Passion to community: The nonprofit Empowering Teens United is unlocking students' potential

The president and founder of Empower Teens United Evan Quiquia received a text a month ago that fueled him. 

“I got into UCF!” the text read. 

It captured the exact goal and purpose of his nonprofit — to help students on their journey of discovering how to apply to college and set up their future for success. 

Quiquia smiled knowing his efforts, his one-on-one meetings with the senior and their hours of conversations had paid off. Now the student is excited to take the next step in his life. 

Quiquia, a junior at Windermere High, and the other student leaders around him strive every day to make that type of impact on students’ lives through Empower Teens United, a nonprofit offering mentorship, college preparation, career workshops, community service hours and mental health programming for high school students.  

“Having this platform has given me a sense of humility,” he said. “A lot of people come to me and say, ‘We love what you’re doing,’ but still being a student and being able to relate to the people I’m helping, being in their shoes and knowing what they’re going through is driving me.” 

The idea began when Quiquia was struggling with the college preparation process himself. 

When he was a sophomore, he began looking into colleges and what he wanted to study. He was met with a dilemma. What resources should he use? 

There’s an abundance of resources available, but the process was overwhelming and confusing.

What classes should he take? When should he start applying? What should he be involved in? His mind raced, but through his family’s support system and counselors, he began to have a clearer picture of what to do. 

As a bilingual student, Quiquia quickly realized how the process could be even more difficult for his peers whose families are unfamiliar with the U.S. educational system or don’t speak English fluently. His friends who were in those families came to him for guidance, and he wanted to find a way to reach a larger audience. 

Quiquia began brainstorming ideas for his passion project, Prospera con Evan. 

Through attending multiple workshops, which taught him how to structure meetings, gain membership, lead others and speak publicly, his vision began to take shape. Ivan Quiquia, Empower Teens United’s chief empowerment officer and Evan’s father, understood the business side of everything from his business marketing background. 

They took to Instagram and WhatsApp to get the word out about the passion project, and on July 11, 2025, it held its first meeting with 50 families in attendance. 

“Once I saw how many families were there, I saw how I could actually make an impact, a huge impact in my community here,” Evan Quiquia said. “Also, I was really nervous, because back then I didn’t like speaking in front of people as much.”

After months of speaking to audiences of 50-plus families, with board members, other organizations and student leaders, Evan Quiquia has become comfortable talking to crowds in English and Spanish. 

Just as his comfortability on stage grew so did the support for his mission. 

Courtesy photo

MENTORING GROWTH  

Evan Quiquia said once students began to see the organization’s social media, participation grew. 

Prospera con Evan offered people opportunities of value. Evan and Ivan Quiquia organized college visits and offered community service hours for scholarships and Bright Futures. 

“Once they started seeing that value, they started coming back,” Evan Quiquia said. “More people started coming and we just grew exponentially from there.” 

Nicole Pinafernandez, vice president of Empower Teens United, saw the value. When she attended a college visit Prospera con Evan organized in September, the Quiquias asked her to join their mentorship program. She has her own passion project, Breaking the Gaps, to help students in her church community find the proper resources for college. 

The two passion projects’ visions aligned perfectly. 

The Quiquias realized that to continue to serve the community and grow their impact, they needed resources. Those resources would come from funding, connections and logistics. So in late October, Empower Teens United was born. 

The first five months of the nonprofit have been nothing but growth. It continues to provide the same core opportunities Prospera con Evan did — college preparation guidance, college tours and leadership growth — but it has expanded. 

“It’s a little bit of pressure and responsibility,” Ivan Quiquia said of the nonprofit. “We no longer are an organization that says, ‘Hey you should talk to the teacher. Did you try this class? You should next year.’ We started instituting programs.” 

The mentorship program they launched is designed to better understand students through individualized discussions. Mentors guide the teens in analyzing and evaluating their progress by asking retrospective and challenging questions. It provides each student with a unique platform for both personal and academic growth.

But it also helps the student mentors grow themselves. 

Empower Teens United has a senior leadership team and another group of upcoming leaders. At every event, each student has different roles, some of them present to practice their public speaking skills and learn how to be outgoing, learning logistics and responsibilities. 

“It can feel like a job sometimes, but that responsibility can also bring beautiful connections,” Pinafernandez said. “It’s committing to each individual person. I have a personal relationship and I have a personal commitment to the path of each person, of each student that’s looking out for my help.” 

FUTURE MEETINGS

Empower Teens United also is welcoming another principal foundation: mental health. Ivan Quiquia said he’s seen social pressures, especially in high-achieving students. They have parent, teacher and peer pressures to uphold to a certain high level and even beyond it.

Evan Quiquia said the nonprofit has begun to hold events in nature to reach students’ mental health and spiritual side. In local parks they’ve hosted yoga, conducted breathing exercises, played sports and other activities to break the cycle of going to school, studying and repeating, without any time to relax the mind. 

“It’s kind of a brain break and we’re implementing more talks about mental health, because that’s obviously something very important that needs to be implemented, especially now that we’re able to speak about it more freely,” he said. 

As a part of the mentoring program, they ask students questions pertaining to their mental health and teach them ways to improve in that aspect of life. 

“If you’re not emotionally intelligent, if your mental health isn’t in a good state, then the majority of (school intelligence) goes to waste,” Evan Quiquia said. “It’s great to have them as more well rounded and teach them what they should be doing for every aspect of their lives.” 

They’ve brought in TEDx speakers and psychologists to give students advice and brainstorm ways to think about their future as well as tricks to better their mental health and life perspective. Ivan Quiquia utilizes his relationships with his children to understand students’ situations and turns around to find the appropriate resources in his network of people. 

“You need to have something that encourages you to become a better person inside of yourself,” Pinafernandez said. “That’s something that we really want to start encouraging in the nonprofit, because it’s not just who are you going to become, not career-wise, not professional-wise. Who are you going to become? Who are you going to be? And for that, you need a foundation. You need something that’s going to reground you every single time that you struggle.” 

The nonprofit also is looking to incorporate more family involvement in its fifth big workshop. It will be held in a room sized for up to 300 people, far exceeding the previous size of 80. The first four workshops were on topics including medical, engineering, business and college prep. Now it will be hosting an Empowering Families Workshop. 

Ivan Quiquia said until now, all the workshops have been geared toward the students’ school and future life. But for students to feel supported at home, the parents also need to understand the school system and how to properly help their children find success.

The valedictorian at Windermere High, Luz Clavijo Mojica, is speaking at the family workshop about her experiences navigating the school system that her family moved into four years ago. A Horizon High student, Camila Abreu, who does beauty pageants, also will be speaking about her experiences navigating the emotional side of that world. 

Evan Quiquia looks forward to continuing to bring people together to prepare for their futures. 

“This started as a passion project,” Evan Quiquia said. “Now, it’s a community.”