With the semester coming to a close, student clubs and organizations are preparing to celebrate their graduates. However, celebrations look a little different this year.
Utah House Bill 261 disrupted the way colleges cater to students after the bill prohibited higher education from engaging in “discriminatory practices.”
To “protest” against HB 261, Fernando Rodriguez Camarena, president of the Native Indigenous Student Union at Salt Lake Community College, collaborated with other clubs to hold the “We Write Our Own Stories” graduation event on April 14.
“Normally, we would do separate events. But because of lack of money, the lack of people helping us, and with the [state of the] administration currently right now, making students feel unwelcome … because of the immigration laws that are starting to happen, a lot of us feel down,” said Camarena.
With the political changes, Camarena wanted to progress towards an event that included all identity-based clubs to demonstrate that they are not separate, but united.
Creating community
Camarena stated that the collaboration enabled the clubs to help each other and create a community. He said that due to the identity-based clubs being the targets of the bill, he wanted to have a student-led graduation.
“When the immigrant laws happened, we created a support group for undocumented students here. Then, women were being represented in all these bills trying to control their bodies. We had an effort to help women and to show, like, ‘You’re recognized. You’ve always been seen.’ Then, we had a fashion show representing that queerness and love of queerness and how it’s always existed,” shared Camarena. “We’ve been fighting HB 261 for a while. And then towards graduation and just seeing all of us struggle … I decided to just be like, ‘let’s just all have fun together.’”
Camarena has multiple qualities to his background — including being Indigenous, a darker-skinned Latinx and queer — that led him to grow the concept of a combined graduation celebration.
“Seeing my community of immigrant people, undocumented people, fighting so hard … It really stood in my heart,” said Camarena.
Camarena didn’t want anyone else to write his story. He also wanted to empower other students at the same time.
“Let’s show their stories. Let’s talk about our strong history and remind each other that it wasn’t always easy for us. We had to fight to get up here,” said Camarena. “We have to always celebrate [victories] because a lot of students are like, ‘I just graduated with my associate’s, that’s nothing.’ I’m like, ‘No, [graduating] is a big deal.’”
Guest speakers
The event featured four graduates who spoke of their achievements: Umme Haq, who represented the Kurdish Club; Marya Al Mashhadani, who represented the Global Connections Club; and Liliena Ahoafi-Noa and Natalie Cabrera Mansilla, who were student highlight speakers.
During the “history through higher-ed” presentation, Camarena spoke on behalf of the Native Indigenous Student Union. Other speakers included Amna Latif, representing the Muslim Student Association; Thanya Kajik, representing the Asian Student Association; and Mone Langi, representing the Pacific Unity Association club.
Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake, the minority leader of the Utah House of Representatives, served as the event’s keynote speaker. A dedicated advocate for social justice, community empowerment and public service, Romero encouraged students to continue to move forward and get involved.
“Tell your story. Don’t tell the story that people want you to tell,” said Romero. “I really, really encourage all of you to get involved, whether it’s at a school board level or at a municipal level, or whether it’s at a state level, or whether it’s in a non-profit that advocates for different communities … You’re opening doors, you’re changing the direction for your families.”
