IMPERIAL — Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Sonia Nazario will speak about immigration and higher education during a Friday, Dec. 4, virtual presentation hosted by the Imperial Valley College Teaching and Learning Center.
The community is encouraged to register in advance for the 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. online event on Zoom by visiting the Eventbrite website to register in advance: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/enriques-journey-trauma-immigration-and-how-ccs-can-help-tickets-128917793591
Those interested in attending can also register on Imperial Valley College’s Facebook Page in the “Events” section.
Nazario is the author of “Enrique’s Journey,” published in 2006 and which tells the story of Enrique, a 14-year-old Honduran boy who attempted to immigrate to the United States in search of his mother, who had left her family and children to find work stateside to better support them.
To report “Enrique’s Journey,” Nazario retraced Enrique’s steps and spent months clinging to the tops of freight trains heading north through Mexico to recount his story.
Attendees will also learn about how Nazario’s own grit and determination, as well as mentors, kept her from flunking out of college, and what can be done by educators to help immigrant children learn, thrive, and move from trauma to resiliency.
During her presentation, Nazario will discuss the obstacles that many immigrant and first-generation Latino students face before even stepping onto a college campus, and what others may be able to learn from such experiences.
The hour and a half presentation, titled “Enrique’s Journey: Trauma Immigration, and how Community Colleges Can Help,” will also discuss the conditions that pushed immigrant children out of their home countries, the modern-day odyssey many of them go on to reach the U.S., and the difficulties they encounter once they settle here and face hostility toward immigrants, a press release from IVC stated.
One in four children in public schools across the United States are now immigrants or the child of an immigrant, and nearly all immigrant children have been separated from a parent in the process of coming to the U.S., IVC reported.
Additionally, Latino students now make up 43 percent of California’s community college students, many of whom have undertaken astonishing journeys to and through college.
