Walking through the quad next to dozens of families on Parents' Weekend, Ana Garcia had her mom on one side of her, her father on the other. Her parents had been anxiously waiting for this weekend.
Just like a typical parents weekend, students were introducing their parents to their friends, and hoping to show them what a typical day looks like on campus.
For Garcia, this was challenging: her mother only spoke Spanish, and her father spoke very little English.
Being the first one in her family to go to college, Garcia’s parents were eager to be in her shoes. But the lack of options for non-English speakers that weekend made it hard for her parents to truly understand her experience at the University of Portland.
A week later, Garcia met with her adviser, Father Art, about offering events, or even just a campus tour, in Spanish that weekend.
“I know my family would have loved having the tours, so if I can help get these going then I'm all for it,” Garcia said.
The senior history major and co-vice president of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) club has been working with the club as well as the Office of Admissions to organize campus tours given in Spanish for visitation days ahead. Assistant Director of Admissions Daniel Lyons and Admissions Counselor Casandra Esparza gave the plan the go-ahead last week and are finalizing logistics.
“We are extremely excited to make these tours available and my hope is that offering them on select days will make visits to UP more accessible for families,” Esparza said. “We are still working on the final details with regard to how many to offer and when, but this will happen and we anticipate them being very successful.”
Lyons and Esparza have been working closely with MEChA to get the tours up and running by the visitation day on Nov. 11. The 10 students who volunteered to lead tours will soon begin training with admissions. The first visitation day in October will be a chance for the students to gauge demand for the tours, and promote the upcoming tours in November.
“I am excited for this change,” Garcia said. “It’s a step towards providing more services for Spanish speaking families.”
Sophomore nursing major and president of MEChA Huitzil Zamudio had a similar experience to Garcia’s. Zamudio’s mother does not speak English, so going on a campus tour with her was a challenge for both of them. Zamudio either translated the whole time or her mother felt discouraged because she didn’t understand.
“It is really hard when campuses don’t provide translators for non-English speakers because it makes us feel undervalued and not important to the campus,” Zamudio said. “These tours will help students like me and families like mine feel welcomed and valued at UP.”
MEChA hopes the tours will allow those who would not have had the chance to truly understand the UP because of the language barrier to finally be able to feel more comfortable and welcome on The Bluff.
The tours will also help the students leading the tours to practice and improve their Spanish.
“It will attract students from different ethnic backgrounds and allow for UP to become a more diverse university,” said Zamudio. “Honestly, we need more representation of different ethnicities and races on campus. By introducing Spanish tours, UP will receive the attention of a wider and (more) diverse population that will enrich the culture of UP.”
