The ASPIRA Leadership Development curriculum places a high priority on the use of a student-centered, participatory project-oriented model. From its inception, the advice and recommendations of its participants have played a critical role in the development and creation of ASPIRA programs and activities. Students in ASPIRA’s Leadership Development Program engage in what we call the ASPIRA Process. ASPIRA uses a club structure as a means for carrying out this process. It involves three concepts: Awareness, Analysis and Action.
Dra. Antonia Pantoja was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1922 and studied at the University of Puerto Rico where she obtained a Normal School Diploma in 1942. Upon graduating from the University of Puerto Rico, she worked as a schoolteacher for two years in Puerto Rico where she cultivated a profound interest in education and addressing the needs of disadvantaged children.
In 1961, Dr. Antonia Pantoja and a group of Puerto Rican educators and professionals created ASPIRA (which means aspire in Spanish), to address the exceedingly high drop-out rate and low educational attainment of Puerto Rican youth.