Animator Spotlight - Meet Emily Cruz
A Community Animator Network spotlight from Emily Cruz in Wichita , KS.
Emily shares her experience below as a community builder who has started a support group for Hispanic first-gen students here in Wichita:
“My community project through the Community Animator Network (CAN) is to create a support group for Hispanic first-generation students that are thinking about going to college or are already in college. This support group is called Somos First-Gen and its purpose is to create a support system for first-gen students. Through this group, my hope is to help discover and connect the gifts of first-gen students and community members in order to enhance the student’s readiness and preparedness for higher education!
This project is very important to me because I am a first-gen student in college, so I understand how viable it is to have a strong support system while trying to navigate higher education. I want to help create a strong support system for other first-gen students so that they can succeed and thrive as they pursue their passions and gifts in college.
When I began working on my community project through CAN, it was not clear to me yet what direction I was heading. At first, I began by having learning conversations with people in the Wichita community to discover their gifts and passions. After having several learning conversations, I noticed a common theme in the gifts and passions discovered – many of them revolved around equitable education opportunities for the Hispanic community in Wichita. I knew that an amazing opportunity lied within these gifts and passions discovered, and eventually the idea for Somos First-Gen arose because of what was discovered.The learning conversations I had, led me to the amazing Somos First-Gen team that we have today! Vianey, April, and Selena are uniquely gifted and passionate individuals that have been an amazing support system for me while planning and organizing this support group. They each bring unique ideas that have made the group what it is today. When I first began planning this support group, it was honestly very overwhelming at times to think about all the steps I needed to take in order to get it started. However, by giving my team the space and opportunity to use their gifts and passions, I no longer feel overwhelmed by those tasks. In fact, I feel the opposite of this; I feel grateful and joyful to see a group of people bringing their unique skills, passions, and ideas together to create something incredible in the community!
With the help of the Somos First-Gen team, we held our very first support group meeting on March 26th, 2022. During this meeting, we focused on doing the hands-head-heart activity with the students. This is an exercise that allows us to discover the gifts that an individual holds. By doing this activity, the energy in the room grew to be one of positivity and opportunity! Some of the gifts discovered that day were gifts of singing, dancing, baking/cooking, math skills, gardening, and so many more! We are so excited to see how these gifts will become activated within Somos First-Gen and also in the greater Wichita community.
Our next meeting will be on Saturday, April 23rd from 2pm to 3pm. This meeting and all future meetings will be held at the Evergreen Community Center and Library, located at 2601 N Arkansas Ave., Wichita, KS 67204. If you are interested in connecting with Somos First-Gen, or have any questions for us, please follow us on Instagram and Facebook @somosfirstgen! You can also contact us by sending us an email to somosfirstgen@gmail.com. We are so excited to see the way Somos First-Gen grows and develops in the community!”
