BIG THINGS EXPECTED FROM STUDENT AMBASSADORS

By Editor Ken Harvey

The revolutionary new migrant education program asks students to make a lifetime commitment in exchange for help achieving college and career success.

Twenty Washington students have been chosen to be special “Ambassadors” to represent migrant students before the Legislature and other agencies, as well as to mentor other students facing similar challenges.

Developed by the Migrant Education Program of the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the Ambassadors for Student Knowledge (ASK) Project provides the selected high school juniors with a laptop computer and special training and assistance during the final two years of public school.

The Ambassadors are assisted with college admission, scholarships, enrollment in CAMP (college migrant program), an academic/social support system, and training in communication, leadership and other skills important for them to succeed in high school and college.

In exchange, the students agree to become models and mentors to other migrant and minority students not just during high school but indefinitely into the future. And after they achieve financial success, they are urged to contribute financially to help fund the ASK Project for future students.

Already most of the students have attended training sessions at Central Washington University (CWU) and at the Capitol in Olympia. Three of them – Luis Gomez, Rafael Cruz and Janette Mariscal -- helped make a presentation at the National Migrant Education Conference in Phoenix in May, and six attended a weeklong training conference in Washington, D.C. 

Later this month most of them will attend an additional training in Seattle and at the University of Washington, and in August they will attend a four-day State Student Leadership Conference at CWU.

In Olympia the students met with about a dozen government officials, including Rep. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney, Sen Rosemary McAuliffe, Sen. Mike Hewitt, Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, Rep. Eric Pettigrew, Rep. Kathy Haigh, Rep. Bob Hasegawa, and Uriel Iniguez, executive director of the Commission on Hispanic Affairs.

With their new computers, the students have been provided a multimedia web conferencing center so they can communicate with one another and with a non-profit contractor, the Center for Career Alternatives (CCA), which is coordinating the program.

“You are unique. There is not another program like this in the entire United States. You are our first group,” state Migrant Education Director Alfonso Anaya tells the students.

The program is Anaya’s brainchild, and he has high hopes that it can grow to include other underprivileged students in Washington and perhaps even spread beyond the state.

“These are wonderful young men and women like we have across the entire country,” says Anaya. “When I came to Washington [to become migrant director last year], one of the things we heard as we were talking to people is that these kids weren’t represented in higher education, that they didn’t have the skills. I said that was nonsense. We had not yet built a bridge for them to higher education. So I said, ‘Let’s go out and find some young men and women and make sure their dream is realized.’”

As juniors in high school, the students’ bridge to success begins. They receive conditional admission to Central Washington University, receive their laptop computers, start undergoing training and begin representing other migrant students in a variety of meetings.

As seniors they are then “attached” to and become a mentor to a younger student recruited in the ASK Project. Throughout this time they will be mentors and models for middle school students and for other high school students, as well. And they will be invited to speak before legislators, members of Congress, school boards and many other groups. 

“We need to be able to say to the world, Latinos can compete. They are as capable and as competent as any other ethnic group we have out there,” Anaya says. “Latinos have always been told they can’t succeed, and if they believe it, they will still be in the fields or in prison.”

After they enter college, each Ambassador will be asked to continue mentoring younger Ambassadors preparing for college, as well as those just entering college. And after they graduate from college and begin their careers, Anaya expects them to stay involved.

Speaking to students at their training in Olympia, the migrant director said: “I know all of you can succeed, and if you fail, it will be a terrible loss. We’re spending lots of money to get you to college because if one of you makes it, five more will follow.”

The students’ first priority is to succeed.

“There will be no excuse for these students not to succeed in school,” Anaya says. “We will provide the financial support and the guidance every single day. They will be hooked up electronically through the computers to make sure we don’t lose a single one of them. They are a valuable commodity to us.”

Half joking but fully serious, Anaya challenges the students to make a lifelong commitment to the program. MEP expects a return on its investment.

“They have the privilege of giving me for the rest of their lives 5 percent of their income to make sure we have an infusion of funds into an endowment for more kids in the future,” he says. “We’ll be quasi-Mormons. Mormons give 10 percent to their church in tithing, but we’re only asking for 5 percent -- and it will be a tax write-off.”

For now the intent is to add 10 new migrant students to enter the program at the start of their junior year, along with 15 refugee students from Somalia, Vietnam, Cambodia and other nations, funded through the Refugee Child School Impact Grant.  Eventually the program will level out with a total of 40 Ambassadors -- 10 migrant juniors and 10 migrant seniors, along with 10 refugee juniors and 10 refugee seniors.

“So each year we will have 20 migrant students and 20 from the bilingual program who are not migrants,” he says. “And hopefully this will open up some of the tight funding in education, because if we can do this in Washington, we can do it anywhere else in the world.”

Anaya expects the program to take on a life of its own.

“Once we get this kind of opportunity and resource for these students, we better get out of the way,” he says. “Once we have these kids through the program, they will go back into the junior highs and high schools with this image and this model that is so lacking.”

He notes that these young Latino leaders will play an increasingly important role in America. The proportion of Hispanics in the U.S. is growing. The current Latino population of 46 million is expected to increase to 120 million by 2050 – over 25% of the projected U.S. population.

“We want the Ambassadors to change the image of minority students,” says Bilingual/Migrant Programs Supervisor PhuongChi Nguyen, who is overseeing the program for OSPI. “We want people to see that migrant students are knowledgeable, articulate, resourceful and viable leaders of Washington State.”

The 20 Ambassadors were chosen from 160 applicants for the program.

Students chosen for the program are Pasco High School students Jose Aguilar, Vanessa Cruz and Fermin Mercado; Grandview High School students Cinthia Gutierrez and Jose M. Aguilar; Sunnyside High School students Mayra Tapia, Aristeo Borges, Juanita Tellez and Angelita Madrigal; Wapato High School students Felicitas Garcia and Luis Gomez; Eisenhower High student Gloria Tello; Davis High student Adela Mendoza; Brewster High student Janette Mariscal; Eastmont High students Mayra Sanchez, Ivan Plancarte and Miguel Romero; Mount Vernon High student Rafael Cruz; Sedro Woolley High student Diana Diaz; and Sealth High (Seattle) student Keity Hernandez.

The initial Ambassadors have GPAs that range between 3.47 and 3.96, and they are also active in many extracurricular activities. Their career goals include medicine, dentistry, business administration, computer science, math/physics, automobile design, law enforcement, psychology and education.

Luis Gomez of Wapato, for example, has a high GPA, was second at state in wrestling as a junior, is captain of his cross country and soccer teams, and is now the school’s ASB president.

The 20 migrant students are excited about their new opportunity. It particularly showed in Olympia when they received their brand-new laptop computers.

 “They were so excited, they stayed up all night playing with the computers,” says the CCA’s ASK project coordinator, David Cuesta.

The students believe the program will help them succeed in life.

Gomez plans to attend the University of Washington to study premed, with the goal of becoming a pediatrician.

“For me it was very difficult to move from place to place at a young age,” Luis says. “I never was able to have a best friend. But it made me want to strive harder and achieve my goals.

“My dream is to be known and to be somebody great in this country that gives me that opportunity,” he adds. “I understand I can’t be Cesar Chavez or Martin Luther King or Ghandi, but that doesn’t mean I can’t dream.”

He describes a vision in his mind where he is standing next to the president of the United States, and the president is shaking his hand and congratulating him for some high achievement.

“I want to be a pediatrician because I love to work with children,” he says. “I want to make my family proud because I want to become somebody great. I know I can do it. I am a dream catcher, and with this magic, our dreams can come true for all of us.”

Jose Aguilar of Pasco says he is grateful to have been chosen to be part of the Ambassador program.

“This program offers many benefits. It has helped me a lot, and now I am very determined to continue my education,” he says. “Through this program I will become a better person in the future. Through this program I can encourage others to continue their education.

“This program has already opened my eyes to a new world and the future,” says Jose. “I now know that there are ways for paying for college. With the information I gained from this program, I will also inform others about the importance of education. I will encourage others not to give up and to follow their dreams. Everything is possible.”

Rafael Cruz of Mount Vernon envisions himself designing cars and other things.

“Since I was little, I’ve wanted to be an engineer,” Rafael says. “In order to catch my dream, I have to work hard. My parents want me to go to the university.  Being an Ambassador will help me achieve my goals.”

Janette Mariscal of Brewster appreciates this and previous opportunities the Migrant Education Program has provided her. She has already participated in several Student Leadership Program conferences and helped teach people about that program, which is operated by the Office of Secondary Education for Migrant Youth (SEMY) in Sunnyside.

“I used to be really shy, but going to SEMY and all the leadership camps I’ve gone to has helped me a lot to have goals and confidence in myself,” says Janette.  The Ambassador program will top it al off.

“My dream is to become a psychologist and to help people and to help my community. This is such a great opportunity that ASK will bring us all. It was such a great surprise. It will help my family and myself,” says Janette.

Angelita Madrigal of Sunnyside feels “blessed” to have been chosen as an Ambassador.

“I feel more confident about myself, and I can talk in front of a class. This will help in the future to communicate with others better and be able to help others without being shy,” Angelita says.

She’s looking forward to mentoring other students and helping them gain confidence and to learn to work with others as a team.

The biggest challenge so far is getting full parental involvement in the program. ASK leaders would like the parents to attend meetings and workshops, but many migrant parents feel they can’t miss work, says Cuesta.

“Parents need to understand that if they will support their students through this program, their sacrifices will soon end,” says Anaya. “Their sacrifice ends when their children make it through college and go out into the professions.”

But the adult leaders are excited about the potential of the program.

“I’m as enthusiastic as the Ambassadors,” says Cuesta. “It’s not just about the 20 students; it’s about how they will impact their community and eventually the whole society.”