This past March, I enjoyed the honor of attending the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) national conference as a graduate fellow. In past years, I would admire previous fellows featured on multiple social media platforms. These highly accomplished men and women represented the vanguard of Latinx postsecondary scholarship, activism and leadership. My selection into this esteemed family provided validation that I was on the correct course toward achieving professional and personal fulfillment.

I want to personally thank Dr. Loui Olivas, president of AAHHE, and his team for offering a Puerto Rican first-generation doctoral student from Brooklyn, New York, a space to be empowered, authentic and fully supported. As has been my story, you saw something in me that I did not know existed. Words fail to express my sincerest gratitude.

Currently, I am an executive at a minority-owned government relation firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. For two decades, my career has been primarily within the public and nonprofit sectors working for national organizations such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, just to name a few. Only recently have I ventured into higher education, serving as director of community outreach and engagement at a public two-year institution. My professional goals changed considerably in this time.

Since 2013, I have received a fellowship with the National Community College Hispanic Council, earned my master’s in public administration at Clark Atlanta University, and am pursuing a doctorate in higher education administration at the University of Alabama. This trajectory will eventually lead me to becoming a college president, preferably in the Southeast where Latinx student populations are growing exponentially. The AAHHE graduate fellowship was another positive step toward becoming a postsecondary thought leader, advocate and administrator.

I am committed to serving the Latinx community in this space. It is a personal obligation and moral responsibility that I am glad to bear. The personal obligation stems from acknowledging how caring others were in my journey. Growing up in New York, I had no aspirations to attend college. Fortunately, teachers and classmates intervened leading to my enrollment at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC). While at BMCC, I found my voice and other talents that were dormant. As was done for me in the past, I am obligated to intervene in the lives of other minoritized youth — their victory is my legacy. My passion for higher education is a moral responsibility because education is the civil rights battle of the 21st century. Too many of our youth remain incapable of realizing their full potential because of systemic inequities within our public schools. They deserve a chance to achieve their dreams.

I would strongly recommend any Latinx doctoral student who wants to join a network of change agents to consider applying for the AAHHE graduate fellowship. Only as a community can we foster hope and offer opportunity. •