As the Latino students in the nation keep growing and growing, most wonder about the equality their school gives them. On March 1st 1968, the first protests for equal educational rights were started by Chicano students, demanding better quality for their education. They demanded rights to bicultural education, Latino teachers and administrators, better facilities and the revision of textbooks to include Mexican American history. As it was not easy, students created a series of movements which included 10,000 students walking out of schools.

Mecha had another opportunity to visit the 20th annual StateWide University high school/middle school conference. At the conference, we had Keynote speaker Guadalupe Guerrero talk about how inspiring it is to have a voice. He explained how getting to where he is now (the first Latino to be part of the Public Portland Schools district) was not at all easy. He went to several colleges including Berkeley and Harvard  to be an assistant superintendent in San Francisco. As time went by, he was eventually assigned to being a deputy superintendent here in Portland, Oregon.

Guerrero informed us that that having a voice and speaking up in this country is the most influential thing you can do. Being a minority and being treated like one is hard and difficult to be who you want to be, especially if you’re one of color. The lesson of this lecture is to always be there for your community and even for those who aren’t to create something so much bigger and better than you would have hoped. Being part of something makes you feel like you’re special, being in Mecha, or even contributing to being a part of something is a very and foremost powerful thing you can do for your future and others. In the conference, we learned about the importance of being a leader, knowing about your identity and being aware of what’s being given to you.

Ultimately, the Latinos in our country, immigrants or not, can and will achieve so much success only if we work for it. If we wake up speak up and rise up, we will improve so much and already open new doors for the new generations. At the end of the day,Chicano students left with joy and brand new inspirations and motivations with the mentality of “si se puede” ( We can do it).