From its foundation, the Latino/a Studies program has been fully committed to aligning the goals for college learning to public needs and interests. Latino/a Studies is the first concentration in Kenyon College that requires community-engaged learning.
Community-engaged learning (CEL) in the Latino community can take many forms. Some recent examples are listed below.
Students have worked with the Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs, an advisory group in the state government. Activities have ranged from revamping the commission web site to researching grant and scholarship opportunities for the Latino community — all with the goal of improving access to information and services.
Students have collaborated with the Farm Workers Organizing Committee of Toledo, Ohio, to research migrant worker conditions and apply their findings to the group’s efforts for social change. One focus has been a campaign to improve the lives of tobacco workers in North Carolina.
Students conducting research with the Adult Basic and Literacy Education program in Knox County, Ohio, found that local Latinos were not taking advantage of the agency’s services. So they created a “survival kit” for ESL.
Other course projects have become on-going CEL programs in partnership with the community, including:
- The Bilingual College Prep Program for Latino Youth. In 2015-2016 a college preparatory program for Latino youth was created by students in Professor Clara Román-Odio’s SPAN 380 with the mission to empower Latino students to achieve at the highest level in order to gain acceptance, attend, and graduate from institutions of higher learning. Kenyon students applied academic research and teaching skills in order develop and facilitate a sustainable partnership with the Salvation Army of Mount Vernon and the Mount Vernon and Knox County Public Library. Significant learning outcomes include: increased of up to 4 points in the reading section of ACT scores and 2 points in the math section; acceptance of our first Latina participating in the program to six universities and colleges. The first generation of student leaders engaged students from the next class to continue and improve the program following their own graduation. The BCP program is now set to start its third year.
- The Immigrant Worker Project. For five years, students in Prof. Nancy Powers’ class, Immigration, Citizenship, and National Identity (PSCI 355), have engaged with the same local non-profit migrant rights organization that defends asylum seekers facing deportation. Students work in pairs to find credible documentation to support the case and their work becomes part of the file submitted in immigration court. For students, this project has been the highlight of the course and, in a couple of close cases, their research has made the difference in the judicial outcome. The Immigrant Worker Project remains active and ongoing.
- Living Literature: A Reading Program on Latino/a Literature. Students in Prof. Kate Hedeen’s Contemporary Latino/a Literature class, SPAN 381, collaborated with Mount Vernon School high school students to create a reading program at the Mount Vernon Public Library that connects literature with everyday life (Fall 2016).
- Living Culture: A Collaborate Study of Chicana/o Art. Students in Prof. Gilda Rodríguez’s Introduction to Chicano/a Cultural Studies class, SPAN 380, collaborated with Mount Vernon School high school students in a CEL project where analyses of different section of Judy Baca's "The Great Wall of Los Angeles," one of the longest murals in the world, were presented at the Mount Vernon Public Library (Spring 2017).