Welcome readers!
It’s August 30, 2010 and as the buses crowd with students on the way to their first classes this can only mean one thing: a new school year is upon us. The campus brims with a feeling of excitement and eager anticipation. With a new school year, comes new opportunities, not only to create new memories, but also to begin anew and learn from those we already have.
As a new field intern for the Institute of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, I hope to give our readers a look at life here on campus from a new perspective and hopefully provide insight to the concerns that students here face on a day to day basis. This perspective however, will not be from that of a traditional Latino student. While I do have ancestral roots in Puerto Rico, Panama and Spain, they do not make up the majority of my ethnic heritage. Being predominantly Jamaican and Trinidadian, I am what you could call a “Latino by association.” All throughout my upbringing I have identified with and have been welcomed by the Latino culture. Since my arrival on campus as a 17 year old freshman back in the Fall of 2008, I have been heavily involved in the Puerto Rican Latin American Cultural Center (PRLACC), and now as a 19 year old junior, pursuing a double degree in Special Education and English with a minor in Puerto Rican Latino Studies, I have become even more immersed and concerned with the issues affecting not only the Latino student population here on campus but affecting minority students as a whole. Even beyond my role here on campus, I represent the aspirations of a family who like many families has plenty of concerns beyond the education of their oldest son.
Coming from a non-traditional household, dealing with financial issues at home, along with a plethora of other concerns may sometimes deter students from pursuing higher education and this is a problem that minority students particularly struggle with. However, this is where the Latino community here on campus comes together to make sure we take care of our incoming freshman and transfer students through the METAS program. METAS (Mentoring, Educating and Training for Academic Success) is a year-long program designed to help students with the transition into campus life. Each incoming student mentee is paired with an upper classmen mentor who acts as not only a resource, but also a friend here on campus, a campus that can seem rather intimidating to those who may not be familiar with it. While I was never a mentee within the program I jumped at the chance to be a mentor this year, and I must say that even within this first week of class so far it has already been a rewarding experience. METAS provides more than just a resource for incoming students it provides them with a gateway into the different aspects of campus life as well as a family away from home. METAS also consists of two course components, a mentor class (PRLS 3295, Latinos Leadership and Mentoring) where we develop their awareness of issues affecting Latinos in higher education, and a mentee course (INTD 1820 Conectate with METAS) where mentees gain a better understanding of campus and Latino issues in education as well. While I never attended the class as a mentee, I must say that even in this first week of class as a mentor it has been quite enlightening.
With the arrival of new students, we say farewell to the University of Connecticut’s Class of 2010. We wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors, knowing that as they step into this thing known to us undergraduates as, “the real world,” they will face challenges with the same determination and motivation that has granted them success thus far. They have provided a model for all of us who come after them and for this we thank them. As they depart we form questions concerning this coming school year, ranging from: “Who will win Lipsync?” to concerns about possible tuition increases, and even hopes of another successful year for our sports programs. Now while these questions may go unanswered for now, I am certain of one thing: it will be another great year at the University of Connecticut.
No comments:
Post a Comment