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Students in Clearfield High School's Latinos in Action class, photographed Wednesday, April 16, 2025, prepare for their second annual car show.

Ryan Aston, Standard-Examiner

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Students in Clearfield High School's Latinos in Action class, photographed Wednesday, April 16, 2025, prepare for their second annual car show.

Ryan Aston, Standard-Examiner

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Clearfield High School's Latinos in Action class will hold a car show and pop-up market Saturday, April 26, 2025.

Image supplied

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CLEARFIELD — The Latinos in Action, or LIA, program at Clearfield High School will host its second annual car show and pop-up market — featuring student entrepreneurs — on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the school.

The fundraising event will feature raffles, vendor booths, a live DJ, carnival games and food trucks — with free food vouchers available while supplies last — in addition to the car competition and awards.

“The main focus, I would say, for LIA is to empower Latino youth to build and lead our community,” Lori Bunnell — the LIA club advisor at Clearfield — told the Standard-Examiner. “I really took that community part and I’m like, ‘We’re going to run with this.’ I said, ‘What can we do to help the community and help you guys build your leadership skills?’ So, we came up with something.”

Bunnell said planning began in the fall, at which point students were encouraged to go out into the community and solicit partner businesses, sponsors and donations for raffles, which are an important part of the fundraising component.

“Last year, we had over 50 raffles just from them going and saying, ‘Hi business owner, can you please support our cause?’ And they say, ‘Sure’ or some say, ‘No, thanks,’ but we take what we can get, then we raffle it off. Some require, you know, two, three, four months in advance. So, they’ve been putting their feet to the ground for months to get raffles.”

According to the group’s website, LIA offers “an asset-based approach to bridging the graduation and opportunity gap for all students, working from within the educational system to create positive change.” The program, founded in 2001 by BYU alum Jose Enriquez, operates as a year-long elective course taught at the middle school, junior high and high school levels.

At Clearfield, there are currently two active LIA classes, each with roughly 20 students, per Bunnell. A major part of the class is the mentoring of younger students, including those in English as a Second Language, or ESL, programs. Leadership skills, college/workforce preparation, Latino leaders and racism/discrimination are also core planks of the curriculum.

For some students, LIA has provided a place where self-confidence and newfound abilities can be unlocked.

“LIA has made me a more confident and respectful person,” said junior Jordan Davis.

Senior Carlos Martinez agrees, noting that LIA helped him step out of his comfort zone and try new things.

“I’ve done LIA since eighth grade,” Martinez said. “I think it’s a really great opportunity to become better leaders because, usually, even for myself, I was always that shy kid until I joined LIA. It motivated me to try things to get out of my social bubble.”

Martinez believes that his participation in the program has taught him how to be a leader and helped him prepare for things he’ll encounter and have to do throughout his life, both through the regular curriculum and also the organizing of events like the car show.

“It expanded my perspective on things. It made me push for higher goals than what I thought I could accomplish for myself,” Martinez said. “That goes for a lot of things. When I bought my first car, I pushed myself. At first, I wanted just a simple car, but then I pushed myself and I said, ‘I want this car.’ When it comes to school, I push myself even more. Going to college now, I worked hard to apply for some scholarships.”

He added that LIA can make a difference for any student, regardless of their background.

“It’s a really great class,” Martinez said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re shy, it doesn’t matter if you’re not Latino. It’s for everybody just to make a change. That’s what it’s all about.”