The Latino And Latino Community

Growing up in a Hispanic household has shaped and built my values in life. At Appleton North High School, I am one out of the few Hispanic students. Knowing that my parents have migrated to America to give me a better future has motivated me to make it happen. Although, as a Mexican-American, I have felt out of place as a minority. However, with time I learned to accept my cultural differences. In fact, to this day, I thank my widowed father for the sacrifices and greater opportunities he has given me. My goal is to keep representing the few Hispanic students in college by working hard to achieve my career goals; not all Hispanics are fortunate enough to attend college. I also work to inspire young Hispanics to find their potential and follow

Growing up as a first-generation college-bound Hispanic woman has proven to be a difficult journey. Both of my parents left their home countries at a young age and came to this country without any ideas or real opportunities on where to begin. At a young age, I have been taught that having a higher education is the key to having a successful and plentiful life. However, the journey towards achieving my dream of receiving a higher education has been filled with moments where I have challenged the stereotypes about getting pregnant and dropping out of high school, facing my grandma’s unexpected illness that affected me both academically and mentally, and the challenge of being a first generation college bound student in my family.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) are experiencing low retention rates with first generation college students. The students are not graduating within a four to six year enrollment period, and or are not returning after their freshmen year. As the American workforce looks to colleges and universities to fulfill the workforce pipeline with educated diverse workers, HBCUs are in the spotlight to produce qualified minority graduates. Moreover, HBCU’s are looking to refine their methods of inclusion and buy-in, this will in-turn manifest a higher level of retention amongst first generation college students.

In a 2004 journal by Susan Auerbach, the concept of parental influence and support for Latina/o students is addressed. Auerbach shares that, “Research suggests the pivotal role of parents in promoting students’ college going” (Auerbach, p.127). It is no mystery that parents have great influence over their children, and when a parent is uneducated on how to best advise their child regarding higher education, they are unable to use this influence to encourage attendance. Auerbach states, “Families without a tradition of college going do not have sufficient knowledge to help their children navigate pathways to college” (Auerbach, p.140). According to the Latino Eligibility Study, the single most important barrier to college access for Latino students in California is lack of active knowledge of the steps needed to go to college (Gandara, 1998,2002). Parents of first generation students need tools that can aid in the child’s success and serve as a means of knowledge on what can be a challenging and confusing process. Another issue tied to parent involvement and understanding is that, “Poor and working class Latino families come to college preparation relatively late in students’ careers, with fewer resources and more obstacles” (Auerbach, p.136). The journal supports the idea that Latino/a parents are in need of early access to college preparation education in order to be able to challenge and support their

While overall college enrollment and graduation rates have risen for all minority groups, there continues to be concerns for this segment of the population, particularly for African American students. Even

Introduction: Identification and description of the issue: Undocumented Latina/o access to and experiences within higher education

Although the subject of education, study behavior, has been viewed as a personal matter, we believe race and gender played a role in it. We interviewed a Senior Latino student named Irving Alvisurez. Alvisurez is a first generation college student that came from Los Angeles, California. When he first came to UCSB, he lived in FT and there was only four Hispanics on his whole floor, this gave him more opportunity to expose to foreign cultures and experiencing culture shock. He first majored in computer science and later changed to Chicano studies. As a first generation Latino, he felt more pressure from family rather than social pressures. His statement was supported by the arguments within his family based on his change of majors multiple times,

Latinos currently make up the largest and fasting growing minority group in the United States. In 2010 the Latino populations reached 18.8 million (Krogstad & Lopez, 2014). Since than the Latino population has continued to grow at a faster rate than the immigrant population. Yet with the increase in this minority group there still continues to be a lack of research when it comes to child abuse, especially child sexual abuse (CSA). Research has shown that Latino children have a higher rate of referrals to child welfare services (CWS) verses other ethnicities/backgrounds. Yet despite the high rate of referrals, Latino children have a lower rate of substantiation made by child protective services. Much research done on the racial

Latinos are an American community of considerable diversity of culture, race, ethnic, and national origin. It is a community on the forefront of significant demographic change and sociopolitical growth (Appleby, G.A., Colon, E., & Hamilton, J., 2011). Latinos in the United States are diverse, and collectively the second largest ethnic minority population in the country (Vigil, 1996). In the Latino population, culture represents a way of life that binds Latinos together through their language, values, beliefs, and practices that are considered appropriate and desirable. The population is an aggregation of several subgroups; Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central and South American and Dominicans. Some demographers suggest that

Growing up as a Latino in a community where most of the population are Hispanic had made me blind, detached from the reality of the world and the reality of the college experience, especially in Santa Cruz. Looking at the world I have always known to an extent who had more privilege than others, special attention, and more rights. I have also vaguely known which groups have been treated with less respect seen as less, but all of this didn’t really seem to matter to me in my immediate world. Coming to Santa Cruz on trips such as ORALE and JUSTICE has made me see, made me realize that it does affect me, my family, and my community that privilege is something that isn’t gifted to us but which we fight for, which causes us to be looked at differently

This creates a situation where both the student and parents are unfamiliar with the enrollment process and requirements. There is also a hesitancy to allow their child to go to college and become indebted with large student loans just to get an education. This reluctance clashes with the social and economic norm of the student being an actively contributing worker to the family’s income (Tornatzky 2006). Some Latino families may not see the economic value of getting an education for four years, when they believe that their son or daughter could have spent those four years in the workforce, or supporting the family with child-care. These family priorities and demands create friction and misunderstanding in the Latino community, where parents actually encourage their children to attend local community colleges, where the quality of education may not be very good, instead of going to an out-of-state public university. These financial conditions, family obligations, and demanding STEM-related courses may prolong the degree attainment process and raise the likelihood of Latinos withdrawing from

I have chosen to write the following paper about the incident rates of cancer and the Hispanic/Latino populations in the United States. Cancer is the number two leading cause of death in the United States among all populations. In the Hispanic/Latino, cancer is the number one leading cause of death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (hereby referred to as the CDC), “about 1 in 3 Hispanic men and 1 in 3 Hispanic women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime”1. The incidence of cancer among the Hispanic/Latino population is for all “new cases: About 58,400 new cancer cases in Hispanic men and 67,500 cases in Hispanic women are expected to be diagnosed in 2015”1 compared to the rest of the U.S. population. There

Culture is according to Zimmermann (2015), “the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts”. One culture that I am not affiliated with and did not grow up in is the Hispanic/Latino culture. Today, this culture is one of the fastest-growing cultures in the United States of America (“Understanding the Hispanic/Latino,” n.d.).

The exponential growth of the Latina/o population is symptomatic of an unquestionable shift in the demographic landscape, and is also reflected in the demographic make-up of higher education. As of 2012, Latina/os constitute the largest ethnic/racial minority group in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). Furthermore, Latina/o undergraduate students constitute the largest minority group on college campuses, at 19% of total students enrolled (Pew Research Center, 2014). Research also indicates that Latina/o students experience continued racial discrimination on college campuses (Chavez & French, 2007; Yosso, Smith, Ceja, & Solórzano, 2009; Cokley, Hall-Clark, & Hicks, 2011; Zeiders, Doane, & Roosa, 2012).

Studies show that although the number of Latino college enrollment rates have increased significantly, persistence and graduation rates tell a different story. Latinos are graduating high school and enrolling in college at higher rates, becoming the largest minority group in our nation’s colleges and universities. Yet only 22% of young Latino adults have an associate’s degree or higher, 8.1% have a Master’s degree, and only 6.5% have completed a PhD (White House Initiative,