SAN LUIS – Earlier this week, KAWC reported on the education town hall organized by the Arizona Students Association (ASA), Save Our Schools Arizona (SOSAZ) Network and Instituto. All candidates for the Congressional District 7 special primary election were invited to the event, held at the Comité de Bien Estar in San Luis Wednesday, June 11. Adelita Grijalva, Deja Foxx and Jose Malvido attended and each spoke once, but the night was more of an opportunity for them to hear about locals’ experiences and challenges with education in San Luis.
Anyone attending the event could speak, but the main panelists for the event included:
- Zahid Plantillas, a community engagement coordinator for First Things First.
- Armando Olmos, an organizer for SOSAZ, a recent graduate from San Luis High School and current student at Arizona Western College.
- Briseida Morales Gonzalez, a recent graduate from AWC transferring to Northern Arizona University-Yuma for a bachelor's in business administration with an emphasis in management.
- Alberto Plantillas, central regional director for ASA and SLHS alum currently pursuing a master's in public policy at Arizona State University.
Attendees and panelists had plenty to share about their experiences as students trying to earn an education in San Luis, but they also had many concerns largely stemming from current and looming federal policy changes.
Presented with audio below are the questions as asked by town hall attendees.
Zahid Plantillas responded that high school counselors, mentors and the Pell Grant were very helpful, but that he would have liked to see more dual enrollment in high school during his time. Currently, dual and concurrent enrollment are continuing to grow rapidly at Arizona Western College according to President Dr. Daniel Corr.
Alberto Plantillas, seconded this thought and added that resources should be expanded to ensure more funding for schools and the AWC campus in San Luis.
“... our community college campus here is actually a much bigger campus than what it is right now because we have students from middle school taking college courses, we have high school students taking college courses,” he said. “And like some of my friends here, they completed their associate's degrees before they even graduated. And that's something we should be promoting for every single student to pursue so that they're ready to start their master's degree when they're, like, 20, you know?”
Briseida Morales Gonzalez shared that as a student who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico when she was in 5th grade, what really helped with the transition was having an assigned teacher who was specialized in English as a second language (ESL).
“Another crucial resource was the lunch program," she said. "Many students, including me, couldn't have breakfast at home. So having a meal before class gave us the energy to focus and learn. For some students, it was the only meal they had all day, making the program even more easier for [our] development and well-being.”
As a fellow ESL student, Armando Olmos mentioned there’s a great need for tutoring services. He noted that in his time in middle school and high school, there were limited classes specific to ESL students and no specific tutoring. He added that the only tutoring at the high school level available was a form of AI tutoring.
(Note: KAWC will be taking a deeper dive on this topic and will check with the high school district. For now, however, Olmos and a peer from the same school, Abril Garibay, stated that they only had access to Paper.Co AI tutors while students at SLHS.).
“In order to have tutoring, teachers have to spend their own time without getting paid, so that's something not many teachers are willing to do,” he said. “And I think that's an issue that is mostly not only affecting SEI, ESL students, but it’s affecting the school and students in general. So something that I would like to see more is–I mean, we need tutoring back. I know many students need it, I personally need it. And they [got] a program that is a special AI tutor; it's not working, guys."
"I believe that our community will suffer as I mentioned because higher education is what brings us opportunity, is what brings us chances and what brings hope to San Luis," Olmos replied. "As Alberto mentioned, many students from here from San Luis High School, many friends, are going away to study engineering. Many of them are hoping to come back but without that opportunity, none of them, none of us would be able to do that. So Pell Grant is not only beneficial for students; it's beneficial for a community in general. Without this program, our economic resources will decline."
Morales Gonzalez echoed that sentiment, stating, “San Luis already lacks many resources for students to thrive and taking away the little support we have will make it even harder.”
Alberto Plantillas pointed out that the cost of tuition at Arizona’s three public universities was about $2,000 per semester 20 years ago. A quick fact check demonstrates ASU was charging full-time resident students about $2,156 per semester in 2005-2006 whereas NAU was charging $4,393 for the full year and the University of Arizona was charging $4,487.
“Now it’s gone up to about $8,000,” Plantillas said. “I’m talking about this because the opportunities are already being limited with the cost of school alone. We’re not even talking about housing yet. We’re not talking about health insurance. We’re not talking about cost of living yet. We’re just talking about attending public education.
“Our state constitution says that education should be as nearly free as possible. We’re definitely not living up to that if tuition has quadrupled in the last 20 years and no one’s wages went up four times, you know?”
The part of the Arizona Constitution he referenced is Article 11, Section 6, which states, “The university and all other state educational institutions shall be open to students of both sexes, and the instruction furnished shall be as nearly free as possible.”
“This is the problem: it’s getting more difficult,” Plantillas said. “We can’t afford going to school anymore. We know we’re going to go into a ton of debt, and we’re just being told this is normal … I think it’s important to highlight that education used to be free, but the state and the federal government decided to take that away from us.”
He also noted that there have been proposals to increase the Pell Grant requirement of 24 credit hours per academic year to 30 credit hours.
"I already worked full time being a student in my undergrad and also did full time school so this only means that we're being forced to take on more of a burden," he said. "We're not going to receive more aid, we're still going to receive less aid and we're going to be at a worse place either way."
As the host for the event, Liban Arce presented his own question about panelists’ experiences with the border. He shared that the question is a personal one for him since he used to cross it daily for school from the time he was in third grade in 2008 up until graduating.
“I remember crossing with my little sister; she was in first grade,” he said. “Every day, the border, waking up at one in the morning, making hours and hours of line just to be able to get to school at eight in the morning, sometimes at McDonald's, taking a nap at the bench when we crossed super early.
“...It was something that was hard doing. I tried giving up a lot of times. ‘You know what? I just want to go to Mexico and study over there. It's easier. I don't have to wake up that early.’ But it's something that is not just my story. It's a lot of students that get to cross daily, on a daily basis from little kids, little kids from kinder to first grade crossing on bikes or just making lines early with the field workers.”
In response, Zahid Plantillas emphasized that the border has become a bigger obstacle for those wanting a higher education.
“I was born in Yuma; I’ve lived here in San Luis most of my life,” he said. “Right now, I live like five blocks away from the border. You can see the border from my house. But I know that a lot of my family just across the border have had a very different experience. I have family members who aren't bilingual, who only speak Spanish, who have never crossed this side of the border, who still have dreams and hopes and aspirations, but a lot of them have just resigned themselves that with the current climate, that just may not be a possibility anymore.
“So I think it's important for us to bring up these issues, to put a face to the issue … I think it's important for all of us to have the conscience and understand that there's a lot of opportunities that we have had that are not going to be available to the next generation.”
Olmos shared that his experience as a student also involved getting up very early in the morning and although he and many others made that choice, it’s not an easy one. For those who think “it’s a just line,” he explained it’s much more than that.
“No, it’s not,” he said. “It's not only students; it's a lot of people that has to cross the border just to be able to get to work and sustain their own families. We can see the stresses of those people having to feel like, ‘Oh, if I don't get on time, I'mma miss my ride, then I'm not getting paid for the day.’ Just missing one day for many people, it means they can lose an entire week of bills and even meals.
“…The stresses are not going away. The major change that we have waiting at the port of entry is that they divided us into workers and then students. That didn't work. It's not working as of today. We're still waiting hours for the port of entry just to close because they're doing protocols. Those protocols can take up to three hours. So we're missing either first through third period or we're missing the entire day or people are missing their rides. So that's my experience: stress.”
“When I was on the Pima County board not too long ago, we had a major housing crisis and that housing crisis is reflected in every community that I visit,” Grijalva said. “And so one of the things we did is we invested at the county level $5 million a year in affordable housing. That's like a drop in the bucket. It's not a lot of what we need, but that investment, $11 million over two and a half years, resulted in $422 million in investment.
“And I think that those are the kind of things that we have to really explore and work together as communities because no system is going to be able to do it by themselves. We have nonprofits, we have private builders, we have cities, counties, states and federal, and none of us can do it by ourselves. So I think that that's really important and also ensuring that the affordable housing is quality housing and that it's something that you can own, and that, I think, being able to own your home changes the circumstance for everybody.”
She also noted the stark contrast between the number of options she had when she bought a home after getting married versus the lack of houses she’s encountering now while seeking a place for her daughter, a recent graduate, to rent with friends.
Grijalva acknowledged that students have needs beyond affording education, stating that they need options to have a life when they return to their hometowns.
[NOTE: Audio quality is inconsistent throughout the time Malvido and Foxx spoke due to the event's microphone malfunctioning.)
After sharing some of his life story, Malvido replied that supporting the works nonprofits are already doing can go a long way in supporting people.
“Nonprofits need to do their part, but the legislation that we can do is give nonprofits the resources, that funding. For example, when I used to run a lot of programs at Chicanos Por La Causa, and one of them was the immigration services in Somerton here. And so there’s programs for first-time home buyers where, they, instead of paying $23,000 or 20% for a down payment, they help you with it.
“And those kinds of organizations exist. These types of programs already exist. So it’s not necessarily about reinventing the whole thing. It's just really empowering the organizations that are doing that work already, to provide pathways.”
Deja Foxx also shared her life story and explained that she started becoming a leader when a counselor at her school helped her see the power in her own story. She shared how she started speaking up at school board meetings and confronting Arizona Republican legislators when they attempted to defund Planned Parenthood centers.
“When I went off to college, I took that same exact experience with me,” she said. “I looked around to my peers, I went to Columbia University and people would ask me, ‘Don't you have imposter syndrome?’ And I'd say, ‘No, I know I worked to get here, all right?’ I worked long nights at the gas station after school to be in this position.
“And I just want to tell you all that as we think about this election coming up soon, July 15th, I'll take that same exact feeling with me onto D.C. I know that each and every one of you deserves a place in the hall of power, and we have been locked out for far too long. Families like ours that work hard and don't know if they're going to make rent this month. Young people that work minimum wage jobs, cleaning toilets at the gas station. We deserve room in the halls of power. And I went on to do my education, but I brought my talent right back home because this is where I belong.”
“So one of the biggest things is that even though, you know, we're getting billions into renovating this port of entry, you're not going to make the line shorter,” Alberto Plantillas responded. “And that's the whole problem of it, where it's not really serving the people; it’s to militarize the border.”
He stated that the difficult thing is that sometimes the only thing people can do is to talk to their representatives and hold them accountable, but he’s doing precisely that.
“So tomorrow (June 12) I'm also going to talk to the Board of Regents in Tucson so that I can hold them accountable to this because they're essentially intimidating students,” he said. “They're intimidating international students, undocumented students, students that are marginalized, and they're putting them in danger. They're saying that they will collaborate with ICE if ICE talks to them. So this is very dangerous.And, you know, this is the third time this year that I'm going. I went in February to testify against it, I went in April and I'm going tomorrow as well.”
Plantillas noted that it’s not just leaders at the federal level who are responsible, but state and local leaders, too.
“If they’re not in favor of our values, we have to vote these people out,” he concluded.
This reporting is supported by a grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation.
