Underground Undergrads

www.undergroundundergrads.com

Today I attended the "Underground Undergrads" event @ the Murphy Institute. This event consisted of a Conversation about the Dream Act with Kent Wong( Director, Center for Labor Research and Education @ UCLA), Matias Ramos (National Activist for the Dream Act, Graduate of UCLA), and Walter Barrientos (Co-Founder of the New York State Youth Leadership Council and Baruch graduate). Such a great turnout, very informative, def. enjoyed hearing about the book "Underground Undergrads" and how it came about. Def. enjoyed hearing about how the audience are in support of the Dream act. One specific moment that I will 4ever rememeber was when a young boy (age 15) spoke about his experience as an undocumented. He said he gave up his dream a long time ago, he no longers thinks he has a future bcuz of the lack of documentation in this country. He said that he gave hope in himself, but still is willing to fight for those students that have been working hard and are undocumented. ..He asked Walter and Matias for advice.....Walter and Matias both advice him to continue to persue education no matter what, that he can succeed, and that anything is possible.

The young boy's story is not uncommon. For every dream student, has been in that position. I myself was at a point where I kinda lost hope but what kept my drive going was that I kno for a fact knowledge and education can never be taken away from me. I can dream too, and set goals for myself like other people. Yeah it may be the hardest journey I will embark but I will make it through. ...the young boy's story reminded me once again why I do the work I do, I do not want other students to feel the way I felt and I dont want more students to go through the same situation becuz it is not a good experience, it devalues who you are, and makes u wanna give up. The event further strengthen and is a constant reminder of the reason why I do the work that I do, 65,000 other students depend on my work...Dream Act will pass this year.




Side note: Matias was someone I been meaning to meet for the longest. He was at the event on Saturday but I didnt know it was him lol But this time I made sure to shake his hand and talk to him...which i did :) He is truely an inspiring individual.