Rosa Ramirez
Community Liaison for Redmond School District
Deschutes County
Kyle Yeager Photography
In my job as school district community liaison, I visit with all these kids. I hear 4th and 5th graders excitedly talking about college and jobs. Then I ask a junior or senior at high school what their next step is, and they say, “I don’t know.” I feel that for some of our Latino students who attend school, their only goal is a high school diploma. That just doesn’t have as much value anymore. They have to pursue more. I didn’t have these opportunities in high school, but they do, and they need to go for it. We are starting Juntos soon in our community. This could be an eye-opener for those older students to learn some realistic next steps. It could also be a chance to be role models for their younger siblings.
I think a lot of our parents just don’t know all the possibilities out there for their kids. We need to tell our youth, “You’re good enough to go to college.” We need to plant the seed that “Yes, you can do this. Here’s how.”
Education is how we create the safe communities with good citizens that we all want to live in. I will do whatever I can to help promote that.
https://create.osufoundation.org/juntos
