Personal Narrative: I M Fighting For

Never judge a book by their cover; in other words, I had a preconception, a biased thought that Latinos would start fighting. Everyone was in synchronization, and it was an extremely pleasant time, and one of the greatest experiences I have ever experienced in Laredo. I learned that Latinos and African American can interact beautifully, and it was a marvelous feeling. The greatest imperative impression that I took home was that the group talking about Black Lives Matter and our political turmoil in the United States. I aspire to become categorically involved in social injustice matters, which I believe strongly in. No life can matter until Black Lives Matter! I am a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and I give donations periodically, yet this is not enough. This experience assisted me by educating me on how strongly I want to change the racial disproportion in this country. When I graduate and move, I look forward to working in a place that I can generate a difference assisting others, and working to improve multicultural

When my mother asked me to read a book a few months ago, I was hesitant to agree. A stressful school year was approaching, and seeing my friends on a Saturday night seemed much more appealing. When I was younger, curling up with a good book was a typical pastime. Then came high school, and reading was replaced with countless hours of studying, cheer practice, and trying to figure out when I could catch up on some much needed rest.

As a young Latina raised in the Central Valley, I am excited to apply for the Gonzalez Memorial Scholarship. As an undocumented person with undocumented parents and siblings, it’s difficult to come out of the shadows when we are constantly being surrounded by hate and ignorance. As I reflect on my journey, I am reminded of the many sacrifices my family and I have had to make in order to make it to this point. I am the proud daughter of dedicated, courageous, and hard-working farm workers who more than 15 years ago said goodbye to their loved ones in Mexico and risked their own lives, so that my brothers and I could have a chance at achieving the “American Dream.” Both of my parents are farm workers they plant, pick and pack almost any fruit

These Individuals were not just advocates and rebels (at the time they were seem as rebels) for standing up for their rights by demanding equal rights they deserve such as education and respect. But they also talk about how Sal Castro still has such important role in their lives. The East Los Walkouts in the 1968 change the legacy for the next generation. For instance, Bobby Lee Verdugo is a retired social Worker he went to UCLA but ended up getting his degree at California State University, Los Angeles. As a social worker he work by helping teen fathers succeed in life. For instance, Verdugo drop out of high school and it wasn’t until years later that he graduated and pursue higher education. Paula Crisostomo found her voice during the Chicano movement in the movie Alexa Vega play her role in the movie you could see that she was not afraid to stand up for her rights and make a difference. In the seminar she explained how she is still involved with the community and encourages students to pursue their dreams. She also talked about the education pipeline in how still today many are not receiving their bachelors and a higher degree. Also that there’s not many people transferring out from their community college. Yoli Rios also highlight the same thing and the importance of perusing a degree and a career. She also talked about STEM majors and about how she had and has a passion for

In an effort to resist the rhetoric that readily aims to discredit the narratives of undocumented immigrants, the Fearless Undocumented Alliance (FUA) organization held a rally at the Quad called, “Coming Out of the Shadows,” on April 18, 2017. Arguable another version of the Self-Help model, this group conducts these rallies in order to provide a safe and open space for individuals to share their personal narratives and struggles and connect their lived experiences to the wider, structural oppression and discrimination that’s at play. However, in addition to providing a safe space for creativity and dialogue, these rallies are also held to raise awareness to social and political issues that often go unnoticed, which, in this case, was the

I had to go house to house asking people to get a signature to support us in our fight against deportation. Many people did not want to open the door and many of them would just not be happy when they saw us because they liked the idea of deportation. The people who liked the idea of deportation and would not open the door for us didn’t stop us. We were more determined to get even more signatures and to leaves as many flyers as we could around the neighborhoods. We were fighting for what was right and we felt very

My career of service has led me to different projects, including informing HIV-positive individuals of the different community resources available as a peer educator for a sex positive peer education program at my university, creating awareness of well-balanced diets around residents in communities along the U.S.-Mexico border, also known as colonias. Reaching out to our Congressman Beto O’Rourke about policy change ending extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, and promoting gender equality around the world. Being bilingual originating from a border city between the U.S. and Mexico made me realize the importance of language and how communication can have an impact on a community.

After contemplating this year’s National History Day theme, “Taking A Stand”, I decided that I wanted to research a topic that could connect to my life and could genuinely interest me. During that time, my classroom was learning about the African-American Civil Rights Movement and it brought great inspiration because it led me to wonder if Mexican-Americans had ever taken part in a civil rights movement of their own, so I went online and low and behold, I found out that they had taken part of the Chicano Movement. Furthermore, this finding intrigued me and I decided to look more into the topic. After looking more into the Chicano Movement, I found out that it had brought upon great change, change that possibly wouldn’t have occurred if it weren’t for this movement. It was then that I decided to choose the topic of the Chicano Movement because it genuinely bewildered me, how a movement so grand, received so very little attention. Essentially, I put it on myself to exhibit the great history of the Chicano Movement.

As a member of this organization, I made an effort for the bridge to be noticed by the residence of the community, by being present to as many events as possible. Through community service event such as Adelante Hombre Latino Youth Summit and college campus tours, I was able to serve as a mentor for young high school Latino males. Within these events I was able to give advice to high school students who either didn’t know what to expect as a college student, or for those who were contemplating on what route they should embark. Being able to participate in events such like these, allowed me to display what Hermanos Unidos stands for, while also being an example for Latino youth residing in our surrounding

My Current Contest PrepHere you will find weekly updates as I prepare for my first step onto a bodybuilding stage.

You know, all my life I’ve been fighting. Even as a kid I would always get in fights. Kids would call me a loser, and I ain’t no loser. I’m no bum, my whole life i’ve been trying to prove i’m not a bum. That’s one reason I got into fighting. You know My father used to tell me “you weren’t born with much of a brain, so you better start developing your body. So i did. I trained hard. Then I started putting all that training into fighting. But today, i’m not here to talk to you about myself. I’m here today because I want to give you some advice. Focus on your education. Build your brain. I know that may sound weird coming from a fighta but kids now a days don’t understand how important it is. Fighting is dangerous, fighting is for someone that

I needed an escape route. Somewhere that I could go to forget about the looming darkness surrounding me every time I came home. I got an amazing opportunity to join the Grassroots Leadership Development Program. GLDP is a leadership program for high school students with a Hispanic background, to get to know more about what’s going on in our community, and develop ways to make us better leaders. I knew I was taking a huge step for myself, and coming out from where I was hiding. Through this program, I was able to go to a three day conference in Chicago, hosted by the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, where I changed my perspective of how I was dealing with my situation.

I was in the ring, my hands were clammy, I was breathing hard, and I was full of adrenaline. I glanced at the sidelines to see my peers and family cheering me on. I took a moment to cherish the moment as I had been preparing for this moment all year. The next thing I felt was my body hitting the ground. While I was in my own little world the ref had given the signal to fight and my opponent took advantage of this moment by kicking me down. I got up and prepared to fight again. My coach yelled out, “Fight back Devin. You can do this!” The ref signaled us to fight. I thrashed out as many kicks as possible. To my surprise, none of them scored a point. I took a look at the clock, it read only 20 more seconds! I knew I had to play it smart and wait for the right opportunity.

Winter is here folks, and there is no denying it after the storm that just hit us. It seems like the colder weather moves in earlier and earlier every year, but it might be that I’m just getting older and older every year. How about that?

Two days later; the time for preparation finally ended and I knew I was ready for the fight. Before the fight we were to be told the rules and who we would be fighting to move on. The first person I was fighting was a lot smaller than me and I knew this was going to be easy for me.