School district highlights community leaders to celebrate Hispanic heritage
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — School District 51 is highlighting the personal stories of Hispanic and LatinX role models and community leaders to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, with plans to expand the program.
Tracy Gallegos, Director of Colorado Migrant Education Program in the West Central Region and his colleagues developed the LatinX Culture Education Project as an effort to improve student achievement in underserved communities, and to help all students understand and appreciate Mesa County’s unique history and culture.
“We started thinking of different ways to really reach out and connect to students," Gallegos said. "One thing that we know that we do not have enough of is people of color in classrooms and leadership positions within the district. So, what we thought was, ‘hey, let's reach out to the community and let's try to find some LatinX people who could be role models, and can send some positive messages.’”
So far, the project has collected seventeen videos of community members sharing their personal stories on District 51’s Hispanic Heritage Month website.
One of the video stories comes from local artist and entrepreneur Benjamin Gallegos, better known in Grand Junction as Ben Boom.
Boom knew right away he wanted to participate in the project.
“I heard that it was going to be for the kids and that it was going to be something that the kids were going to have an opportunity to see in the classroom setting,” Boom said. “I thought, ‘what a cool way to communicate my experience and my passion for art and kids.’”
Boom’s message for youth?
“Whatever your voice is, find it,” Boom said in his video interview. “Do that, and do that with everything you have.”
The project will continue beyond Hispanic Heritage Month as the district plans to gather stories and resources from additional communities.
“We want to reach out to our Native American populations in November, we also want to reach out for African American Black History Month in February, and probably some other ones too,” Gallegos said. "We really want to get something going for all of our historically underserved populations, and really start doing a better job as a system, celebrating our beautiful culture that's out there.”
Angel Torres, a senior at Colorado Mesa University and social work intern at the Immigrant Education Project, is another community member featured in the project.
In his video, Torres shares his personal background, starting with his family’s immigration to Colorado from a small town south of Mexico City, then growing up on a farm working alongside his parents, and ultimately making his way to college in Grand Junction and deciding on Social Work as a major after trying Theatre and Nursing.
“It was a little difficult, growing up, for sure – knowing that your parents come from a different background, and not a very financially secure one,” Torres said. “I feel like I do have a very strong work ethic, and that comes from working so many years alongside my parents.”
“That’s something I keep in my head every time I feel a little down, or discouraged, or out of place,” Torres said. “I do push forward because they did.”
Torres said that he still looks up to his parents more than anyone, and that they're exactly the kind of people he wants to be.
View the rest of Torres’ heartfelt story and the other community videos from the LatinX Culture Education Project on the District 51 website.