In November Evergreen welcomed 450 local Latinx High School students for the 2022 Latinx Youth Summit. With 35 workshops, activities, and performances this summit immersed students in the exciting possibilities of college, careers, and personal growth for their futures. The theme for this summit was: "Quisieron enterrarnos, pero se les olvidó que somos semillas/They wanted to bury us, but they forgot that we are seeds."
Students heard from Keynote Speaker, Yosimar Reyes, who is a nationally-acclaimed Poet and Public Speaker. Reyes was born in Guerrero, Mexico, and centers queer, working class, and immigrant themes in his work. Reyes has been described as "a voice that shines light on the issues affecting queer immigrants in the U.S. and throughout the world.”
A powerful and beautiful performance by Ce Atl Tonalli followed the Keynote address that engaged students in traditional Aztec dancing. Ce Atl Tonalli is a traditional Aztec dance group from the Northwest. This group visits Mexico regularly to reconnect with the land and learn more about their ancestral languages and cultural traditions.
Students had an opportunity to hear from Latinx community members who went on to pursue a college degree, while sharing their experiences, challenges faced, and opportunities they discovered. Evergreen Alumni Miguel Pineda '08, Priscella Desiderio '08, Khalo Flores '16, and Olivia Salazar de Breaux '13 shared the power of an Evergreen education and the positive impacts it had in their lives and their communities.
Sin Fronteras (Without Borders) played beautiful 'nueva canción' (new song) Latin American music to end the wonderful Latinx Youth Summit. Immersing students in traditional and new takes on Latin American music. Sin Fronteras is a Seattle based trio playing traditional Latin American music with roots in Colombian, Chilean, and Mexican cultures.
You may be wondering, 'who made that beautiful mural behind the stage?'
The mural adorning the Latinx Youth Summit stage was created during the Spring 2022 Quarter in The Mural Project: Exploring our Roots Through Public Arts with Evergreen Faculty Catalina Ocampo in collaboration with artist and Evergreen alumni Patricia Vázquez Gómez '05. Students created a mural focused on Evergreen’s marginalized histories, navigating questions about "Who counts as 'the public' and who is excluded? What demands can be made on public spaces whose uses have traditionally been decided by institutions that are unresponsive to the needs and experiences of historically marginalized communities? Whose experiences do public artists represent? Whose stories do they tell?"
