In her junior year of high school, Grecia Navarro ’22 hit what she calls a “slump.” Her peers were planning for college, but she didn’t know where to start.
“I over-excelled in a lot of academic areas, but my parents didn’t go to college,” she explains. A guidance counselor told her about UNCG’s Campamento Hispano Abriendo Nuestro Camino a la Educación (CHANCE), literally “Hispanic camp opening our pathway to education.”
“It was the first time an institution had seemed to acknowledge my community and the struggles we were going through in regard to higher education,” Navarro says. “A lot of universities are not saying ‘Yes.’ The fact that UNCG does says a lot.”
CHANCE began in 2017, supported by UNCG’s Hispanic Faculty-Staff Association, Alianza. Today, many of those first campers are proud alumni, graduate students, or UNCG employees.
CHANCE fulfills a specific need, says Margarita Kerkadó, senior assistant director of Latino/Hispanic Initiatives. “It offers students leadership, civic programming, cultural enrichment, and valuable insights into campus life.”
Assistant Director of the Office of Intercultural Engagement (OIE) Marisa González ’16, ’19 MA has been a driving force. “The resilience, tenacity, and persistence of each student fuels my passion,” she says.
Former campers speak to the camp’s impact. “I’m not trying to be corny,” says Jose “Pepe” Ortiz ’22, “but it really did change my life.” After attending CHANCE, he studied business at UNCG, became a CHANCE mentor, and found a new path.
“I thought, ‘Wait, I can do this mentoring and this recruiting that I’ve been doing during my time as a student as a full-time job?’ Sign me up!” Ortiz now works as an admissions counselor at UNCG.
Estefany Garcia ’21 says her experience as a CHANCE mentor shaped her path, too. “Many campers were worried about financial cost and what it would be like to be away from their families. When I came to UNCG, I was also worried about those two things specifically, so I could talk about that experience.”
Being a CHANCE mentor led Garcia to pursue a master’s degree at UNCG. She’s scheduled to graduate in Spring 2024.
As a first-generation Spartan, that success means a lot. “My little sister talks about becoming a lawyer, and she’s only nine! She said, ‘Because you’re doing something like that, I can too,’” adds Garcia.
UNCG’s Latinx population is growing. “Ten years ago, the Hispanic population at UNCG was about 3% of the total. Now we’re almost at 15%,” says the OIE’s director, Gus Peña. Within that demographic category, Latinx students may identify as African American or Black or have indigenous backgrounds, Peña points out.
While there are many Hispanic student organizations, UNCG’s Latinx students are involved in all parts of campus life. “At UNCG you see people that look like you, but you also see people who are different from you,” says Fatima Galvan-Ruiz, a former CHANCE mentor.
Like all students, Latinx Spartans face challenges. When that happens, Galvan-Ruiz knows what to do.
“We have this phrase, ‘ponte las pilas,’ which literally means ‘put your batteries on.’ It means having that motivation and making sure you’re on top of your game.”
CHANCE now invites 100 students to campus each summer. Many CHANCE alumni hope to make an impact in the future. “I want to come back and speak about my own experiences,” says Galvan-Ruiz, “and maybe even start something like a scholarship to help other students.”
by Mercer Bufter ’11 MA
Photography by Sean Norona ’13