his name was robert sanchez, and he was my high school career counselor. he put the college application in my hand and told me to the without, and so i did. i owe him so much. i want to challenge each of you in this room to be the mentor, the support system, because latino youth are counting on you to show you the way. one of our most urgent problems is our drop out crisis in america. every day in america's 7000 students dropped out of high school. that is one drop out any -- every 26 seconds. earning a ged can be critical to getting our young people back on track to continue their education and get a good job. however, just one in 10 latinos to drop out and earn a ged. we know the drop out crisis with -- risks america's competitiveness in our economic future. we must give our youth a second chance to earn at work force skills. if we do not, we lose valuable contributors and risk falling further behind other countries. at the department of labor whenever most exciting programs is called youth build. it gives young people that second shot. and through youth