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Inspiring And Encouraging Chicano Students

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Inspiring and encouraging Chicano students to attend college, especially first generation students, has been a movement lead by many clubs, organizations, and by teachers who are passionate about their careers. Thus, “first generation students” is a term that states that a student does not have a record of previous generations attending college. Usually, students classified as such come from low income families as well as from poor neighborhood communities. That is to say, many of these individuals are also minorities such as African Americans and Chicano students. Also, public schools in low income areas tend to have poorly taught material in school. Consequently, there exists a direct correlation between race and poverty that portrays a…show more content…
Johanna Alatorre is a first generation Chicana student and has been an active member in the Latino Union organization since 2014. As she opened the door to her bedroom and welcomed me inside, she looked nothing like I expected. She did not have strong Mexican features as I had imagined. In the contrary, Alatorre had a very light skin complexion, short wavy brunette hair, and was about four foot eleven. Her large, brown, 80’s vintage eyeglasses stood out, as well as her heartwarming smile. I stood there nervously but a sense of complete comfort arose when I noticed she was wearing a gold rosary necklace and her Mexican huaraches. In that instance I knew we had a lot in common. As Alatorre tried to get rid of the mess she had laying on her grey sofa, my eyes wandered around her bedroom. On her desk I noticed a Mexican flag, a sugar skull, and a black and white porcelain skull. Above her sofa, on the wall, was a colorful Mexican confetti banner. Right below that, a large white poster filled with pictures of Alatorres’ friends and family. Right in the center of the white poster was a black paper with the words “Amor Y Paz” (love and peace), and a clenched fist which symbolizes solidarity and expresses strength, resistance, and unity as a community. (See fig. 1.) This information Alatorre explained with a deep passion for her culture and her hard working Chicano community. Underneath the poster was a
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