Personal Narrative: Barrio Logan's Life

As they go through their college years, undocumented students face the burdens of not having the financial aid and the legal stability required for success. The support provided to undocumented college students comes from their peers because they can count of each other and relate to each other. The social networks undocumented students create with trusted peers and staff are a fundamental part to help them get through the difficult times that impact their college success. One way for undocumented students to find support is through college organizations where students can feel safe (Hallett, 2013). Undocumented students can gain resources and information about topics like immigration laws and financial opportunities in their campus and at the same time be able to connect with more students and college staff. The Dream Project is one of the safe spaces “Dreamers” can count on at California State University,

Growing up in the Rio Grande Valley was an experience like no other. The RGV is full of Tex-Mex, laughs, and the most random things you can think of. Despite all its quirks it’s a beautiful place to live in, and it’s home to me.

The reason immigrant children have such far-reaching success is in large part due to our awareness. There is not a day that passes that I don’t see the effects of cultural poverty and lack of women’s education. My passion for success stems from my 1st generation immigrant upbringing.

My Hispanic culture is exceedingly unique contrast to other cultures because we have countless of beliefs, holidays, lifestyles, etc. My world of Hispanic culture raised me to become an independent and determined person because being the first generation of a Hispanic family to attend college has my family beyond thrilled for me to put value to our heritage. Putting value in our heritage is a magnificent emotion because people anticipate Hispanics to fail; but, we prove them wrong when we accomplish our goals. The Hispanic culture’s strength is unbelievably astonishing because we are ambitious of our dreams and we don’t cease until we fulfill our wish. Including the Hispanic culture at University of Washington may open people’s mind that we

So, my friend and I gladly agreed to help him carry all his food and followed the boy to his apartment. When we got there, he opened the door and I was absolutely astonished at what I saw. Never in a million years would I have guessed that this boy who was always smiling and as happy as could be lived in a place that had only two pieces of furniture, an old falling apart couch and fridge with no food. This showed me that you can never really know what's going on in someone's life. The happiest of people could be going through some of the worst times of their lives. This experience and many others that I’ve had through my NCL experience are the reason that I love community service so much. Not only do I have the ability to impact someone's life through each charity I help, they also have an impact on me. I find charity work to be my biggest interest because I love seeing the impact I can have on someone’s life that they may have never had before. I am excited to continue my community service work throughout my college experience and look forward to finding a way that I can include this passion in my chosen major or future line of

Jose’s father had always mainly worked construction jobs with other undocumented immigrants and Jose joined his father’s line of work because there were not many jobs available to him and he felt obligated to contribute to the family, “A second feature of the Hispanic American family is the emphasis on cooperativeness and on placing the needs of the family ahead of individual concerns” (Manning & Baruth, 2009, p.170). Jose dreamed of going to college and pursuing art or graphic design but even these simple goals were out of reach for him because of his undocumented status.

Jimmy Santiago Baca is a prime example of the impact that can be extracted from a strong and caring passion towards an education. Baca was passionate in learning how to read when he was in prison, and he eventually achieved that goal. With his passion fueling his career, Baca would go on to become a poet, writer, and education activists for diverse classrooms. Baca is fueled by improving the conditions of those who feel like they have hit rock bottom like he once was. Several books were written from Baca’s backstory in hopes that people would learn from his mistakes and lessons learned within his lifetime. One of the subject areas that Baca has spent a good amount of his life promoting and discussing is the importance of education. Baca wrote a collection of stories that showed his experiences where people attempted to keep him down, but Baca’s drive to continue to expand and learn prevented him from staying down. This collection of stories is called “Stories from the Edge,” and Baca decided to add something extra with this book. He decided to go into a classroom with diverse students and he shared his stories from the book in greater detail. There were open discussions with the students about how his stories related to the students lives. After the student group left, Baca met with the teachers that aided with the student interaction, and they discussed the teaching methods that fuel the students motivation to learn. Jimmy Baca clearly is passionate in aiding individuals

Joan Didion 's article Notes From A Native Daughter and Ernesto Galarza 's piece Barrio Boy both talk a lot about how life was like in Sacramento while they were growing up. In Ernesto Galarza 's article, he writes about living in lower Sacramento and Didion 's essay, talks about life in a different area of Sacramento, California. Ernesto Galarza 's Sacramento is filled with a lot of Mexican and other Latin American people living in a particular area of the city. Barrio Boy 's Sacramento took place in around the 1910s-1920s which was the early 20th century. Joan Didion 's Sacramento was at a later time which was 1940s-1950s and was also a time when World War II took place. Since these stories both take place in Sacramento, California, they

The Hispanic population is increasing at rapid rates, thus providing many opportunities to improve the economy and local hispanic communities. However, with the sufficient low rate of hispanic graduates from college our economy are being damaged and hispanic communities are being denied the proper evolution to get out of poverty. Our hispanic youth need to start taking more action into getting a higher education, to help our economy and communities evolve and better themselves. Being a young hispanic, I’ve seen both sides of the rich and poor. Those who mainly live in poverty are those whom don’t have a high education with them. This matters to me because I 've heard and witnessed of all sorrow and suffering poverty brings. Also, it hurts to see we have got such a powerful way of making actual change but we get held back because people think education is too hard, expensive, and a waste of time. If more of our hispanic youth had a higher graduation rate from college then our economy and local hispanic communities would be improved.

The Virgin of El Barrio by Kristy Nabhan-Warren is an ethnography about modern Mexican-American Catholicism and the apparitions of Estela Ruiz and the community that supports her. Throughout the text, Nabhan-Warren focuses on the intersectionality between Catholicism, ethnicity, gender, and community and the success of this grassroots model of Catholicism. Her fieldwork was done in Phoenix, Arizona, initially for three and a half months (although she continues to maintain a relationship with the Ruiz) (Nabhan-Warren, 16), and took place in Mary's home, their backyard shrine, and other properties owned and used by the family's organizations.

My name is Lin Marie Michelle Flores, I did not have to deal with gangs but I had to deal with the color of my skin. My parents are both from Mexico. They both came to the states as teenagers and met here in Los Angeles. I am the youngest out of four and the only girl. I was born and raised in Los Angeles with my parents and siblings. To some I had a privileged education, to me it was an education provided by working class parents. Both my parents worked hard to give me a good education. My father was the first minority to graduate from Saint Bernard High School, an immigrant who struggled to do his best to educate himself. My mother came to the United States as a young teenager. She did not finish High School in the pursuit of the “American Dream.” My dad became a LAPD officer and my mother had her own housekeeping business. Both my parents worked hard to give their children the opportunities they did not have, thus providing a private education for their children.

My mind will often wander to all the places I've lived in and all those I would love to travel to, or visit again. I think of the streets of Santa Fe, how fresh it would be compared to the over 100 degree temperature of were I am now, the hot dry heat of El Paso, Texas, a place I often come back to, the soil were my roots are permanently ingrained. El Paso has grown significantly in the past 10 years alone and is now the sixth most populous city in Texas (World Population Reviw). It's far from it's days when it was widely known as “El Chuco,” or “ChucoTown,” nicknames whose origins and meaning have long been debated, but no matter how much of the new generation is unfamiliar with these terms the history lives on through the streets and current

I 'm currently serving as a 2013 Corps member for Teach For America. I joined teach for America because I believe in their mission that all students deserve an equal an excellent education. I also joined because they work with schools where students are growing up in poverty and low income communities; a resemblance of my past. You see, we become our worst critics and even the mir image of success vanishes when our thoughts become clouded with fantasies; imaginative thoughts of the impossible. I longed for success, making it clear that the riches were of no importance to me. To others it appeared that I yes she, is writing her own story; untold was the beginning.

I was born in El Paso, Texas to Mexican immigrant parents who did their best to raise me and my three siblings. Growing up in El Paso I never even saw myself applying to college, but then my dad made a bold choice to start a career in homeland security and that was when we moved to the DFW area. Ever since we moved to DFW every grade in junior high, i was talked to about college: how to get there, how to pay for it, and how to make it a reality. The thought of going to college never even crossed my mind before coming here. Now as a Senior in high school I'am doing everything in my abilities to make my dreams come true, to go to college and graduate to make my parents proud and prove to them that all their sacrifices haven't gone by without

I am Latina. Although simple statement, it is one consisting of great capability and protentional beneath the surface. My grandmother, Dr. Maria Teresa Chavez-Hernandez, was an emblem of strength and one of the most influential women in my life. Against all odds, she remained true to her family obligations in Managua, Nicaragua as the oldest of eleven children while she earned her Bachelor's degree in Psychology, a Master of Library Science, and her Ph.D. in Library Science and Information Studies. Following her passing, the Florida Library Association created the "Maria Chavez-Hernandez Libraries Change Peoples’ Lives Award" in her honor to celebrate the "dynamic spirit of her work in expanding the opportunities of information access to under-served