Episode 18: Trailblazers

Four college students from Virginia, with parents from El Salvador and Mexico, have reembraced their Hispanic cultures and formed a Latino student alliance at Radford University. They discuss why they chose Radford and the benefits of attending a smaller school. They also share their experiences of reconnecting with their Latino roots and the significance of Hispanic Heritage Month. We have no weapons. We only have pots and pans. We have no power. We only have pots and pans. Bake the pots. Bang the pans. This is our revolution. What you see is what you get now. Paranoia's got over you somehow. The game's always been the deal. The pain that I'm feeling. Cut off the rest and I don't want to breath. Welcome to the Pots, Pans, and Gritos podcast. A voice for the English learner. I'm your host, Nolan Shigley. One of the most common themes in our program is rediscovering our cultural heritage. And on several occasions, we've had guests who were born in the United States with parents of another nationality. Well, some of these students grew up knowing their home language and celebrating their culture. But in other cases, they did not. Several of our guests have described a reawakening of their identity and unearthing of the culture of their family. And today, you'll hear from four college students who were born and raised right here in Virginia, but who have reembraced their Hispanic cultures in a big way. With parents from El Salvador and Mexico, it was unlikely that these four students would somehow meet in that little town of Radford. And maybe it was even more unlikely that they would take part in the creation of a Latino student alliance that would serve as a home away from home for the growing Hispanic population of Radford University. Along with this story, we revisit Chicano Batman and enjoy a few tracks from their new album. And although we've featured them before, it only feels natural that we return to a band composed of musicians with Mexican, Salvadoran, and Colombian roots. As always, our mission is to create an archive of meaningful accounts while sharing artists with similar experiences and cultural backgrounds. And now, here are their stories. So my students know Virginia Western because we take a trip every year. And they know Roanoke College because we've got different partnerships with them. And we've never gone to Virginia Tech, but I'm assuming it's the biggest school in southwest Virginia, so they probably know that as well. But there's a university down in Radford. Some might say it's kind of in the middle of nowhere. Radford University. Let's sell my EL students on why they, as Latino Americans or Hispanic students, why should they attend Radford University? Why might it be a good fit for them? I believe Radford is a good fit for any student in general, especially for the Latin students because the Latino community at Radford is continuously growing. I personally chose it because I have friends who went to Radford. And I absolutely loved it. I had never toured the school. You didn't even tour the school before? No. Really? Yeah. Did you look at pictures online? I did. I looked at pictures. I looked at videos. But I went completely, like, dumbfounded, and I absolutely loved it the first day. I love the homey feeling. My family is close by, so I absolutely recommend it for any student in Roanoke, Salem, anywhere nearby. Outstanding. Yeah, for sure. I think Radford is a great school. Despite being four hours away, kind of felt like a drive. But I think it's a great school. I actually knew no one going into Radford. Really? I didn't know any friends that went there or anyone. Yeah. My family did come with me to do, like, a tour a couple months before school started, and I honestly fell in love with the campus. I think it's such a great campus. And personally, I like, like, a small-sized school rather than, like, a big school because I feel like I'm able to build better connections and, like, see familiar faces more often. So as somebody from a small town, I just really loved the size of Radford when I came to visit a few months prior to transferring. Really beautiful campus, not too small but not too big, and a really great program for my major. And also, like, although the numbers weren't that high for a team of students, I still felt like it would be a welcoming community. Beautiful, beautiful. I think Radford is really good for Hispanic students just because I feel like I'm repeating what everybody said, but just the size of how small it is, you can get really close to your professors. I mean, they're also going to get, like, a lot of e-mails, but not as much as if you would get to, like, a bigger school. So then they'll, like, respond to you a little bit faster. And you feel like you're, like, I mean, important to everybody because they see you, they hear you, and they're there for you. So I went to Radford, but it wasn't necessarily the classes. There's a program there called the Bridge Program, and that's for students that kind of have another chance to have that university feel, that experience. And so pretty much the program is about you staying on campus at Radford but taking classes at a community college down the road, New River Community College. And pretty much, for me, it was great. The classes were, for my level, at New River Community College, they had great classes. I took a graphic design class. I loved it there. And it's a guaranteed transfer to Radford. And if not, you can transfer out to a different school, but it's a guaranteed transfer to Radford, and I think it was great. I had a great experience with it. My advisor, Laura, she kind of, like, deals with the whole program. She's very supportive. She was there for me all the time. I could talk to her about anything, and just the program was just amazing for me. There's something to be said about a small school, and all four of you mentioned this, because I went to the University of Nebraska, and my first few years there, you're in classes where you don't know your professor. Your professor doesn't know you because you're in an auditorium with hundreds and hundreds of students. And so if you're not an independent person, it's difficult. And if maybe this is your – if you're a first-generation college student, I think a school the size of Radford is probably perfect, so you can make those connections with your professors. Can you all introduce yourselves? Yeah. So my name is Heidi Lopez. I am currently a senior at Radford. I chose to study nursing, hardest career, in my opinion. But I am from Roanoke, Virginia, so I am nearby. I can go visit anytime I'd like. But I was born here, and my parents are from Mexico. So specifically, my mom is from Oaxaca, and my dad is from Guerrero. My name is Justin Orellana. I am a junior, and I am studying cybersecurity. Like I mentioned before, I am from Northern Virginia, specifically Chantilly. So it's, like, four hours away. And both my parents are from El Salvador. So my name is Kimberly Barajas. I am a senior, and I am a criminal justice major with a legal studies minor. Very cool. And I'm originally from Martinsville, Virginia, and I am of Mexican heritage. My name is George. I'm currently a sophomore at Radford. I'm taking graphic design, and I'm originally from Roanoke, and then my parents are Mexican. Well, happy Hispanic Heritage Month. And I think we have a unique group of Latino students here. None of you were born in your parents' home nation, but all of you, obviously, otherwise you would not be on this show, right? You would not have started the alliance that you started or the club you started at Radford University. But all of you have chosen to connect more or reconnect with your home culture. So what does this month, Hispanic Heritage Month, mean to you, and how and why have you reconnected with your Latino roots? This month, it means a lot to me, especially being born here in the United States. As I was younger, I was just surrounded by a bunch of classmates who weren't culturally aware of many things. I feel like as I grew up, especially in high school, I definitely reconnected a lot with my roots, especially since my mom would teach me about her different traditions and different foods that they would make in her hometown. Like, I love eating, so I love exploring new foods from any culture in general. But this month means a lot to me because it helps me feel connected a lot to my ancestors, especially my grandmother. My grandmother has a special heart in my place. I actually got to visit her in May, so that definitely put a different perspective for me this month because I finally was able to realize how different life is over there and how much I should just be grateful here for everything I have this month. It just means a whole lot to me. Beautiful. So that was the first time you got to go to your friend's home. Oh, yeah, it was. And I was able to visit my dad's family and my mom's family in just one week. I did a lot of things, and it was honestly the best experience ever. Beautiful. And maybe all of you could mention this, but did you grow up bilingual? Was Spanish the first language in the house? Or for some of my students, even though their parents were from Latin America, they did not grow up speaking Spanish. So I grew up speaking Spanish only. I went into preschool completely not knowing English at all. But by the end of the year, I was able to speak both languages in the same sentence. I was able to communicate with my friends with, like, no complication. I was able to still communicate with my mom and my dad in Spanish. The young brain. I'm telling you, that's when to learn a language, right? It is. It's very hard, but your mind can definitely do it. Yeah, no, Hispanic Heritage Month is a great month, as Heidi stated. I think it's a phenomenal way for people to become aware of our culture. Kind of like me, believe it or not. My parents might kill me for saying this, but they actually didn't really, I guess, emphasize the strong culture that they had. It was more my grandma. I kind of learned a lot of food and a lot of practices from my culture because of my grandma, which I am very grateful for. I actually visited El Salvador, I believe it was in 2012, for the first time. And I loved it. It was very hot, I will say that. But the food just doesn't compare to here. Did you grow up speaking Spanish then? Yeah, I did, with my grandma. Since my mom and my dad, they spent a lot of time at work, my early years before going into school were with my grandma, and she actually did only speak to me in Spanish because that's all she spoke. But as I got into kindergarten, I picked up English pretty quickly. Very nice. And you mentioned food, and that is one of the most common themes on our program. So I have to ask you, I am a lover of pupusas. I do loroco because I'm a vegetarian. What are you putting on the pupusa? I like all kinds, chicharron, frijol con queso, revueltas, loroco. I love pupusas. I think it's my favorite food. Feel free to talk about food at any moment in the podcast. So as somebody of Hispanic heritage, it just gives me a chance to remember that the ones before me came here looking for the opportunity for better. And I definitely appreciate that from my parents and everyone else who came here. Just being Hispanic, it just gives me the chance to reconnect to my roots and make sure I remember where I'm from. And I just really love the culture because as a Mexican, there's so many different traditions, foods. I'm secretly a foodie. Secretly a foodie? That should not be a secret. Did you grow up speaking Spanish? I did. I was growing up bilingual, but I was more of a Spanish speaker at home than English. And then once I got to school, I, like, knew both. So it wasn't too much of a struggle. But I was still a part of the EL program at my elementary school. Okay, so you were part of your EL program. Were any of you else part of the EL program? No, no, and no. So you were our only EL student. Very cool. So for Hispanic Heritage Month, for me it's very important. Me, well, yeah, growing up in Roanoke, there's the local colors, where it's just this big festival of, like, Hispanics and everything. My parents used to sell food there. So, like, every year we would go and just be colorful. My sisters would be part of the dances with, like, those long dresses. Very cool. And that's just, like, a core memory for me. And, like, all the smells from the food, what my parents were making, everybody around us, it's just, like, the best feeling in the world. So growing up, I was born in Roanoke, but I had lived in Elliston. That's, like, close to Salem. Yeah. So I was there until, like, middle school, like, I'd say fourth grade. But growing up, the only people I would talk Spanish to was my family, pretty much. I kind of got used to having friends that were non-Latino. So it was kind of weird for me just getting, like, Latino friends and just getting used to, like, talking to them in Spanish. For me, it was very, like, awkward because I was just not used to it. It's something that I'm ashamed of. I should be proud of talking to people in Spanish, and it's just something I've got to get better at. And I don't know. I just, like, grew up, like, not talking a lot of Spanish. So sometimes I have trouble, like, saying some words, and it's hard for me sometimes. But I've gotten used to it, and I like expressing, speaking Spanish. Yeah, and I don't think you should be ashamed of that. It's when you were young, right, and that's, you know, we live in a society where sometimes fitting in is much more important than being unique and who we really are. And look at you. You've come full circle. Now you're part of this amazing student club, this student alliance that really celebrates your culture. Yeah. Have you all visited your parents' home? I have. Growing up, we went every winter. We would go and stay with family, and we would do, like, the whole, like, Christmas. Catholicism is really popular over there in Mexico. So we would go to church a lot. We would celebrate, you know, Jesus' birth and all that. But I've gotten used to going over there a lot. I just loved it over there. It was something just great, like the food, the culture, the music, my family, getting to know, like, what they've been up to, what my parents grew up with in that town, like, connected to it pretty much. So the first time I went to Mexico, I was really little, so I don't remember much of it. But I did go back after I graduated high school. It was truly a great experience, you know, of being able to, like, you know, actually know who I was talking to on the phone, like in terms of who my relatives were and everything. You know, just getting to spend quality time with my grandma and my grandpa and, you know, my cousins and my uncles and aunts every day. That's so cool because so many of my students that have been born here in the United States have never visited Mexico or Guatemala or El Salvador. And so for me, that's so difficult to think that they've never been to the home country of their parents. And some of them, they certainly express interest in going, but some are like, well, you know, this is my home. ♪ Every time you call out your home, they make you feel like home all the day. You don't listen to the music that you know, but you listen to the boxes that you are there. ♪ Let's talk about this amazing alliance that you're all part of, this amazing club and opportunity that Hispanic students, Latino students can participate in, the Radford Latino Student Alliance. And it's so funny because, well, as my listeners know, I go to a lot of Salem Red Sox baseball games, and they have a huge Latino population. And I actually met you on Hispanic Heritage Night, or what did they call it? Cultural Night. It was just like a kind of a blanket cultural night. Yes, because it was not just Latino booths there. It was from all over the world. What is the goal or what is the mission of your alliance? I believe our goal and mission of our alliance is to simply just help other Latin students just feel comfortable in a campus where many people just typically associate it with non-diversity. That is our biggest goal, to help them feel comfortable and find a second home away from home. Yes, I think our goal is to just help Latino students feel included and feel like they have a safe place to be themselves and to feel that sense of home. Especially, like you said, it's a school in the middle of nowhere. Sorry, Radford, we are not pushing people away from you. We're actually really promoting you. I promise. No, yes, being like a small school, I think just having like a nice group of people that you can call your friends, I think that's what we're all about. The Latino Student Alliance is very important to me. I had joined my freshman year. That's where I found my friends that I have now. It's just something that felt very welcoming. I was also a homebody, and I'd stay in my room. I wouldn't go out as much. I'd be like sitting there watching Netflix or something. But once I like kind of like got confident and started going out on campus, I was like the Latino Student Alliance, and I had checked it out. What the heck is this? I had checked it out, and they just felt so welcoming. Everybody was like amazing. They were funny. They brought me into their conversations. I felt very welcomed, and it's something that was different for me. Like I mentioned, I didn't really have a lot of Latino friends, so this was something new but exciting. So certainly you all are fulfilling your mission of welcoming Hispanic students. I can agree with you on that because coming to Radford as a transfer student, it was just hard for me because I didn't know anybody at all either, and it was just kind of like I knew people from my hometown were over there, but I didn't like actually know them. And so, you know, finding the Latino Student Alliance over there, like it gave me like a great group of friends now. I think I would be a homebody if it wasn't for LSA. You all are homebodies. Speaking of Radford University, how would you describe the population, the diversity of the school? Is it growing like most schools? Yeah, I would say the population is very much growing. When I came in as a freshman, there wasn't a lot of Hispanic students or Latin students. I have definitely seen the numbers grow a lot, and it makes me very, very happy. And hopefully that's reflected in your group as well. Yes, it is. When I started off as a freshman in Radford, I immediately joined LSA, and there was a lot of students at first. We slowly dwindled down the numbers simply because of COVID and other situations, but we have seen our population in the club grow again, especially this semester. I think we have about like 50 students, and the numbers just keep growing. Like people just keep sending in their fees to join the club. Oh, fantastic. Well, this year I became the social chair, so I pretty much post on Instagram. I have the Instagram account. I have the TikTok account, Snapchat account, everything. So I've seen, for this year, I've seen a big growth in followers and just so many Latinos following the account that are incoming freshmen or freshmen. Super cool. Yes, and it's just exciting. Building off the alliance, what have you achieved in this club? What have you personally learned, and maybe what are the great memories so far? So I personally, I started off as a member. I've been ranking up my positions in the club. So I started off as a recruiter, and now I'm currently vice president. I definitely say one of our biggest accomplishments is sponsorships. We were able to get a store in Reno, Colostea, to sponsor our shirt. Oh, very cool. Yes, we got shirts for the Copa Latino. It's an event that we have coming up soon, so we're very excited about that. We've had other restaurants reach out to us, or us reaching out to them, to offer memberships, discounts to our students. We've had past speakers come in to our club, our meetings, and speak to students about different topics. Yes, so as LSA is growing, we have some great achievements that we're very proud of. As Heidi just stated about the Copa Latino, it's this tournament of all the universities in Virginia where we all gather up one Saturday and just have like a big soccer tournament. Oh, man, very cool. Actually, as you said the question, one of our biggest memories, I would say that's my biggest memory. Last year we went to Richmond at VCU, and we just had a blast playing soccer with other universities, a big tournament. The winner got a trophy. Sadly, we didn't win, but we're preparing for next time. So we're preparing for the tournament this year. It's actually November. We've been training every weekend, just trying to get better so we can hopefully win the trophy here at Radford. There's so many universities over there. There's Tech, UVA, GMU, JMU, EMU. All the MUs were there. Yes, but it was fun. Everybody's blasting music. You heard anything from reggaeton, bachata, merengue. There's people blasting Bad Bunny. It was a lot of fun. So for Tech, because we're so close to them, I would say we have a great connection with also their Latino alliance. I think theirs is called Latin Link. But they had invited us over the summer to be a part of their Latinos and Eagles, which is I think it's the same schools that I mentioned about the Copa Latin, but they had a cookout up in Nova. They just had a lot of fun. They were doing little mini games. I feel like we've definitely had a great turnout this semester with the influx of students, especially the Latino culture. Just kind of seeing it come kind of full circle a moment as being a member last year and now the secretary this year, it just feels really nice knowing that others are also finding out about us and that we are growing and learning together. We've had a lot of great events this semester so far and last year as well. So far we've done our interest meeting, our salsa night, and then we also have a few upcoming events such as our pie fundraiser, which basically we can get pies by anybody who comes by. So that should be interesting. Then we also have a dance coming up, which we titled Una Noche Loca. It's a crazy night. What makes this night so loca? Just the vibe, kind of getting everybody together, having a great time, playing music, just adding our skills from salsa night to Una Noche Loca. Then another, one of my favorite memories from LSA, I would say would be Big Little Reveal. Heidi, who is my big, who is also here with us. So Big Little Program is basically like our mentorship program. We'll get to do a quick speed dating thing with current members, well, members who have been in the program. Who do you mentor? Are they other college students, high school students? No, it is within our organization. Okay. Sorry, I should clarify that. I unfortunately will not be getting a little because I'll be graduating before we do that. Not a bad problem to have. You have a diverse, dynamic, welcoming club for our Hispanic population. This is beautiful. You have sold Radford University. Good job. Maybe this puts you on scholarship next year. I don't know. So let's bring it all together here. How will this experience at Radford, obviously, with the Latino Student Alliance, how is this going to impact you or shape you in the future? You don't stop being a Latino or Hispanic when you receive your degree, and then furthermore, not to push you into marriage and force you into having children right away. But you think about this. This is the largest generation of Latinx students or Chicanos or whatever term you use, and you're one step removed from your home culture, but your children are going to be two steps, right? And it's kind of like your story with your abuelita, your grandmother. How are you going to do it? I don't want you to have to already think about how you're going to parent, but let's take it one step at a time here. What's your next step in being a Latino leader in the community as a professional? So I actually get to graduate in May, and my goal is to just increase the Latin population in nursing. So nursing currently doesn't have a lot of Hispanic nurses, and that's one of the main reasons I joined nursing is to be able to help people in my community. Awesome. You're going to be that first generation that joins that profession, and I say it every week. I tell my students every day, if you want people that represent you in the community, leaders in the community, take that step. I actually have a similar experience in the cybersecurity field. Believe it or not, there aren't many Latino or Hispanic people, and I think that is a motivation for me to just keep on going and just keep trying my best to hopefully one day get a good job and just impact other people's lives, especially in my community. Well, the thing with LSA is you make a lot of connections. I know I've met some people in LSA that have talked to me about, oh, I know somebody that's in graphic design. If you need any help, I can give you contact with them. Just these connections are really important. Having a friendship and also having kind of like business connection and being able to find a job easily after college or just not having to struggle to looking for a job or anything like that, but that's something that really helps me after college and how LSA has helped me and how I'm going to pursue my future. LSA has definitely had an impact on me during my college experience. As Jorge was mentioning, getting to talk to other members within the organization, just growing closer with them, I definitely do feel like I have established some connections that can definitely help me within the workforce or just in general in life. Some of these people that I've met, I feel like I'll still be able to, you know, grow a lifelong connection with them, applying the leadership skills that I've gained from being in LSA and other organizations on campus. It just really has helped. Well, in regard to parenthood, since we didn't touch that Sorry, I thought we were just going to forget about it. Sorry, I brought that up too early maybe. No, I actually enjoy kids. I love kids. I've grown up with kids all my life. I have younger sisters, and I have seen the dynamics change a lot with how I grew up and with my younger sisters, so I definitely want to teach my kids Spanish as their first language. I want them to experience the culture that I've been able to experience since I've been growing up, so I would definitely take them to my parents' home country, have them visit their grandparents when they move over there because they want to move back to Mexico. Wow, excellent. Yeah, and food. I will definitely have them taste all the foods in the world. For my kids, I definitely want to, like since an early age, I want to just teach them about the culture and stuff. I already told my mom when I have my kids, I'm taking them straight to my grandma because she knows everything about the food and the culture. I'm not saying my mom doesn't know it, but my mom has just like they love the American culture, and that's what they're showing to adapt. I tell my mom there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. There's a lot of other parents who just choose to adapt to American culture, which I love. Don't get me wrong, but to me the Latino culture will always have a big space in my heart, and that's why for my kids, I would like to just like from the get-go just involve them in the Hispanic community. Beautiful, and just demonstrate. It's okay to be both, right? If I do have kids in the future, I would want them to learn not like I want to say like classroom level because as a kid, you know, it's kind of boring and whatnot, but kind of helping them learn through food, music, dances, and that's kind of how I learned was through the culture, and it's a more like fun, interactive way for them to learn what my parents grew up with and just the Mexican culture. If I do end up having kids, I'm going to make sure they know both languages, Spanish and English, but start off with Spanish just to, you know, help them out, being able to communicate with my parents once they are grandparents because I feel like that's really important. I also want to make sure, you know, they learn about their roots and the people that came before them as to where they are, but also like help them embrace being a Latino in the United States. My students and I have been so fortunate to have the opportunity to work with the surrounding colleges and universities here in Southwest Virginia. The amount of support that each provides for English learners is quite impressive, but to have young college students like Heidi, Justin, Kimberly, and George participating in organizations whose sole purpose is to provide a nurturing environment, well, that's even more meaningful and impactful. We are witnessing young people re-embracing their culture and becoming leaders within their communities. Thank you, Radford Latino Student Alliance, for your immense impact on your university, and thank you for sharing this encouraging story with our students and listeners. Thank you, Chicano Batman from Los Angeles, for becoming our program's house band, and thank you, listeners, for joining us on another episode of Pots, Pans, and Gritos, but as always, thank you for being an ally to English learners everywhere. Thank you. Thank you.