National Juntos road trip series podcast, and in Part 6, we look at the past, present, and future of program evaluation. We hope this eFieldbook will support Extension professionals as they start their own Juntos Program and/or provide useful lessons to help strengthen their Extension work.
Diana Ur ieta, Juntos Senior Director/Co-developer & Extension Special ist
A parent’s perspective of Juntos
VIDEO
I am Diana Urieta. I am the daughter of immigrant parents. I was born in Colombia, South America, and moved to the United States when I was seven years old. I am very proud to represent two countries and to say that I’m from there and here. My values of family, faith, culture, and hard work have been part of my socialization. My passion for Juntos is driven by the privilege I had to be raised by my immigrant parents, Manuel and Ninfa Urieta, who remind me every day why Juntos matters and who knew better than to allow their children to lose their
native language and culture. They are parents who relied on their limited English and their children’s ability to speak the language to gather as much information as they could to ensure that their children and their children’s school knew they were committed parents. There is no doubt that my parents' commitment to seeing me succeed drives my educational journey. In Juntos today, I still find that the golden nugget to our student’s success is their parents, la familia . Juntos is needed in our communities, as it brings the 20/20 vision to what is often a blurry process for many of our immigrant families. My Juntos Story My passion for Juntos began with my American public school experience in second grade. I spent my elementary school years as an ELL (English Language Learner) student, and I am grateful for my ELL teachers. I was also placed in special education classes due to my delayed English skills. Being in ESL and special ed somehow stigmatized me as “not smart.” I was removed from ELL and s pecial ed in middle school, which I assume now was based on some tests I took, but I still carried the stigma of being a past ELL and special ed student. In ninth grade, I was placed back in ELL classes and had to advocate for myself to take college prep and AP (Advanced Placement) classes and leave the ELL classroom. Although my parents did not know about the stigma or my need to advocate for myself, their message was clear: Don’t be afraid to work hard to get what you want. Together, Juntos, we knew college was my goal, and they blindly empowered me and believed in what I was capable of accomplishing. I owe my college degrees to the esfuerzo (effort) and sacrifice of my parents. Impact I have seen other people with stories like mine in my time with Juntos, and I have seen people who have had greater challenges than I did. Still, there is one big difference: Our Juntos parents and young people are empowered to take their blinders off and embark on the high school journey with knowledge and resources in hand. Place yourself for a minute in the shoes of our immigrant parents, driven by the desire to give their family a better life, but at the same time seeing their children assimilate to a new culture at a speed they
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