USD President's Report 2003

PEDRO ANAYA JR. gra du ate stud ent , sc hoo l of edu ca ti on

aloma ountain,

San Diego'

en usi sfc gr p f igh sc o ers

Y llo , lac , hit , re and hr w ,

It's th e th eme song fo r Camp MiniTown, a fo ur-day workshop on diversity sponsored by th e nonprofit N ati onal Confe rence fo r Conm1Lln_ity and Justi ce. During the retrea t, Anaya, the orga ni zati on's program director, teac hes 63 students from six schools in th e Sweetwa ter Unified School District, near th e U .S.-Mexico border, to prevent bias in gender, rebgion and race, and to stop th e cycle of di scriminati on that often begins with hateful words. " l wa nt these youths to know th ey have the abil_i ty to make changes in th e communi ty ," says An aya , who th_is year led three fo ur-day camps and 12 one-day sessions at local schools for more than 1,100 students. "Someday f'll have children. These students will be th e teac hers o f my children. I wa nt th em to lea rn good stu ff." As a graduate student in the School o f Education's nonprofi t leadershi p and management program., An aya says he's become a better leader by learning how to decrease people's anx iety, switch from fo rmal to informal styles o f authori ty and analyze group dynami cs "Our activiti es are very in th e moment," Anaya says. ''I constantly have to step back and assess gro ups to determine how mu ch th eir anxiety w ill grow depending on wh_ich direc ti on I take th em in an activity." Camp Min.iTown's activities are built around skits, role- playing, group discussions and lessons about how cycles of discrimination have played out in history. O n the last day, students arc segregated without explanati on into groups based on race, rel igion or oth er characteristi cs. "They will sit in tl1ese groups for a l_ittle while and, inevitably, one person will raise his hand and say, 'Why is this happening? This isn't fair,' " Anaya says. "That starts a dialogue about how it feels to be segrega ted. It's a safe pl ace for them to talk about how to make sure it doesn' t happen in th e real world ." At 26, An aya already is a veteran huma n ri ghts activist. Wh ile in high sc hool, he orga n_ized a campaign to revoke a state

ballot initiative depriving undocumented inm tigrants of social services. A an undergraduate student at San Diego State University, he champi oned fa rm workers' rights and helped lead th e successfi.11 dri ve to create a state holiday honoring his hero , United Fann W orkers fo under Cesar E . Chavez. In 2003, An aya was one of five recipients worldwide awarded the R eebok Human Rights Award , wh_ich acknowledges young activists who make significant contributi ons to human rights through nonvi olent means. H e was recognized for encouragi ng and empowering young people to erad_icate injustice in th eir community and fo r fighting to end discrimination agai nst Latinos. "There's something inside that pushes me," says th e San D iego native. " It would be mu ch easier to just ignore it and pretend everything is perfect, but because I've been made aware o f things I ca n't ignore it. " Anaya moved frequ ently as a child because ]1_is parents, now U.S. citizens, were undocumented. One of three cl1_ildren , he became th e first in his fa mily to gradu ate from college after a high school teacher persuaded him to attend a conference at San D iego State University hosted by a Chicano student group . " I had never seen or heard o f people who looked like me and who had gone on to college," says Anaya, who majored in psychology and C hica no studi es at SDSU . "Here I was seeing th ese college students putting on a conference and teaching us to go to college and how important it was. By the time I left there I felt so empowered. It was a turning point for me." Th rough Camp MiniTown, An aya says he hopes to bring o th er children to that same point. "At our camps we give kids a new set of glasses through which to see th e world ," An aya says. "When they get home, they see th_ings differently. Their perspecti ves change. They see the voluntary segrega ti on in th eir schools, their cars perk up w hen th ey hear those words that can lead to discrimin ati on, and th ey now ca n do something about it."

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