San Diego City College Classes
I just received my grade for my second class at San Diego City College!
I was invited by my professor to make a presentation to my summer class.
Prague 2018
During the early weeks of June I was able to visit Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. Everyday that I spent in Prague was memorable and one of the most enjoyable times that I have spent with my family. The city was absolutely beautiful. We walked across the town and explored something new everyday. My favorite parts of Prague were the castle and Charles Bridge. At both of these attractions I was able to overlook the amazing city, and I noticed how unique the rooftops were, and how bright every building was. Prague was like no other place I have ever visited. Everything I saw seemed to be ancient and untouched for hundreds of years, something I found to be especially unique. I hope to return one day and visit more of Europe to learn about its deep history.
Dr. Frances Contreras & EDI
Like I have mentioned in my previous blog posts, I had the amazing opportunity to intern at the office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) at UCSD and shadow Dr. Frances Contreras, the Vice Chancellor of this office. The reason why I chose this internship was because of my interest in being an educator and working with students in higher education. I wanted my mentor to be a person that could show me that I am capable of achieving what they have done in their career, and that is exactly what Dr. Contreras provided for me. The work that Dr. Contreras does for UCSD is inspiring, and of such great importance. I hope to one day make as much of a difference as she does. She showed me what it means to be a highly educated leader, and as a young Latina I saw evidence of why I must be true to myself. She is an incredible role model.
My experience at UCSD was incredibly successful! I learned about what steps are being taken to work toward making UCSD a more diverse and equitable campus, and what the UC system does to support the existing population of students from underrepresented backgrounds. I found that I thrive in spaces like this one, where professional people seek answers to questions related diversity and are passionate about education. For the first time I really saw myself one day being a part of an institution like this one. Realizing this was not hard to do, considering I had such an amazing mentor to look up to.
MEChA at HTHCV
One of my biggest takeaways from interning at the UCSD office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion was understanding the importance of having a space dedicated to bringing together like minded students with similar experiences who can then work toward being agents of change in their communities. I found that I wanted this for my campus, so I have been inspired to be a part of a group of students who will create the first MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/Chicana de Aztlan) at High Tech High Chula Vista.
MEChA at HTHCV would be a space for people of any background or experiences to pursue higher education, become community leaders, and simultaneously learn about Latina/o identities, culture, and history. This would be an amazing culture shift for our campus where currently the student body that is predominantly made up of Latina/os but this is not reflected in the traditional curriculum.
Historically, MEChA has advocated the belief that political involvement and education is the avenue for change in our society. At HTHCV we will promote these ideas through the subjects that we discuss in class and the activities that will take place during the year. Some of the activities that we foresee MEChA doing for its students would be history lectures, community volunteer work, and attending local university conferences aimed at high school Mechistas.
I am very excited to be a part of something so momentous and necessary at my school, and hope that by this time next year I will be a proud Mechista graduate.