Just a Volunteer: From Dubuque to Comissão Fulbright Brasil

As a first generation college graduate, an AmeriCorps and VISTA Alum, and a new Fulbright Scholar I never know how to properly answer the question of “who am I?” The response that I tend to give is “I am just a volunteer.” When I am a volunteer, there is no prejudgment nor am unofficially elected as sole representative of a group of people. When I am the volunteer I have the opportunity to fill my heart’s content by helping someone else with something as simple as printing a document to something complex like explaining the political repercussions of not increasing our allowance of world refugees in this country.

I would not have been able to achieved the little I have if it were not for people who empowered and pushed me to strive and it all started because of one volunteer who tutored me. Over the past decade, the Latino population within the United States has grown from 35.3 million to 50.5 million, composing 16.3 percent of the total population.[1] Yet, while Latinos clearly constitute a vital portion of the population, they continue to face barriers in the pursuit of post-secondary education. Only 37 percent of Latinos who complete high school between the ages of 18 and 24 are enrolled in college.[2] Of those, only 9 percent actually graduate within five years with a Bachelors degree.[3] It should be our duty to empower individuals to strive for more.

My fellow VISTA´s and I (centre)

My parents work extensively to provide “better” opportunities for my siblings and me. They have ingrained into me the importance of hard work and, more importantly, finding value in ones’ own work. I had the honor and privilege to be raised by a strong-willed grandmother whose firm belief in her faith exposed me to believing in people. She taught me that when speaking with the wealthiest person in the room or the poorest, I treat them with the same respect.

When my first year of college came, I was trotting down a path where there were multiple barricades, which did not allow me to continue on easily as my fellow classmates. As I walked across campus I could not relate with anyone. I felt as foreign to Loras and Dubuque as an international student. I did not find my “home away from home” till I walked into an office that opened its doors and, to date, has not let me go. It was because of the Intercultural Programs Office that I was able to comprehend that we all share a similar battle. This battle of “who am I?” does not discriminate.

Out of this office I learned that one way to find one’s passion was by getting involved in the community. This led me to a non-profit that holds a very special place in my heart, the Multicultural Family Center, where I have volunteered since Fall of 2011. This experience was more than serving people, it was a moment to educate and be educated. I was exposed to worlds about which I was ignorant. I was granted the opportunity to serve as a voice for people through educational programming and interpreting. Simultaneously, I was discovering that when I was a volunteer people did not label me. I was simply a person giving back to their community.

As an AmeriCorps member and as a VISTA, I was allowed to understand and comprehend what it is like to live at the poverty line. There were months where I had to choose between paying the full balance or just a portion of it so I could purchase food for the week. It was during my VISTA experience in the City of Dubuque Human Rights Department, that I was in charge of creating a story via numbers. By analyzing numbers produced by collaborative events between non-profits, higher education institutions, and city government I was able to tell a story of the residents to local and state officials. However, during my term as a VISTA, something was missing and recognizing that I can be ambitious, I needed to know if I could even qualify as a Fulbright Scholar.

The Fulbright Program is the international educational exchange program of the United States that is sponsored through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. This journey started during the fall semester of my senior year. A week before the on-campus interview I backed out because I did not have the support of my parents. At the time, they could not grasp the connection between what I studied and what I was going to do. They very much thought upon graduation from college I would acquire a job and live happily ever after, or something like that. For the rest of the academic year and starting my VISTA term I regretted not even submitting the paperwork. I mustered the courage to apply and in August 2015, I was accepted.

At first I could not believe it. I still cannot. I am waiting for them to email me and tell me “Sorry, we were just joking.” From February to December of 2016 I will be representing the United States as a cultural ambassador and helping to increase mutual understanding between people of the U.S and Brazil through assisting in teaching English as a second language. I will specifically be working with the Universidade Federal de Goiás by assisting in teaching in a public university for a full academic year.

I still cannot not answer why I was chosen to become a Fulbright Scholar. I am Geo the volunteer, the first generation college graduate. What I do know is that with this honor it is my duty to continue understanding and relating to people, taught to me at home and at Loras through my post-secondary transformative education, and mixed experiences through serving with AmeriCorps. This is why I am choosing to serve in Brazil as a cultural ambassador and to contribute responsibly, reflect critically, learn actively, and make decisions in an ethical manner, which calls me to treat people as people. Just as my grandmother expects of me.



[1] Ennis, S. R., Ríos-Vargas, M., & Albert, N. G. (2011, May). The Hispanic population: 2010

(2010 Census Briefs C2010BR-04). Washington, DC: United States Census Bureau.

[2] Santiago, D. A. (2011b). Roadmap for ensuring America’s future by increasing Latino college completion (Research Report). Retrieved from http://www.edexcelencia.org/initiatives/EAF/Roadmap

[3] "IV. College Graduation and Hispanics." Pew Research Centers Hispanic Trends Project RSS. August 20, 2012. Accessed January 5, 2016. http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/08/20/iv-college-graduation-and-hispanics/.