very happy that I could be part of the motivation that these kids need. “

He also hopes to be a role model. “They have taught me many things and I hope they have learned from us too. I hope they have enjoyed the event enough to keep in touch and to return for future events.”

Andrea Morera, president of the Hispanic Student Association at Appalachian State University, was accompanied by 30 members of the association. “We traveled from 5:30 am to arrive on time and loved it. It’s a great experience, we hope this will be repeated with many schools to raise awareness about the large number of children and students who cannot go to college just for the money factor, and that is very sad in this society so modern.”

“We’d love to do it again, but we cannot do alone. We need the support and collaboration of the university students. Without them we cannot succeed,” Urieta stated.