Opinion/opinión
"Understanding Diversity"
Community Update
21ST ANNUAL MAYORS’ BEANS AND CORNBREAD LUNCHEON will take place on Friday, March 5 at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center Banquet nspiration to write this editorial Hall. As usual, the fundraiser is hosted came from working in Cavazos by area mayors from 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. The luncheon continues to be the largest Middle School and hearing Dr. fundraiser of the year for Hospice of Lub- Lauro Cavazos, after whom Cavabock. Luncheon tickets are $10 each and can be purchased at the door or by calling zos Middle School is named, speak at a Rotary Club meeting recently. Hospice of Lubbock, 806.795.2751.
Student teachers must experience civic engagement
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CUMBIA FOR LIFE Sponsored by the Hispanic Student Society will be held March 5th, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at the Main Street Bar. The cost is $5 per person with a portion of proceeds benefitting Relay for Life for Cancer Research. DOGGIE TIME TEA PARTY March 27, 2010, from 1 to 3 p.m. Dress in your Tea Party Best and bring your DOG! Have fun dining on sweet pastries and sipping on flavored hot tea while your pet nibbles on their own tasty treats beside you. Participate in the Dog Runway Show. Proof of Vaccination Required upon Registration (shot records, dog tags or vet invoices accepted) REGISTER NOW SPACE LIMITED TO 10 TABLES! PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED. $5 Per Dog. ARNETT-BENSON NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION MEETINGS Join your neighbors and help work for the betterment of the community. Hosted by the Neighborhood Association the 3rd Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. BETTY ANDERSON SCHOLARSHIPS FUNDRAISER The Lubbock Betty Anderson Branch of the American Association of University Educated Women is sponsoring an Around the World Silent Auction from 5-8 p.m. March 7 at St. Paul's on the Plains Episcopal Church, 1510 Ave. X. Entry is $15 per person or $25 per couple. Entry will get you an international buffet, and a chance to bid on various items. Money raised will go toward scholarships and fellowships for higher education of women. For tickets or more information, call Kathrin Dodds at 787-9491. ALPHA KAPPA PSI MUSIC MAYHEM FEATURING YOU SAID IT! AND JUNEAU Join he Eta Theta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi in raising money for the American Cancer Society! Saturday, March 27th. Doors open at 9pm at Rendezvous -1717 Crickets Ave. For more information Contact Amanda Betancur at dopr.akpsittu@yahoo.com or visit http:// akpsi.ba.ttu.edu/ 2-1-1 NON-EMERGENCY QUESTIONS 2-1-1 is a free help line answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which will link you to health and community services. FREE LEGAL AID OFFERED Legal Aid of Northwest Texas provides free legal services to eligible low-income residents in such areas as public assistance denials, divorce and child support, evictions, foreclosures, domestic violence and consumer fraud. Call 763-4557 or (800) 9334557.
March 2010
At this special talk, he dedicated his achievement to his parents and a ranch hand who taught him everything he needed to know to be successful in all of his endeavors beyond the King Ranch. The ranch hand taught him how to see what needs to be done, how to strategize to achieve tasks, how to work hard, and how to get jobs done. Doing ranch work and observing his parents’ civic engagement prepared Dr. Cavazos to be successful. I would like to say that my parents of Italian descent taught me the same things on a farm outside of Houston, Texas several years later. We must not underestimate the value of rural, agricultural, and family-oriented education that saw Dr. Cavazos through to his dreams of working in government and in higher education and me through to working with future teachers at the university—with the mission of preparing future teachers to be better equipped to work with
diverse populations. Or they will leave the As I plow through classroom. piles of data sorting out What does it mean what our future teachto be a good citizen? ers understand about It means possessing diversity, I see many skills and dispositions misconceptions. In a that promote students’ survey that my colconcern for others. It league and I adminismeans being aware tered to future teachers every day of the state who enter and exit our of the democracy in teacher education proour country. It means gram, we ask them to knowing where to go define and discuss asand become engaged pects of diversity. We MARYFRANCES in the democratic proAGNELLO expect our students to cess. It means being move from “acceptance” of students involved through community and unlike themselves to “embracing” civic participation, as well as doing students unlike themselves. We see service in our communities. Movfuture teachers who believe that ing beyond the status of community they have all of the right qualities stature to the nitty gritty of work at and emotions in place to be excel- meetings, on boards, and in comlent teachers of students from all munication with officials comprises backgrounds. I know that these fu- some components of citizenship. ture teachers have much to learn. There are other aspects of citizenI also see great promise in them. ship that we engage in classrooms They will learn the ropes when they when we move beyond acceptance enter classrooms. They will under- of students from diverse backstand the importance of engaging grounds to promoting their success students from diverse backgrounds at civic engagement. In order to in the citizenship of our classrooms, have confidence in themselves, stuschools, communities, and nation. dents must feel a sense of belonging.
I have seen this sense of belonging in Cavazos classrooms. I have attempted to offer college students who wish to take on the responsibility of educating the next generations of citizens a glimpse into a civically engaged Cavazos neighborhood with community centers, businesses, churches, and parks. Last week at Cavazos, I observed beautiful students, who are bright, humorous, savvy, hard-working, sharp--in tune with popular culture and their own. I hope their teachers are instilling in them the desire to be engaged citizens just as I wish the same for the students of the future teachers who sit in my class each semester. Texans and Americans dedicated to the democratic principles of our country cannot segregate themselves from each other. We must be civically engaged together. MARY FRANCES AGNELLO, PH.D., is an Associate Professor for the College of Education at Texas Tech. She prepares her students to become effective teachers and to take pride in their work and understanding of each students needs and awareness of their surroundings.
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Announcing the 6th Annual
HLSA SCHOLARSHIP BANQUET “United by Determination, Driven by Progress”
Keynote Speaker Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman Friday, March 26, 2010 Cocktails: 6:00 pm Dinner: 7:00 pm Frazier Alumni Pavilion General admission: $25 Students: $20 Faculty/Staff: $30 HLSA members: $15 Table Sponsors (6 tickets): $500 Copyright 2010 by Latino Lubbock Magazine. All Rights reserved.
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