{"id":9094,"date":"2023-12-13T15:07:52","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T23:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/?p=9094"},"modified":"2023-12-13T15:07:52","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T23:07:52","slug":"honors-college-grad-alex-varela-is-embracing-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/2023\/12\/13\/honors-college-grad-alex-varela-is-embracing-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Honors College grad Alex Varela is embracing change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In HC alum Alex Varela\u2019s classroom, his honors experience inspires his teaching every day. Varela, \u201923, credits the HC with giving him the skills and experience to bring holistic, diverse perspectives to his classroom. There, the works of writers like Melvin Dixon, Langston Hughes, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Trevor Noah are taught alongside English class staples like \u201cThe Great Gatsby,\u201d \u201cCatcher in the Rye\u201d and \u201cThe Crucible.\u201d \u201c[This] allows students of all backgrounds, identities and upbringings to see themselves in their curriculum and engage with thought provoking and challenging concepts they might not otherwise be exposed to,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Varela fell in love with Oregon State on his first visit to Corvallis, but his path to campus wasn\u2019t straightforward. After he told his grandfather that he had met an OSU representative and the school seemed interesting, the two made the seventeen-hour drive from Fallbrook, CA to check out OSU in person. But after his grandfather\u2019s passing, Varela was forced to drop out of high school to support himself. He continued his studies by enrolling in community college courses, and he earned his GED. Eventually, he was able to transfer to OSU and was persuaded to join the Honors College by his advisor. Despite being initially unsure of his identity as an honors student, Varela says, \u201cI decided to try, assuming I would be rejected, because the prospect of doing academic research was very interesting to me. Lo and behold, I was accepted during spring term of my freshman year at OSU, and there I stayed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Varela, the classes offered by the HC were the most impactful part of his time in the college. \u201cIn honors sections, the small class sizes allowed me to feel like I had a genuine relationship with my instructors and a meaningful impact on the class as a whole.\u201d His love of the small class sizes paired well with the distinct passions of Honors College faculty. Classes like his favorite course, History 319H: The History of Human Rights with Dr. Katherine Hubler, \u201ccreate an environment wherein you are excited to learn about things you likely never considered before,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the spring of 2023, Varela earned his Honors Bachelor of Arts degrees in history and education and started a job teaching comparative American literature at Oregon City High School. Now that he is running his own classroom, Varela has incorporated what he valued in his honors experience into his own pedagogy. \u201cI apply the hyperfocus I experienced in many HC classes to the classes I now teach and encourage my students to research, debate, negotiate and explore meaning through literature.\u201d He describes his current position as an excellent fit, allowing him to unify his love of historical literature and passion for education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compassion and understanding are paramount in Varela\u2019s approach to education. \u201cThe best days – the ones where I watch a reluctant reader suddenly realize that books can be funny and interesting or the ones where a transgender student tells me that my class is the one place they feel safe to be themselves – those days feel transcendent,\u201d he says. Varela makes a deliberate effort to connect with his students on a personal level to help them envision a bright future. \u201cI’ve shared my struggles from dropping out, that I’m the son of Mexican immigrants, and that I grew up doing migrant farm work,\u201d Varela notes. \u201cI am transparent, honest and compassionate with my students in a way that they don’t often see from their other teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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During his time at OSU, Varela was active in the HC and broader OSU communities. He worked as an ambassador for the College of Education, where he connected with fellow students and planned events for future teachers to discuss arising, unique challenges. He was also the community relations representative for SOL: LGBTQ+ Multicultural Support Network, focusing on advocacy and activism for queer and trans folks of color. Varela was a recurring host on the podcast Between Identities: QTBIPOC Talks and led a self-defense seminar in the wake of violence against trans folks. This commitment to community has continued past graduation. Currently, Varela is active in labor movements, joining the picket line to support striking teachers in nearby districts and writing letters to public officials. He also is involved in pro-LGBTQ+ movements, and he remotely campaigns for LGBTQ+ issues nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Varela and his wife have a daughter, Hana, who was born during winter break of the 2022-2023 school year. Almost a year old now, she is beginning to take her first steps and speak her first words. Varela loves being a father, saying \u201cbeing able to put my daughter to bed every night, read books with her and take her to libraries and museums means the world to me.\u201d His impassioned approach to work and life is inspired by his desire to make sure his daughter grows up to be proud of herself and her family. \u201cIt starts with me and with my decision to take pride in my work and not allow my hardships to dictate my trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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While Varela loves being a teacher, he plans to eventually return to academia to earn his Ph.D., likely in American racial history or ethnic studies. His specific research interests are largely rooted in public education, and he aims to analyze the impacts of segregation, funding and performance indicators.  Outside of academia, Varela is also in the process of authoring a novel. Set in a post-Balkanized America, it is \u201cinspired by post-nuclear fiction and the history of the Iranian revolution.\u201d While he is unsure of the novel\u2019s future, Varela says that \u201cit’s a fun research and writing exercise in between grading papers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Varela\u2019s broad and diverse set of experiences have given him unique perspectives that inform his commitment to actively improving society and addressing inequities, particularly those that are perpetuated by the educational system. He encourages the HC and other institutions of learning to expand opportunities for BIPOC and queer students coming from non-traditional backgrounds and to address persistent gaps in access and achievement. \u201cIt was not uncommon for me to be the only ethnic minority in an Honors College class,\u201d said Varela. \u201cWhat frustrates me the most about all of this is that many of the things that the Honors College is beloved for would be hugely beneficial to historically marginalized and systemically disadvantaged students.\u201d In addition to expanding and diversifying the Honors College to include more identities, Varela sees alleviating costs as a crucial step in improving access to the HC, \u201cThe Honors College needs a more robust financial aid package for its students. This would go a long way to improve the access, equity and diversity of the Honors College.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current students can help realize progress by engaging with difference and new opportunities. He urges them to put themselves out there and \u201clearn as much as you can from as many different kinds of people as you can.\u201d He believes in learning for the sake of learning and implores students to absorb as much knowledge as possible while it surrounds them. \u201cChange is inevitable and beautiful,\u201d he says. \u201cEmbrace it as it comes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In HC alum Alex Varela\u2019s classroom, his honors experience inspires his teaching every day. Varela, \u201923, credits the HC with giving him the skills and experience to bring holistic, diverse perspectives to his classroom. There, the works of writers like Melvin Dixon, Langston Hughes, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Trevor Noah are taught alongside English class staples […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13603,"featured_media":9097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1048851],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homestories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13603"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9094"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9098,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9094\/revisions\/9098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}