Arnold Moctezuma

The Hispanic Heritage Month Pay it Forward Challenge is a yearly event hosted by Google in recognition of Latinx and Hispanic student leaders who are advancing opportunities for their local communities. Last week, I received an exciting email from the team at Google Students notifying me that I’d been selected for this three-part feature published on the Google Students Blog in celebration of my efforts as a peer mentor with the CREAR Futuros program at LaGuardia Community College, and the community impact that I also hope to achieve through this website blog.

You can read the full story here and discover other amazing people doing great things within their communities.

CREAR Futuros, College Readiness Achievement and Retention, is a program tailored by the Hispanic Federation in order to address the systemic barriers that prevent students from achieving college degrees. They provide trained mentors like myself throughout campuses within the CUNY system, in support of first-year and first-generation students. I was able to share my experiences navigating and learning to do college, a very different experience for people with diverse and underprivileged backgrounds.

I also wanted to share this story in recognition of the my fellow CREAR mentors whom aren’t named or featured in this celebration (I also don’t name them here as I haven’t obtain permission to publish their names yet). As a mentee myself, I benefited in the work they put in before me, and which I hoped to model in support of my cohort. We shared time and words with vision of a more enlightened community that we wished to see and be a part of. That vision is making great strides in these difficult socioeconomic times we are currently witnessing as we learn to unite and stand up as a one.

I look forward to finally graduating with an Associates degree in Programming and Systems, continue my studies for a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, and return to a more fulling and rewarding career in computer programming and technology in spite of the challenges. I also look forward to applying all this collective knowledge in support of our history, cultures, and the people that represent and pass them on to generations after. Thankful to programs like CREAR Futuros and America Needs You for believing in us.

Please take a look at the video highlight of a collection of artifacts, archives and stories of Latino Heritage and Cultures across the Americas. This collection is sighted to include “14K artifacts and artworks, 117 expertly curated exhibits, and 180+ virtual tours of heritage and cultural sites”. You can also see more on the Google Arts and Culture website, which includes a vast collection of photographs, videos, stories, articles and much more, all related to the Latin/x community and history.