Reyna Grande Speech and Immigration

I had the opportunity to attend a convocation in which Reyna Grande was the guest speaker on Wednesday, Nov. 5. Reyna Grande spoke about her journey from an undocumented immigrant to a college graduate and successful author. She also talked about the problems going on in Ayotzinapa, Mexico. It was an honor and a privilege to hear her speak; she inspired me in a great way.

Reyna Grande has a wonderful success story and it means a lot more to me because her story resembles my life. Hearing her speak gives me motivation to keep working for my dreams and to reach out to others and help them out. She went from being an undocumented immigrant to a college graduate and a successful author. The odds were against her and she did the unthinkable. She proved people wrong and she made her family proud.

 In the United States, there are a lot of immigrants coming over to make their dreams a reality and to become successful people. My parents migrated here to the United States to get a better life and to give me a better education. They knew that they weren't going to be able to give me a good education in Mexico because they were poor fieldworkers. They couldn't make more money either because they only made it to elementary school before dropping out to help their parents. In the end, they brought me America when I was 2 years old. I'm grateful they brought me here because I don't know where I would be if I was in Mexico. I came here as a baby immigrant who later turned to a Dreamer.

In the town of Ayotzinapa, there were forty three college students who were kidnapped by the police and the person behind the kidnapping was the town mayor. People in that town and throughout Mexico were infuriated about the situation. The students were kidnapped and they were killed just so that the rebel students couldn't interrupt an event his wife had planned. These students along with a lot of people are frustrated with the government. There is a lot of corruption in Mexico and this was the final straw for a lot people. These students were trying to better their lives’ and the lives’ of their families. That is what makes this all sad; a lot of people in Mexico don't have the money to pursue a higher education. These students were pursuing their dreams and the government came in and shattered them. I didn't know that all of this was going on until Reyna Grande came in talked about the issue.

I want to add my grain of sand by helping these people and the students that are coming to the United States looking to get a higher education. My education here in the United States has been wonderful; I've had wonderful teachers that pushed me to be successful in school and in life. They made me believe that I am capable of a lot of things. This is why I want to be a teacher because there are a lot of kids in America that have a similar story like mine or Reyna Grande's. I want to help these students achieve their full potential. Reyna Grande is right when she said, "It only takes one person to change their family tree". These immigrants are looking to do just that and so were the 43 students in Mexico. It's my duty as a future educator to help every student better their lives’ and hopefully change their family tree for the good.

Anti-racism Training

On November 21, 2014 I had the opportunity to attend a Anti-racism training workshop. Regina Shands Stoltzfus an Assistant Professor of PJCS at Goshen College, led the training that day. We went over the history of the institutionalize racism, Census, the Clark doll experiment, and scenarios of how people handle religion, gender and race. All these things in some way or form have shaped our society and schools to the way it is now.

Overall, I felt like this training was insightful. I found it interesting when Regina said that white people fall under the unmarked norm. They don't notice that they're white because they are the majority. I feel like this is true in every country, there are people that don't notice who they are until they are the minority. Society makes minority groups feel different and out of the loop. These groups are sometimes oppressed by society.

In a school setting, most of the stuff that I learned in this training could be applied. One thing that should be done in any classroom is that we need to get to know the students and not just use their color of skin to assume who they are. In the training, Regina stated that people judge or make assumptions based off of the one’s last name or color of skin. This could lead to better opportunities or less depending on what type of person the evaluator is.

I am not saying that we should completely ignore who these students are, but we should embrace everything that they are. All of the students in the United States are different learners and come from different backgrounds. As teachers we need to make sure that these students are valued in the classroom setting. We can do this by modifying our classroom to embrace their heritage and we can use different types of books that represent a variety of cultures. This is all important because we need students to see at a young age that everyone is equally important and no one is less, if they have a different color of skin.

Personally, when I was going through the public school system I didn't get to value my heritage or culture until I got to college. Students at all ages need to know that they belong. When they know that they belong, getting an education is going to become more valuable for them. We can value their culture either it be through books or decorating the room every once in a while with different things that come from different cultures.