Local girls, moms attend 13th annual Adelante Mujer conference

SAN MARCOS — Approximately 1,200 Latina girls and their mothers, including nearly 200 from Fallbrook elementary and high school districts, workshop presenters and volunteers attended the 13th annual Adelante Mujer conference at Cal State San Marcos, the single largest gathering of Latinos in North County. The North County Latinas Association, an all-volunteer organization of women who live and/or work in North San Diego County, organizes this event.

Girls and mothers attended workshops on careers and personal development presented by over 90 volunteer professional women. Presenters included Elsa Grijalva and Stephanie Ferreira, Fallbrook teachers who discussed careers in education; Fallbrook residents Francisca Acevedo, who presented a workshop for mothers on self-esteem building, and Marianna Corona, who presented on a career in social services and healthy relationships; Fallbrook High student and NCLA scholarship winner Karina Martinez, who gave a workshop for middle school girls on what to expect in high school; and Live Oak elementary student and scholarship winner Maria Gonzalez, who joined a panel of scholarship winners to discuss how to write essays required for scholarship applications.

Keynote speakers were Christine Chavez Delgado and Julie Chavez Rodriguez, granddaughters of the late civil rights leader Cesar E. Chavez and wife Helen F. Chavez.