WCHS Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC) took a field trip to Cal State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) on Sept. 30 to open an event that is held annually. The event, Latino Education and Advocacy Days or LEAD, is focused on the growing dilemma of Hispanic and Latinos being the largest and fastest growing demographic in the U.S, but yet being one of the least educated. According to The Education Trust Program, about 60% of Latino and Hispanic students have only a high school diploma or less.

“We hope to raise awareness and a call to action. Not only from the education system but for Latinos and Hispanics as well. We have to be able to help ourselves first and have to know that we are deficient, as bad as it may sound,” said Capt. Jesus Acuña-Perez, AFJROTC senior instructor. “Education should be accessed by everyone across the nation regardless of race and ethnicity.”

According to UNI Scholarworks, most Hispanic and Latino students drop out of school due to a lack of knowledge towards the English language and as well as the student’s family backgrounds.

The point of LEAD is to highlight these issues that Latinos and Hispanics have been facing and raise awareness to hopefully bring forth a better education not only for Hispanics and Latinos, but for people of all ethnicities and backgrounds. It also gives guidance to those who were never exposed to resources that could have helped them in the past or will help them going forward in the future.

“If I had the resources to get a better education I feel like a lot would be different now in my life. When you grow up in the hood, you aren’t made aware of a lot of things. I believe you need good mentorship. You need someone or a group to reach over and show you the path to a better life. There are other aspects of life that are more important than joining a gang or tagging walls or even consuming or dealing drugs. I say this because I lived there,” said Acuña-Perez. “If I didn’t have my step father who gave me the idea and guidance to join the military, I would’ve been dead or in prison.”

Attending LEAD gave students the chance to experience a different perspective on education as well as meet adults who support or have experienced the problem in Latino and Hispanic education. Most students in JROTC who attended the event had never been on a college campus before. 

“It felt really good being on a college campus. It was really nice since I had never been on a college campus before. The building was super awesome,” said Senior Evan Soto. “Even seeing everyone that went to the event like Cheech Marin just made the experience that much better.

“It was a really fun experience! Being able to meet Cheech Marin was really cool,” said Senior Krystal Rivera. “The campus was super beautiful and one of my options for college so far. Being able to have our corps be involved in something that we haven’t been involved in before was super cool.”

“The event itself was nothing but positivity. Going to college and experiencing the event was a way to show cadets that there is a way to a better life through education,” said MSgt David Moroyoqui. “The college wanted it to be known that there are challenges that we face as a certain demographic that we have to overcome in order to get on the same level as others around us. Education is for everyone. I want people that thought they didn’t have a chance to get into college growing up that there is a way to get into it. This event was just showing us that there are opportunities.”

“When visiting the college we mainly hoped that students would get pride and enlightenment from getting in contact with a college campus. Not only that, we hoped that students would see the opportunity to go to a college that was not only fairly cheap, but also very nice,” said Acuña-Perez. “Ponte Las Pilas! Get your batteries on! Go out and reach for success. Put in the work and try to make not only your family and friends proud, but also yourself.”