Potential Benefits of the Research

The overall benefit that I see in my study is its potential to contribute to a better and larger understanding of the experiences and cultural identity of Latino Migrant students as former MEP participants. As I have explained before, Migrant students are an underserved and underrepresented segment of the American public school system. And, it is my aim that these students have the opportunity to voice their experiences, concerns, opinions, and challenges while they were attending school and how they benefited from supplemental and college readiness programs offered through MEP. With my research, I also expect to inform the general public and to invite teachers, educational researchers, and politicians to look into what Latino migrant students’ lived experiences convey in regards to their cultural identity as Latino and MEP participants. Indeed, the creation of more inclusive grounds for these students in schools and arrival communities requires that those in positions of power value the resilience and determination that situationally marginalized individuals exhibit. My objective is that culturally responsive practices can be implemented and replicated in the classroom and arrival communities so that Latino migrant students get to experience a real sense of belonging.

Finally, I expect that through my research, MEP in Oregon can work on adjustments and programs that result in more Latino migrant students graduating from high school and attending college regardless of their legal status in the country. Since the program is fairly new in Lane County, there is still much to be done in terms of understanding MEP’s population of Latino migrant students, their dreams, expectations, life

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choices, experiences, and significance of cultural identity. In reality, a program can only maximize its results by dwelling deeper into the

specifics of the community it serves, and in the case of MEP, I hope that my contribution sets a mark for future research and interest in this population. Ultimately, my research will be significant for Latino migrant students, their families, communities, advocators, and people who have been impacted through interactions with them. Since there is little to none literature on the lived experiences of Latino migrant students in Oregon, MEP at regional and state levels will benefit from pinpointing areas that they need to tackle in order to support students better on their quest towards graduation.

I. Investigator experience

As part of my qualifications to conduct this study, I want to mention that I earned a dual B.A in Political Studies and International Relations from Military Nueva Granada University in Bogota D.C, Colombia. While studying as an undergraduate student at the Military Nueva Granada University, I had the opportunity to work for several research projects financed by COLCIENCIAS, a government entity in charge of research in education and multicultural programs in Colombia. I also wrote an honors thesis that explored the countercultural systemic narratives and ideologies that are present in the political discourse of the Zapatista National Liberation Army or EZLN, for its acronym in Spanish. Upon graduation, I had the privilege to work for over a year for a non-profit in Colombia, FUNDECOPI that sent me to document via photos the status of its main grant projects throughout the country. During this long year, I traveled to rural and isolated places within the Colombian geography visiting migrant seasonal-agricultural workers of mixed racial heritage. Back then and now, I have always been interested in issues surrounding identity

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construction, oral history and its relation with intergenerational and transnational poverty and marginalization in migrant communities. As a graduate student at the University of Oregon, I have had the privilege of taking classes in research methods and Graduate seminars in several departments such as, the College of Education, International Studies, Romance Languages, History, Linguistics, and Sociology. I have been able to excel in all those courses and I have obtained important theoretical insights into current poignant issues that affect the well-being of migrant communities in the Pacific Northwest and the United States. Additionally, I finished in its entirety the CITI training following closely the courses and insights that were offered regarding research with culturally diverse and vulnerable populations.

My academic advisor, Dr. Kathie Carpenter from the international Studies Department at the University of Oregon has extensive research experience with human subjects and remarkable theoretical insights on political, cultural, economic, and linguistic issues that compromise the wellbeing of children across cultures. She has also completed her CITI Training and has conducted research projects in disenfranchised, vulnerable and multiethnic communities in South East Asia. This last aspect of her work relates directly with my research in that it offers a parallel version of problematic situations of multiethnic communities in contexts different than the Americas. Since poverty and silencing of historical-cultural memory do not recognize frontiers and they seem to affect vulnerable communities across the globe equally, I found Dr. Carpenter’s expertise appropriate for the intention of my research project.

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