Ebelin and Her Leadership Workshop Team Earns 1st Place

Ebelin R reflects on her summer experience:

The Latinx Leadership Academy (LLA) provided me with the experience of meeting so many wonderful people from around the state of Virginia who, like me, are also first generation college bound students of immigrant parents. I also got to meet many different people of latinx ethnicity, and we were able to share our culture with each other.

In the process, I was able to discover more about myself and my identity as a latina in a priveldged white area. I also got to be part of a team called “Casa Eslayyyy!” and together we won a first place prize for our presentation where we discussed some of the issues of being a first generation college bound oldest child in the family.

This community also gave all of us an opportunity to share our personal experiences and pull out some of the stereotypes that are taught/heard in hispanic/latinx culture. We discussed how we are all in this together and that it’s okay to feel the way we do. I felt that it validated all of us, and even if the path forward is not always clear, we believe that we will reach our goals in the end!!