Convocation kicked off Latino Awareness Month at Wesleyan at Russell House on Sunday night. The evening’s speakers featured three members of the Wesleyan Latino community. The focus of the 2003 Awareness month is on the underrepresented roots of Latino culture, specifically the indigenous and African.
This year’s featured alumni speaker was Mildred Carrillo ’90, who is the chair of the New York alumni club and is currently working at Goldman Sachs, a financial services firm.
The three speakers told stories describing their journeys to Wesleyan and their experiences as students.
Members of Ajua Campos hope that awareness and understanding of these Latino issues will be heightened through the social and educational events they have planned for the month.
The organizers of the convocation said that it is not enough to have diversity in numbers on campus if there is no diversity of social awareness.
William Santiago ’07 of Bridgeport, CT was the first speaker of the evening. Santiago, who is of Puerto Rican descent, said that he grew up in a poor part of town where he went to school almost exclusively with Black and Latino peers. He said that entering the predominantly white community of Wesleyan was a shock.
“But I loved the passion of Wesleyan students, and I was amazed to find how close I became with my white hall mates,” Santiago said.
Santiago commented that interacting so closely with white students is something he “never would have imagined at home,” where he spent most of his time interacting with people of his same ethnic background.
Santiago closed his remarks by stating his own goals for his time at Wesleyan.
“I just hope my time here changes my perspective and broadens my view of the world,” he said.
Betsy Narvaez ’04 reflected some of Santiago’s comments as she spoke on her four years at Wesleyan. Narvaez is an active Wesleyan member, promoting awareness of concerns within the Latino community. She is a member of the Ajua Campos executive board.
“[She has] continual commitment to eliminating the misconceptions and stereotypes that exist in regard to Latino culture,” said Raven Maldonado ’04, co-chair of Ajua Campos.
Narvaez, an English and American Studies Major from the Bronx, spoke about her years at Wesleyan and her realization that high numbers on a diversity poll in admissions do not necessarily mean an acceptance of diversity on campus. She said that there is still more work to be done for awareness and acceptance of Latinos on campus.
“We must maintain the foundations that the Latino alumnae have struggled for and established, and build on those foundations to create a deeper presence on campus,” Narvaez said.
Narvaez and Santiago highlighted the impact Wesleyan has on the lives of students of color on campus and in turn, the impact they have on the community.
Carrillo further emphasized this impact. She has been an active alumna since graduating from Wesleyan, and stressed the need to “give back” to the University. She described her position as current chair for the New York Alumni club, which now has 6,500 members.
Carrillo majored in math and computer science at Wesleyan and has worked in New York financial firms. She talked about how she worked her way up in the firms and had to fight the barriers that women and minorities face in that business.
While struggling with this situation, she realized the importance of self-image and perceptions.
“An important part of self-image is to dispel as many negative cultural stereotypes as possible,” Carrillo said.
She recommended this practice to Wesleyan students.
Carrillo commented that while at Wesleyan, students are in a protective bubble.
“The only way you don’t fit in at Wes is if you don’t believe in anything political,” she said.
She said that students must be accustomed to defending their cultural identity while they still have the receptive audience of the Wesleyan community.
Carrillo focused on the skills and techniques of building a successful career and business network after graduation.
This kick-off event is only the beginning of a large number of activities planned for the month that focus on Latino awareness and cultural education. For more information on events, visit the Ajua Campos website at www.wesleyan.edu/ajuacampos.
Ajua Campos is a campus group that focuses on heightening awareness through a number of events celebrating Latino history and the Latino role at Wesleyan today.
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