children in the United States is an
immigrant or the u.s. born child of
immigrants and many schools are
ill-equipped to fill their needs the aim
of tonight’s talk is to generate
awareness on the struggles last makes
children face while growing up in the
United States we hope that people take
our stories to heart and start thinking
of ways to help Latinate students in
their communities when I was seven years
old my family went to McDonald’s and I
had to give my entire family’s order to
the cashier because she couldn’t
understand my dad even though he was he
told her they order over three times she
can understand him through his accent
and so seven year old me had to step up
it wouldn’t be the last time that I need
to do something like that from a young
age I’ve had to be my family translator
I’ve had to tell them what’s in an
important and important document
as well as help them write an email and
tell them what’s happening in a doctor’s
appointment I moved to the United States
when I was just four years old so being
the family translator and explaining
everything in this country is nothing
new to me this taught me to be far more
responsible than other kids my age and I
have had worries that other kids don’t
have to even consider one example is our
mutual friend from ever since she was 10
years old she has had to fulfill the
mother role in her family both of her
parents work and so does her younger
brother what does her older brother
which meant that she couldn’t stay after
school even if she needed help with a
class or wanted to join a club she
needed to be home to make sure someone
was there to pick up her younger brother
and to make the food and make sure
everything at the house was clean and
tidy for her parents families
engulfs our everyday life and we can’t
navigate spaces the way other kids do
although we might desperately want to
join an extracurricular at our school
such as the band or choir or the cheer
team we can’t not just because we feel
our families can’t afford it but also
because from a young age we’re taught
that family comes first in my case it
was a little bit different because it
was just my mom and I my mom really
wanted me to focus on extracurriculars
and academics because she had to
sacrifice not being her home country for
me to have a better life and a better
education in the United States however I
had to make sacrifices too I had to
leave everything I knew him behind in
Mexico to come to the United States
under the impression that I was going to
be able to sort out my residency however
as time went by I realized that that
wasn’t the case I was undocumented
throughout middle school and high school
I lived in a predominantly white town
and I lived in fear every day fear of
people finding out of me getting
deported
I was scared that my mom’s job would get
raided out by eyes and I wouldn’t see
her when she came back from work
this fear consumed me I lived in the
shadows and I was living a lie this kept
me from opening up to people or making
friends however I use extracurriculars
and academics as a way to deflect my
living situation at home I really like
learning but when topics about my
culture came up at school I would have
to be the one doing the teaching the
curriculum oftentimes did not feed or
provide me with ties to my identity I
remember talking about the civil rights
movement in my AP US history class and
my teacher talked about Martin Luther
King jr. he talked
about the environmentalist movement the
women’s liberation movement even
mentioned a lot Filipino farmers worker
movement but he failed to talk about
sesor Chavez and Dolores Huerta he
forgot about me about my culture about
my family history and my stepdads
parents who were seasonal farmworkers in
throughout high school I felt like that
and in that instance and many others the
education sister neglected me and my
institution did too as I transition from
high school to college I had to find
avenues and navigate spaces by myself
since of my lack of documents and my
mom’s low socioeconomic status I had to
find ways to apply to college to take AP
tests and standardized this for free
because I simply couldn’t afford it and
even then I didn’t even know if I was
going to be able to go to college
because I didn’t need the data
requirements and that would mean that I
would have to go back to Mexico and
never come back to the United States
again or see my mom however I was lucky
because I had a mentor who went through
the same struggles that I did and she
helped me find ways and help so I could
take the step and go to college because
my counselors didn’t know about my
situation and by the time I got to high
school I got my residency so it made it
easy for me to go to college my senior
year somewhere to pay
I didn’t know if I was going to be able
to go to college I had a visa but that
still meant that if I was accepted into
college I would have to pay
international student tuition and that
was something my family just couldn’t
afford for me my only option would have
been to go back to Mexico and be away
from my family for the first time in my
life to experience a culture and an
educational system I had no experience
in I was paying for all the AP classes
and took the AC T just like all the
other kids in my grade but I didn’t know
if there was any point to it because I
didn’t know if I was even gonna be able
to go in the end though I was able to
obtain my residency and I was able to go
to college education has always been a
huge part of my family my grandparents
only made it to elementary school both
of my parents finished college in Mexico
and as I stand on this stage I’m the
first in my family to go to college in
the United States education has always
been a way to propel my family forward
and give us opportunities that
generations before us never had and
they’re not prepared I came and I both
ended up choosing Eastern Michigan
University and we met through the Latina
Student Association helped give us a
sense of belonging that we never had in
the general education system it also put
us in a position of leadership in the
Latina community because we found
ourselves being able to provide that
guidance that we lacked in school our
struggles made us the women that stand
before you tonight and one
in every four children in the United
States experienced something similar or
far worst because of these struggles
immigrants immigrants are multilingual
they are culturally sensitive and they
are resilient the United States is a
melting pot and always has been because
of this the migrants are what make
America great thank you
[Applause] [Music]
immigrant or the u.s. born child of
immigrants and many schools are
ill-equipped to fill their needs the aim
of tonight’s talk is to generate
awareness on the struggles last makes
children face while growing up in the
United States we hope that people take
our stories to heart and start thinking
of ways to help Latinate students in
their communities when I was seven years
old my family went to McDonald’s and I
had to give my entire family’s order to
the cashier because she couldn’t
understand my dad even though he was he
told her they order over three times she
can understand him through his accent
and so seven year old me had to step up
it wouldn’t be the last time that I need
to do something like that from a young
age I’ve had to be my family translator
I’ve had to tell them what’s in an
important and important document
as well as help them write an email and
tell them what’s happening in a doctor’s
appointment I moved to the United States
when I was just four years old so being
the family translator and explaining
everything in this country is nothing
new to me this taught me to be far more
responsible than other kids my age and I
have had worries that other kids don’t
have to even consider one example is our
mutual friend from ever since she was 10
years old she has had to fulfill the
mother role in her family both of her
parents work and so does her younger
brother what does her older brother
which meant that she couldn’t stay after
school even if she needed help with a
class or wanted to join a club she
needed to be home to make sure someone
was there to pick up her younger brother
and to make the food and make sure
everything at the house was clean and
tidy for her parents families
engulfs our everyday life and we can’t
navigate spaces the way other kids do
although we might desperately want to
join an extracurricular at our school
such as the band or choir or the cheer
team we can’t not just because we feel
our families can’t afford it but also
because from a young age we’re taught
that family comes first in my case it
was a little bit different because it
was just my mom and I my mom really
wanted me to focus on extracurriculars
and academics because she had to
sacrifice not being her home country for
me to have a better life and a better
education in the United States however I
had to make sacrifices too I had to
leave everything I knew him behind in
Mexico to come to the United States
under the impression that I was going to
be able to sort out my residency however
as time went by I realized that that
wasn’t the case I was undocumented
throughout middle school and high school
I lived in a predominantly white town
and I lived in fear every day fear of
people finding out of me getting
deported
I was scared that my mom’s job would get
raided out by eyes and I wouldn’t see
her when she came back from work
this fear consumed me I lived in the
shadows and I was living a lie this kept
me from opening up to people or making
friends however I use extracurriculars
and academics as a way to deflect my
living situation at home I really like
learning but when topics about my
culture came up at school I would have
to be the one doing the teaching the
curriculum oftentimes did not feed or
provide me with ties to my identity I
remember talking about the civil rights
movement in my AP US history class and
my teacher talked about Martin Luther
King jr. he talked
about the environmentalist movement the
women’s liberation movement even
mentioned a lot Filipino farmers worker
movement but he failed to talk about
sesor Chavez and Dolores Huerta he
forgot about me about my culture about
my family history and my stepdads
parents who were seasonal farmworkers in
throughout high school I felt like that
and in that instance and many others the
education sister neglected me and my
institution did too as I transition from
high school to college I had to find
avenues and navigate spaces by myself
since of my lack of documents and my
mom’s low socioeconomic status I had to
find ways to apply to college to take AP
tests and standardized this for free
because I simply couldn’t afford it and
even then I didn’t even know if I was
going to be able to go to college
because I didn’t need the data
requirements and that would mean that I
would have to go back to Mexico and
never come back to the United States
again or see my mom however I was lucky
because I had a mentor who went through
the same struggles that I did and she
helped me find ways and help so I could
take the step and go to college because
my counselors didn’t know about my
situation and by the time I got to high
school I got my residency so it made it
easy for me to go to college my senior
year somewhere to pay
I didn’t know if I was going to be able
to go to college I had a visa but that
still meant that if I was accepted into
college I would have to pay
international student tuition and that
was something my family just couldn’t
afford for me my only option would have
been to go back to Mexico and be away
from my family for the first time in my
life to experience a culture and an
educational system I had no experience
in I was paying for all the AP classes
and took the AC T just like all the
other kids in my grade but I didn’t know
if there was any point to it because I
didn’t know if I was even gonna be able
to go in the end though I was able to
obtain my residency and I was able to go
to college education has always been a
huge part of my family my grandparents
only made it to elementary school both
of my parents finished college in Mexico
and as I stand on this stage I’m the
first in my family to go to college in
the United States education has always
been a way to propel my family forward
and give us opportunities that
generations before us never had and
they’re not prepared I came and I both
ended up choosing Eastern Michigan
University and we met through the Latina
Student Association helped give us a
sense of belonging that we never had in
the general education system it also put
us in a position of leadership in the
Latina community because we found
ourselves being able to provide that
guidance that we lacked in school our
struggles made us the women that stand
before you tonight and one
in every four children in the United
States experienced something similar or
far worst because of these struggles
immigrants immigrants are multilingual
they are culturally sensitive and they
are resilient the United States is a
melting pot and always has been because
of this the migrants are what make
America great thank you
[Applause] [Music]
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