Hip hop event hopes to bring students to Eastview Campus

Austin Community College will host its third annual "Hip Hop Into College" at the Eastview Campus on March 24 from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. This event will showcase local talent and offer free health screenings. This year's host will be Lady Legacy, an ACC student studying commercial music management, who also does work as a youth advocate, guest speaker, and rap artist among many things. This event also showcases the medical arts program at ACC.

"This is a fun way to get people on a college campus," Loretta Edelen, Director of Community Outreach, said. "We are encouraging people to come to ACC."

The demand for medical personnel is increasing and ACC's Eastview Health and Science Department is state of the art. This department has a lot to offer those seeking a degree in the medical field with such things as a real life emergency room setup, three digital radiology labs, an ambulance bay, and simulated human mannequins. Each department will do something for this event.

"This event will showcase all that the health and science department has to offer and there will be information readily available," Lady Legacy said. "When I took the recent tour of the department, I was inspired by all that ACC had to offer. It almost made me want to change my major to the medical field."

There will be job, career, college life, financial aid, and parent information available as well. There will be DJs, step dancers, and other live entertainment. Each area will have different things to do.

There will be music inside and outside along with free healthy snacks. The many health screenings being offered include tests for anemia, hearing loss, dental hygiene, and blood pressure. The fire department will be outside demonstrating how to escape a house fire.

Stress management, self-defense, and karate are being offered in workshops among other things. There will be ice cream and brownies in one room where you have to pick a card and get diagnosed with a disability. You must then use the correct tools to pick up or to eat like a person with that disability.

"This is a way for others to learn how it is for those who suffer from a disability," Edelen said. "It's a good learning tool."

Lady Legacy has participated in many secular and non-secular youth events, and hopes that the event will help Austin youth to start thinking about college. She feels it is our responsibility to help guide them or at least provide them the information.

"I hope this event will encourage others to pursue their dreams," Lady Legacy said. "Despite one's past, college is an alternative."