Chris and the Seven Vectors

Any course in student development theory wouldn't be complete without discussing Chickering and Reisser's Seven Vectors.  Therefore, my voice project just wouldn't feel complete without discussing the vectors in relation to Chris, and in order to better understand him I believe it is important to explore the seven vectors and his current development.

In order to develop students move through the vectors.  There are differing opinions in regards to if people have to be fully developed in one vector to progress to another.  Personally, I view the vectors as something people progress back and forth through.

The 7 vectors are as follows: (Chickering & Reisser, 1993)

1.  Developing Competence: Competence refers to intellectual, physical, and interpersonal competence
2.  Managing Emotions:  Students move from having little to no control over fear, anxiety, anger, etc with little awareness of feelings to being aware of emotions and exhibiting control over their emotions and expressing them appropriately
3.  Moving Through Autonomy Toward Interdependence:  Students move from being unable to problem solve and  having little self direction and freedom as well as being emotionally dependent on others to no longer needing constant reassurance
4.  Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships:  Students move from not regonizing differences and having short and unhealthy relationships to tolerating and appreciating differences as well as being able to be intimate
5.  Establishing Identity:  Students move from being confused and uncomfortable with who they are to self-acceptance and being comfortable with their body, orientation while maintaining a sense of self in a social, historical, and cultural context
6.  Developing Purpose: Students move from unclear vocational goals, activities, and interests to clear vocational goals, focused activities, and strong commitments
7.  Developing Integrity:  Students move from dualistic thinking, unclear and unaligned values to values congruence, respecting others' beliefs, and becoming socially responsible

Chickering, A., & Reisser, L. (1993). Education and identity (2nd edition). San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers

Chris and the 7 Vectors

1.  Developing Competence:  Chris will struggle with this vector the most in terms of intellectual competence and confidence.  He may feel intimidated or unprepared in some areas academically.  I will explore how Chris is doing academically later, but I imagine he will go through and adjustment and may need to take a developmental course in English. 
2.  Managing Emotions:  I imagine that Chris may keep emotions inside and struggle internally with anxiety and fear.  He will struggle with expressing his emotion.  In order for Chris to express himself he will need to find people that he is comfortable with and establish a "family" at school.
3.  Moving Through Autonomy Towards Interdependence:  In some ways Chris will be ahead of his peers in developing because he will have to problem solve, make decisions for himself, and navigate the college process by himself compared to peers at a predominately white institution.
4.  Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships:  Chris may struggle to develop relationships and be overwhelmed with the environment as well as loosing confidence, and taking a step back in his level of comfort-ability and ability to manage and display emotion.
5.   Establishing Identity:  Chris will be challenged in this vector and how he chooses to identify such as Mexican, Mexican American,Latino, etc?  With the change in environment and having his first experience attending a predominantly white institution Chris will face change and challenge.
6.  Developing Purpose:  Chris is focused on what he wants to achieve, but will probably being to question what his purpose is and how/if he can achieve it.
7.  Chris has potential to develop in this vector.  As a first-year student who is facing a great deal of change it will be a long time before he gets to this vector.

Getting Chris to College

I wanted to better understand the admissions process for a student like Chris as well as help outline the struggles that he faced upon entering college.  In order to better develop Chris's voice I believe it's important to recognize his journey to college in addition to his journey in college.
In order to better wrap my head around this I will write this entry in 4 parts.
1. Reflection of my process as a white female
2. Interview with Admissions Counselor who works primarily with Latino students
3. Article: Fulfilling Educational Aspirations: Latino Students' College Information Seeking Patterns
4. Impact on Chris' story

1.  As a sophomore in high school (8 years ago!) I began researching what college I wanted to attend.  I had a mother who had completed a four year degree at the University of Michigan, a father who had completed some college at Owens and the University of Toledo, and a brother who was currently attending Bowling Green State University.  I attended college fairs with my parents, went on road trips to visit schools, searched the internet, and consulted with the guidance counselor and others close to me.  It was never a question in my mind if I would ever attend college, and the only two factors I considered at the time were the quality of the theatre program and if the school "felt right."  While I was very concerned about how the way I looked would affect my admission into any audition based theatre program I was not concerned with race as one of those "look factors."  I think the extent to which I had conversations about race and admissions were in my senior year government class.  At the time I remember thinking that race shouldn't be a factor in the admissions process, but never really gave much additional thought to it beyond that.  I think that issue may always be a hot topic as seen currently with Fisher vs Texas.  Looking back I would have to disagree with the 15-18 year old version of myself.  Granted, understanding white privilege at that age would probably have been more than I could have handled or comprehended.  Between my experiences last year, an interview with an admissions counselor, and materials that I have come across I realize I was fortunate in my process and lucky to be surrounded by people that understood the process that were able to navigate it with me.

2.  My interview with Christina was extremely eye opening.   We discussed factors that prohibit Latino students from being able to attend college and/or create challenges in their admissions process. The challenges that Christina outlined included:
-Pressure to work and the idea that high school diplomas can get small jobs
-Taking care of family members financially and physically (encouraged to stay close)
-Possible absence of someone encouraging them to go to college and pulling them towards the educational piece
-Lack of personal connections to others who have gone to college
-Parents are unable to conceptualize college (ex. understanding residence halls and meal plans)
-Some parents are unable to speak and/or read English
-Influenced by peers
-Didn't complete high school
-Required to take remedial and developmental courses
-Under-prepared academically
-Financially difficult
-Didn't get accepted to "big, fancy institution" and go to community college or choose not to go
-If/when Latinos go to college they are viewed as seeing themselves as "too good" by their members of their family
-Sometimes students are recruited to go into the military who target low income men of color
-Students are preyed upon by for-profit recruiters who work on commission, and students come out with huge loans and credits that won't transfer or certificates/degrees that are no good

     One of the biggest take aways from the conversation I had with Christina was our discussion on the higher education system, and how it is very difficult for Latino and minority students to navigate.  As discussed in 6010, in the beginning higher education was created to serve privileged white christian males.  The system and practices don't make it easy for Latinos to navigate.  College fairs are difficult for students whose parents are unable to speak and/or read English, and school visit days can be hard to attend for Latino students and families who have difficulty making it do to financial strains or lack of transportation/license.  Christina commented on the fact that many prospective students and their families that take advantage of visit days are white, except when they send buses to areas around the state that provide access and transportation.  When Christina talked about this point I thought back to my summer experience working with Latino youth and recruiting students for the leadership summit.  I had a student sign up for the summit that had not been returning my phone calls to later find out from a school counselor that the student's parents were unable to drive and therefore had stopped contacting me.  Fortunately, in this case the student was able to find an alternate ride.  At the time I didn't think much of it, but now I understand the context so much more.
      Another point that Christina elaborated on was the importance of family being able to see and make sense of the college experience.  It is important for parents to see the dinning hall and residence hall.  When a Latino student moves to college the family will accompany the student and need to see everything.  Lastly, Christina told me (what I found to be a heart breaking story) of a student that came very close to trying on the college experience, but instead ended up at home.  The student made it to campus on move in day and realized that they still need books.  The student realized that they had no more scholarship/financial aid left and called home.  The sister called the student back and guilted the student into returning home because their mother had picked up a fourth job in order to help support and buy books.  Unfortunately, Christina told me this is not uncommon.

3.   Fulfilling Educational Aspirations: Latino Students' College Information Seeking Patterns
Sylvia Martinez and Yesenia Lucia Cervera broke down the college going process into three stages: deciding if they want to attend college, gathering information about potential institutions, and deciding which institutions to attend.   They found that Latinos were less successful in this process compared to their counterparts.  The article outlined some of the same challenges Christina pointed to in her interview such as lack of knowledge about college and financial strains. In comparison to other racial identity groups (White, Black, Asian) Martinez & Cervera found that 57% of Latino students planned on attending a four year institution 70%-80% of White, Black, and Asian students planed on attending a four year institution.  Latino students also came up short when compared to counterparts in the amount of applications submitted, access to information/resources, and the extent of their parents' education and income.  These factors all play into the rate at which Latino students submit college applications, as well as submitting applications late.  When Latino students were surveyed in the spring almost 20% of those who wanted to attend a four year college did not submit any application (Martinez & Cervera).

4.  Many of the themes discussed in the interview and article are very relevant to Chris.  He is a first-generation student whose family doesn't know anything about navigating the admissions process.  Chris will experience difficulty in understanding the process and helping to translate the process for his father.  Chris has a big road ahead of him trying to figure out the financial pieces.  Chris would fall within the percentage that submitted only one or two applications, but is fortunate to have submitted prior to the spring and be accepted into his choice institution.  Long term, Chris will have to come to terms with the view points his family has on his college experience as well as struggle to balance his family life and college life.  Reflecting back on my experience, I don't know what I would have done if I was in Chris's shoes.  It's a lot to figure out for an 18 year old in addition to coming from a low income house hold, being a first-generation college student, and a minority student.

In researching for clips I came across this video by the College Board that is very relevant to the admissions topic and further displays that Latinos are falling short on college attendance rates.

My Name is Chris

Chris Martinez is a first-year student at a predominately white institution located about three hours north of where he grew up in a small town in Texas.  Chris is the son of Jennifer and Miguel Martinez.  He has two siblings, Nina and Alejandro. Nina, 22 is his older sister.  She is expecting a baby soon and lives at home with their parents and her fiance.  Alejandro is the youngest and will be starting high school at the same time Chris begins his first year of college.  Additionally, Chris's abuelo (grandfather) who was born in Mexico lives with the family.  Chis's parents were born and raised in Texas. Chris's mother has worked on and off, both raising the children and working in retail.  Chris's father works in a local factory. 

Chris's father wants a better life for his son and has urged Chris to go to college, but Miguel is having a difficult time understanding why Chris wouldn't go to the local community college or somewhere that is closer.  Three hours a away from home seems unnecessary to the family.  Chris has made the decision to go away because he believes he will have more opportunities in a larger town and he really likes the engineering program.  Chris is financially responsible for paying his tuition, but his parents are looking to help him in small ways when they can, but with his niece on the way it doesn't look promising.  Chris is a first-generation college student and has had to navigate almost everything by himself because his parents don't fully understand the process, and although his father grew up in Texas he grew up in an all Spanish speaking house hold.  Chris has had to translate quite a bit for him. Before Chris even enters college he has already had to face numerous challenges.

THERE IS A STORY BEHIND EVERY VOICE: GREAT STORIES BEGIN HERE

Recently, a friend spoke of a quote that held great meaning to him.  Plato once said, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."  As I begin the voice project I can't help but think about the quote in relation to this project and my personal experiences.  Over the next three months I will explore the voice of a Latino male college student, and I hope to gain insight into his unique experience, and the battles he may encounter.  Personally and professionally I value empathy, and I look to apply the lessons of this project to my life and work.  I am excited to discover his story and honor the experience of being a part of it.  Something that I have learned is that every voice has a story and every story has a battle.  Along with his story I will share a bit of mine. Before I delve into my story, I would like to begin by dedicating this project in memory of Eddie Mendez (1987-2009).

      Thirteen months ago I had the privilege of continuing my story at Adams State University.  When I began working at Adams State I had no comprehension of what it meant to be a Hispanic Serving Institution, and prior to applying had no idea that type of institution existed.  I also over estimated my experience and knowledge of diversity and inclusion. There were many experiences I didn't understand as a white female coming from a private liberal arts institution.  I thought it was crazy that parents were invited to stay during orientation and welcome week activities.  I was surprised when a student I supervised left school to help take care of her family.  I was confused that twenty out of twenty-four students in the class I taught identified as white, and that there were not more Latino students in the course. I was shocked after holding a generic holiday/winter time party for my work study students, and one student didn't attend because of religious beliefs, and didn't feel comfortable.  I was discouraged after the programming board held executive board interviews and there was only one student who identified as Latino that interviewed for a position.  I just thought one student was quiet, because that was his personality, and had never thought that his communication style could be related to him identifying as a Latino male from the San Luis Valley.  Needless to say, I had a lot to learn and a large opportunity for growth.
     Over the eleven months I spent in Colorado at Adams State, I learned that family is highly valued and many Latino college students are first-generation college students. From the time the student begins college to the time he/she graduates their college experience is a shared experience among family members.  That walk across the stage is not just for the individual student, but for the family as well.  I also learned about retention issues, particularly at an HSI, and the challenges of reaching graduation.  I realized that families expect their college students to take care of family members, and need to go home for extensive periods of time. This sometimes causes students to leave school permanently. I found out that a combination of family expectations and financial strains affected the rates at which Latino students were involved in co-curricular activities.  Most importantly, I learned the value of storytelling.

      One of the first things my boss told me was that the Latino culture is full of rich stories, and that story telling is valued.  I finally understood what he meant this summer during Adams State's Summer Latino Leadership Summit.  There was a large emphasis on teaching, learning, and inspiring through story telling.  Every student I worked with had a story, and every speaker at the summit had a story to share as well.  The stories that I heard were some of the most engaging and beautiful stories I have ever heard.  I will never forget the story that a student affairs professional and graduate of Adams State University shared with the leaders at the summit.  It was during that story that I knew I was blessed to hear her story, and knew that I wanted to learn more about the culture and the students that I had the privilege of working with.  She talked about her transition from undergrad to graduate school, and from an HSI to a predominantly white institution.  When she talked about how much she missed being able to speak Spanish and missed being called "miha" in graduate school I knew in that moment there was so much that I could and wanted to learn.

     During my time at Adams State I learned through stories and experiences.  The slogan of Adams State University is "Great Stories Begin Here."  I have a new understanding and appreciation of that slogan. A great story in my life began at Adams State and now I hope to continue to learn more about the Latino culture through research and interviews, and share with you a great story and voice of a Latino male.