NHI's game technology approach to youth education and leadership compels students to:
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Take risks where failure is not negative, but part of the learning process
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Establish interpersonal relationships that foster trust-building relationships
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Create a collaborative atmosphere where diversity of opinion is valued and encouraged
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Have courage to compete at the top and have the vision to explore new possibilities
The learning process of these models rewards intellectual inquiry and exhorts youth to constantly search for new outcomes and new possibilities. The complexity of the challenges thrown at the students makes them:
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Determined in their resolve for answers
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Transforms them and the process as an impetus and framework for students to gain a different and confident view of themselves
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Learn to accept primary responsibility for crafting their futures
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Prepare themselves with the skill capacities required to effectively manage their lives
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Receive a calling the extends beyond their needs for personal recognition, individual achievement and professional attainment
The models that are used to train them also carry a philosophy and a set of values for long-term motivation and development. Students are guided to understand that the gifts of knowledge and skill they possess and acquire are also meant to be shared with other through leadership and service to the community.
In reviewing the work of NHI over the years, certain realizations have proven as consistent with high ability Latino youth as they have with the at-risk. The motivation to reach beyond their perceived limitations has been as present in young women as it has in young men. The impact of NHI's training models has been as noticeable among Latino youth who live along the Southwest as it has been on those from the Midwest and Northeast. The training transcends location, rural, urban, and suburban. Latino cultural identity and socio-economic differences have also not been particularly important barriers, including differences in language preference and language applications. The same can be said for birthplaces. Whether a young person is U.S. born or a recent arrival from a Latin American country, the effectiveness of NHI’s education and training models have consistently proven their effectiveness. It is with the confidence of producing these outcomes and continue benefiting the lives of a fast-growing Latino youth population that leadership programs of the National Hispanic Institute are offered for consideration by school districts, community civic organizations, agencies of government, the private philanthropic giving community, and, especially, parents searching for different answers to a common challenge.