Cultural Competency, New Media Vital To Young Latino Success
Every year I endeavor to advance the capabilities of a strategic sector of undergraduate students by providing leadership training, exposure to new Latino-based research findings and a multidimensional model for civic engagement. The majority of my pupils are derived from recent alumni of the National Hispanic Institute, but I tend to focus my attention on the emerging vanguard of this generation: young Latinas and Latinos from the U.S. and Mexico who are actively exploring opportunities to grow their collective capacities to serve regional and international Latino enclaves.
However, only lately have I attempted to mentor this sector of students to apply their critical investigative abilities with new media.
A couple of weeks ago, it occurred to me at the New Mexico State University Latino Leadership Summit that there is a tremendous desire among Latino undergraduate and graduate students to learn how to apply their embryonic skills with online social networking tools. As with their credentialed Latina and Latino counterparts, they have been under-prepared by each level of their academic training to pursue their own self-determined pathways as young innovators and entrepreneurs. Based on my experience, in order to create your own platform for consulting it is paramount that you learn by doing. In other words, leave the temple and wander the earth so that you may apply your training to benefit the world around you.
With this in mind, I worked with NewsTaco to arrange for two of my mentees, Zach and Arthur, to cover the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas this past weekend. [Above the pair interview Texas State Rep. and congressional candidate Joaquín Castro.] The idea was for them to highlight the coverage of each panel of experts for a range of Latino audiences, including Spanish-language readers which did not seem to be prioritized by the creators of this weekend-long event. Given that nearly half of the subject matter of this conference revolved around Latino populations, border dynamics and transnational relations with Mexico, this was the ideal environment to determine whether these two 20th century Latino men could handle both the rigor and responsibility that this complex event would provide.
From our drive together to the festival on Saturday morning until I departed after debriefing with my colleagues Sunday evening, I observed these two young men conduct interviews in English and Spanish, provide a live Twitter feed across seven panel discussions and network with experts, elected officials, politicos, journalists and even our treasured Texas demographer, Dr. Steve Murdock. They impressed me and so many others with their confidence and focus, and they provided more accurate coverage, at least from my point view, than the other news entities that were in attendance. Additionally, they took the initiative that the Texas Tribune had not — they drew on their cultural strengths and seamlessly flowed between English and Spanish during their interviews with panelists and other conference attendees.
By the second day, they were known as “those two dudes from NewsTaco” and people were seeking them out. More than one person told me over the weekend that they were following panels that they could not attend through Zach and Arthur’s tweets. Furthermore, the massive social capital that Zach and Arthur have accumulated through their undergraduate friends and sprawling international NHI alumni networks were also being informed about their issues as a generation born after 1990. Again, these two young men amplified the reach of the Texas Tribune Festival to a body of readers that were not being prioritized — currently enrolled Latino undergraduate students across North America.
No one knew they were only 21, in fact, they were being mistaken for everything but currently enrolled undergraduate students from Texas State and Saint Edwards Universities. NewsTaco and I can only take credit for encouraging them to attend, to look sharp and to ask direct questions during their interviews, but as you will discover in their coverage, Zach and Arthur performed superbly. As a result of their dedication to covering the festival, they are now better prepared through their NewsTaco exposure than what would have ever been achieved within their classroom training.
Follow their example, apply your leadership training and skills with new media so that a greater range of Latino audiences can discover your unique perspective and authentic recommendations for our transnational Latino community.
