Dear Students,
This is the time of the year where many of you will be graduating and looking ahead to life after Claremont.
I want to congratulate our graduating students for their accomplishments and earning a degree from The Claremont Colleges. As graduates, you will be making a tremendous impact in the world. Some of you will be moving into your careers, others will be attending medical school, or even extending their educational pursuits in graduate school. CLSA is proud of you. We know that you will all make a monumental impact in our society.
For our non-graduating students, have a wonderful and productive summer! Take advantage of your summer internships and research opportunities. These experiences will lay the foundation for success in the future. Your time in Claremont will fly by, and in the blink of the eye, you will be crossing the graduation stage.
CLSA strives to make your educational experience a well-rounded one. We hope all of you enjoyed our programming this year. We kicked off fall semester with Chacombo, an Afro-Peruvian band that had everyone on their feet, which was part of the Scripps College
Levitt on the Lawn
concert series. Renowned Cuban American poet, Richard Blanco, came to CLSA and Claremont McKenna, to discuss his literary works as a queer man of color.
CLSA, along with our campus partners, brought Julio Salgado - a queer artist of color, to discuss his art and its impact on the Latinx LGBT community. Salvadorian poet Yesika Salgado led students in an open mic event at Pomona College. Ernesto Garay spoke about the Central American Civil Wars in the 1970s and 80s. Bamby Salcedo -founder of the Los Angeles TransLatin@ Coalition, highlighted the work for trans Latin@s, in Southern California. CLSA also welcomed Afro Latino Cuban scholar Roberto Zurbano who spoke about
Race, Class, Culture
and the treatment of Afro Cubanos after the revolution.
During the year, CLSA’s ongoing graduate and professional workshop series brought speakers that shared their expertise. This included having Dr. Judith Caro-Perez, from Georgetown Law School, who she discussed the experiences of students of color. Moreover, Dr. Nanette Vega, from the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, discussed summer opportunities and stressed the importance of having underrepresented ethnic minorities pursue careers in medicine. In addition, we had Monica Perkins from UCLA/Drew School of Medicine meet with CLSA and OBSA students, as they prepared to apply. We hope that these programs were both educational and entertaining.
As CLSA heads into its 50th year, we will be preparing programming that commemorates this major milestone. We encourage you all to stay connected, and take advantage of being part of this momentous celebration at The Claremont Colleges.
Lastly, this year was also one of many changes at CLSA. We bid farewell to Ernie Mendoza, as we celebrated her forty three years of service to the Claremont Colleges. Ernie's love for students made it possible for them to be successful in their studies and beyond. CLSA thanks her for the unwavering commitment and dedication she showed to our students.
This spring, we welcomed Miriam Escobedo to the Claremont Colleges as our Administrative and Events Coordinator at CLSA. In her role, she will be working closely with Assistant Dean Casillas and I, in developing and creating programming that will celebrate the diversity of Latin America. Originally from Argentina, Miriam will bring a unique perspective to CLSA that will celebrate the many faces of Latininad. If you have yet to meet her, please stop by and introduce yourself to our newest member of the CLSA familia.
We hope you enjoy your summer, but please don’t forget that you will always have a casa and familia at CLSA! We are proud of each and every one of you, and want to make sure that you know we're here for you.
!Hasta la proxima!,
Tony Jimenez,
Dean of Students
Chicanx Latinx Student Affairs
The Claremont Colleges