Elizabeth Estrada expects that she will have to work extra hard to make her mark in the world. The Peñasco High School graduate is already making inroads in her dream to succeed in life: She's the only New Mexican student to participate in this year's Smithsonian Latino Center Young Ambassadors Program.

The program reinforces Latino pride and culture as it exposes students to the Smithsonian Institution's artistic resources. It chose 19 graduating seniors from around the country and Puerto Rico to take part in its leadership-development program this summer.

Students first spent a week in June in Washington, D.C., attending seminars and skill-building workshops and going to the Smithsonian and area museums. Then the students returned to their home region to intern for a month at a museum or cultural center.

Estrada is interning at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque. Speaking from there by phone recently, she said she has always enjoyed studying history and that she has already knocked off a number of college courses via a dual-credit program.

In Washington, she said, "We learned how exhibitions and artistic programs are put together. As we went through an exhibition, we learned what the key piece to it was and how we could incorporate themes into an upcoming exhibition. We were separated into groups — my group developed a proposal of how Latino art and culture has changed as Latinos move to America and we see how the different cultures mix into this melting pot called America. We then had to do a pitch of our proposal."

In addition, the Smithsonian hosted presentations to the students by Latino artist Margarita Cabrera, filmmaker Alberto Ferreras, former U.S. astronaut José Hernández, and Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Mirta Ojito.

At the NHCC, Estrada has worked in the education and performing-arts department so far — "Each week they have me doing something different," she said. At the end of her internship, she will receive a $2,000 stipend.

She feels she received a very good education in Peñasco, but said, "When you are very young, it's up to your parents to push you. Once you get into high school, it's up to you to want to learn. If you feel you are not being taught well, I think you have to educate yourself. You can sit bored in class or get engaged, say, 'That's interesting. Maybe there's a book in the library to tell me more about that.' "

Being a Latino teen ambassador for the Smithsonian just reinforces to her that, "I will have to work harder to prove myself. I will not just be happy with what people tell me. I need to be happy with who I am and the choices I make and work as hard as I can to do what I want to do."

She'll be taking the pre-med program at New Mexico Highlands University in the autumn. She plans to be a pharmacist.


This from Chuck Shepherd's News of the Weird: "Principal Angela Jennings of Rock Chapel Elementary School in Lithonia, Ga. resigned after an investigation revealed that she had temporarily unenrolled 13 students last year for the sole purpose of keeping them from annual statewide tests because she feared their scores would drag down her school's performance. (When the test was over, Jennings re-enrolled them.")