Sacramento State’s Serna Center presented a speech by David Leon Thursday on the rising population of Latinos in college.

Leon, chair of the Ethnic Studies Department and director of Chicano Studies, aimed to educate young Latinos on the benefits of a college education and what they could expect in their future with such an education with his speech, which was entitled “Latinos in Higher Education,.

During his speech, Leon said Latino Americans face a serious challenge: Latinos are now the largest minority in the United States today, but their presence in higher education totals less than 2 percent of students in American public universities.

Leon went into detail about how high school graduation rates among Latino communities are lower than any other ethnic group in the United States.

In 1997, about 65 percent of all high school graduating students were “college qualified,” but only 45 percent of that group went on to higher education institutions.

“You can buy your Lotto ticket every week and hope to strike it rich,” Leon said. “But nothing in life is for sure.”

He added that a college education is not useless.

“It’s an important ingredient in terms of entering and staying in the middle class socioeconomic status,” Leon said.

The discussion went into the evolving demographic of the Latino population and how it will make up a greater percentage of prospective applicants to higher education programs.

Leon said the bottom line is that just attending college is not enough for Latinos.

“They must also become part of the college,” Leon said.

He added that the Latino community needs to feel that their contribution to higher education will have a resounding effect on the population that does not attend college, which may spark interests for that group to attend.

“I believe that with more educated Latinos in leadership positions, these role models will provide access for Latino students that wish to become lawyers, teachers, doctors.”

Leon said he believes these role models should be reflected in all parts of society.

Some of Leon’s students came to support him in his work and were proud of what he was trying to accomplish.

“I think it’s important to be here,” said sociology major Ricky Gutierrez. “Not only just Latinos, but everyone should be here. We’re a big marginalized group and I think that people should know what Latinos have to offer.”

The speech concluded with a book signing for Leon’s book, “Lessons in Leadership: Executive Leadership Programs for Advancing Diversity in Higher Education.”