S2 EP 10 Educational Justice and Cultural Identity: Luisa Sanchez’s Journey

PODCAST Season 2 EPISODE 10 

Luisa Sanchez

KSVT – Kentucky Student Voice Team

Quotes of the Podcast – 

"Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our Nation.” -JFK 1961

Introduction of Guest BIO – 

Luisa Sanchez is a current Sophomore at Boyle County High School and a member of the Kentucky Student Voice Team.  She has been active in the Rose Campaign since it began in hopes of advancing educational justice efforts in our commonwealth.

Interview

Agents of Change: Leaders/Innovators

•  30,000 Ft. View – Why so we, as a society invest in education?
• What drew you to the KSVT?
• Rose Revival Campaign
• Harvard Presentation
• What do you love about what you do?
• Tell us a story or favorite memory about your work?
• What are the biggest challenges to you?
• What would you like decision makers to know?

Podcast/book shoutouts

KSVT Podcast: Get Schooled https://www.ksvt.org/podcast 

Transcript

Liza Holland [00:00:02]:
Welcome to education perspectives. I am your host, Liza Holland. This is a podcast that explores the role of education in our society from a variety of lenses. Education needs to evolve to meet the needs of today and the future. Solving such huge issues requires understanding. Join me as we begin to explore the many perspectives of education.

Liza Holland [00:00:28]:
We are happy to have Luisa Sanchez today. She is a current sophomore at Boyle County High School and a member of the Kentucky student voice team. She has been active in the Rose campaign since it began in hopes of advancing educational justice efforts in our Commonwealth. Well, welcome, Louisa. We're so happy to have you on Education Perspectives.

Louisa Sanchez [00:00:51]:
I'm happy to be here. It's an honor.

Liza Holland [00:00:53]:
So tell me, if you look from, like, a 30,000 foot view, why do you think that we, as a society, invest in education?

Louisa Sanchez [00:01:02]:
Well, I believe that as a society, we invest in education because it truly is the foundation for progress. Our political climate, economic development, and cultural perspectives can all affect education, and also education can impact these things. And so I think it is impossible to speak of building up a society that values success without a robust educational system at its core that can enable students to better navigate our complex and ever changing world. So I truly do believe that an investment in education is an investment in societal growth.

Liza Holland [00:01:39]:
Excellent answer. So tell me, what drew you to being involved with the Kentucky student voice team?

Louisa Sanchez [00:01:46]:
Yeah. So I joined the Kentucky student voice team shortly after facing a difficult situation at my school at the time. I felt like I was learning in an environment where I wasn't accepted and no one listened to me. And overall, it was the first time that I dreaded waking up and having to go to school, just because of the environment, due to this situation that I faced. So having experienced that led me to take a step back and really reflect on my life in this country and the importance of education just because the reason me and my family migrated to this country was because of educational opportunities. And so I knew and I still do believe that as a first generation American student, being able to study in this country is a privilege, but I was missing that sense of belonging. And that is what KSPT offered. It offered a community, a community of students who are not only enthusiastic about education, but are diligently working to make a difference within the system.

Louisa Sanchez [00:02:50]:
So the combination of unity and action was a force that drew me to the team and really made me stay because I also talk about the first time that I logged into Google and search of the Kentucky student voice team, I saw just the page of the new EDU and so many student journalists publishing their pieces. And I was like, what? Students can do that? They could just do this? And you know, it was just amazing. And so I wanted to be a part of that. I was flabbergasted by it and also incredibly, enthusiastic to be a part of it.

Liza Holland [00:03:23]:
Oh, that's exciting. So one of the ways that you've been involved is with the Rose Revival campaign. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with that, and has it lived up to, the the wonderful environment to participate in that you were hoping for?

Louisa Sanchez [00:03:38]:
So the 1989 Rose decision was a landmark decision where the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Kentucky's entire education system as unconstitutional. So this led the court to define adequacy to mean an education system that provides 7 ROAST capacities. So a few months ago, the Kentucky student voice team launched our ROACE revival campaign to assess whether or not Kentucky is living up to its constitutional promise of an adequate education. So we have conducted public engagement forums in Corvin, Louisville, Bowling Green, Hazard, and most recently in Lexington, as well as we have conducted a state of school survey. And, like, we have some student captains who really try to push the survey out to their networks to get various community members, teachers, and students to fill it out, and we also use that as just data in order to, at the end, publish a state of schools report that will be published and available to the community.

Liza Holland [00:04:41]:
Oh, that's so neat. That is a huge project. What is your role within that then? What would you like to do maybe in the future?

Louisa Sanchez [00:04:48]:
Yeah. So I am a table facilitator at our public engagement forums. So I lead small group discussions sort of about the activities that we do. So one of them is our post it note activity, which we have the 7 rows capacities up, and then people can put some negative or positive feedback on them. And so I sort of debrief with the people who attend these forums as well as try to push out, our Rose campaign with op eds. So most recently with, House Bill 535, I did an op ed for the Lexington Herald Leader and talked a little bit about our our survey and sort of the findings. And so that's just another way of promoting the campaign.

Liza Holland [00:05:31]:
Oh, that's so neat. You definitely sound like one of my people. I love facilitating and I love writing. So

Louisa Sanchez [00:05:37]:
Yes. I mean, it's just like I've gotten to learn so much from other people. I mean, yes. Like, at first, just beginning the project, I did not really know what the ROAST decision was at all. And so I've gotten to grow so much as a student and as a participant in education. It has been amazing.

Liza Holland [00:05:56]:
So this Rose decision really is what launched the legislation that a lot of people know as CARA. Correct? Kentucky Education Reform Act?

Louisa Sanchez [00:06:05]:
Absolutely. Yes.

Liza Holland [00:06:06]:
So, obviously, the report isn't done yet, but what are your initial impressions as far as what do people think? Are we living up to what we need to be, or is there still work to be done?

Louisa Sanchez [00:06:19]:
Well, in terms of especially with school funding, that is a big issue. And also with even other legislation like house bill 150 and even the new voucher bill, all of these things are a threat to public education. And we have seen how they have actually impacted parts of rows such as, for instance, HB 150 has sort of impacted having safe learning environments. You know? So we can see disconnect between the people working in education and then the people making education decisions with lawmakers. And so really trying to bridge those gaps requires having honest conversations and then also trying to make a difference through really just action and our Rose Revival project.

Liza Holland [00:07:11]:
Have you been involved with, talking to the legislators at all as far as the research that you're doing or anything?

Louisa Sanchez [00:07:17]:
No. I know that we as a team had our advocacy day a couple I think it was last month. It was a couple weeks ago.

Liza Holland [00:07:27]:
Right. It was a few weeks ago, probably when they were in session. So yeah.

Louisa Sanchez [00:07:30]:
Yes. Yes. Absolutely. And but I'm a part of the storytelling team more so. So when it comes to policy, I do write about policy, but, no, I have not gotten the chance to really just talk to legislators.

Liza Holland [00:07:43]:
I have no doubt that will be in your future. So Rachel was telling me, and correct me if I'm wrong, were you part of the group that went out to Harvard to make a presentation on all of your research and findings and whatnot?

Louisa Sanchez [00:07:57]:
Yes. So in February, our research co lead, Raima Dutt, and then our policy co lead, Zachary Clifton, and I were invited to do a guest lecture at Harvard Law on behalf of the Kentucky student voice team about our education research, policy, and storytelling work for a class of 100 graduate students. So the class is called the art of social change, and it is taught by Kristen Hazen and Michael Gregory which was involved in our Rose campaign work. And yeah the class was just so comfortable, and it was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. It couldn't have been any better. It was absolutely amazing.

Liza Holland [00:08:39]:
That's exciting. What made it amazing for you? Tell me that story. What was it like to go to Harvard?

Louisa Sanchez [00:08:45]:
Okay. So, actually, we were we got, like, a little tour from a past, like, KSPT student who is at Harvard. And so we got to see the library and everything. But at first, I was so nervous because, I mean, you would think, oh, my goodness, you're speaking to a 100 graduate law students. These people are so intelligent, like some of the most intelligent people in the country. But everyone was just so welcoming. I mean, I just walked into that room. And it's like, it was just it was warm in all kinds of ways.

Louisa Sanchez [00:09:15]:
The room was the perfect temperature. And everyone was so excited to hear about our work. And it was really a refresher for them. I mean, law school in itself is so incredibly difficult, but getting to hear from young people, they were very excited. And they're very open to that. And so it didn't feel like a class. It just felt like it just an amazing experience overall. The people were amazing, and our team was also very supportive.

Louisa Sanchez [00:09:41]:
We had, a lot of people from the Kentucky student voice team just there to support us. And it was just wow. I mean, just it was amazing.

Liza Holland [00:09:53]:
That's so exciting. Good for you. So tell us a story as, my a fellow storyteller or a favorite memory about the work

Louisa Sanchez [00:10:05]:
that you've done so far? Okay. My favorite memory, it's mostly just the storytelling meetings when within our press corps team. So students are usually working on pieces to publish, or sometimes we have people in the team just wanting to learn more about writing for, you know, other news publications. And so the storytelling meetings to me are just passion in its purest form, just people trying to bring stories to life, which is not always easy, but I think it never fails to be rewarding. And just being in an environment where there are so many young people wanting to support you, and then you're getting to support them. And it's just it's really a community, and it's amazing and I'm I always get excited just they usually happen at night and so after a long day of school it's like, yes, let's just talk about stories, You know? So, yeah, getting to interact with passionate writers in the storytelling team, always puts a smile on my face, and those meetings are some of my fondest of memories. And I always get excited, and I'm so excited to watch the team grow and more people being excited to publish stories. So, yeah, definitely.

Liza Holland [00:11:16]:
Oh, that's exciting. I actually some of my work with the school system, I have a company called Holland Management Services, and and right now, I'm doing a contract with a deeper learning initiative with teachers, and my task is predominantly storytelling. And so I'm curious, what types of places do you want to get your stories out to, and maybe in what formats? Is it always, like, in writing types of form, or are you branching out into video, or how are you approaching that?

Louisa Sanchez [00:11:46]:
Yeah. So we have our digital publications for The Herald Leader and then also partners with The Courier Journal and then our very own the new EDU, which is Kentucky's only youth led newsroom. And then we also have within storytelling our podcast team. And so we also do those and hopefully in the future we get to expand and do a lot more but yeah it's a little bit for everyone.

Liza Holland [00:12:11]:
Oh, that's so neat. I actually had listened to a couple of the, the podcast episodes, so I threw that in the show notes for our interviews so that people can go and look look listen to the podcast there. So what do you find to be the biggest challenges in taking on kind of advocacy and storytelling like this?

Louisa Sanchez [00:12:29]:
I'm not gonna lie. My biggest challenge is definitely trying to not spread myself too thin. Yay. I mean, I now.

Liza Holland [00:12:38]:
I didn't learn it till I was in thirties or forties.

Louisa Sanchez [00:12:42]:
Absolutely. I mean, I love everything that I do, but also there is a lot that I do. So really finding a balance. I think it's important when it comes to my involvement in education justice just because I wanna make sure that my commitment stays strong and that I'm putting in sufficient energy into everything that I do. So, yeah, that's definitely my biggest challenge. I think it's getting better, or maybe it's just because summer is coming along, and so that's really exciting. But yeah.

Liza Holland [00:13:09]:
Oh, that's so neat. What do you find as far as you know, we had talked before we started that the answer to that question could be from any part of your life. I know that you said that you were struggling with your kinda home high school and that feeling of belonging and whatnot. What kind of challenges do you face when you're in school?

Louisa Sanchez [00:13:27]:
Well, I go to a 90% white school. And so coming from so right when I came from to Kentucky, I lived in New York for a couple years. And so that's very different. It was definitely a culture shock. And educationally, I was part of the dual language program. And so everyone that I was, like, surrounded with knew Spanish and just appreciated culture and its various forms. And then coming here was definitely like I had to adapt to the environment. And it's sometimes it's hard because I've always been someone who likes learning and likes education and wants to do well in school.

Louisa Sanchez [00:14:04]:
But seeing how your the environment that you're learning in impacts your academics, It was definitely something that I had to adapt to and learn how to navigate. And just knowing that even if I'm having a hard time socially, I can still succeed and have a good relationship with my teachers in order to get to where I want academically. So it was definitely finding that middle ground.

Liza Holland [00:14:28]:
That's excellent. Tell me, where did you come from? Where did you and your family immigrate from?

Louisa Sanchez [00:14:32]:
We immigrated from Colombia in 2015. So, yeah, we we came here. Our our my grandparents sponsored us to New York. It was Long Island, New York, by the way. So, yeah, it was great. It was different, obviously, but also I we had a relatively stable, life in Colombia. So coming to this country, it was was difficult. And so sometimes I felt like, why didn't we just stay in Colombia? I mean, we were fine, you know, but I've learned to be more grateful because truly there has just been so many opportunities that have been offered to me by being in this country that I would never take for granted.

Louisa Sanchez [00:15:16]:
It's been amazing.

Liza Holland [00:15:17]:
There's always pros and cons. I was able to be a trailing spouse with my husband where we lived overseas. We were in Belgium for about a year until the company said, Oh, we're transferring. And, then we were in Ireland for a couple of years. But that whole piece of coming to a new country, and your English is amazing, by the way, so I imagine you probably had a foundation beforehand. But I spent a good 30 minutes preparing before I went to the grocery store just to make sure that I knew what I was looking for to you know, because everything was in a different language. And so I came back with a massive appreciation for immigrants coming here because it is not easy. It's a wonderful thing once you get in the swing of being able to be bilingual, but it's not an easy process.

Liza Holland [00:16:06]:
Do you think that that's been part of what's held you back in your current school as far as just not many people having that bilingual experience?

Louisa Sanchez [00:16:15]:
Maybe. Although, it's not really not having so many people that are bilingual, but people that appreciate others' culture just because there's a it's a very uniform sort of culture. And so having to be inserted into those spaces is sometimes easier to assimilate and just be like, oh, let me just act like you or talk like you or and not really, you know, show you my identity and where I come from. And that's a lot easier, but that's something that, I've been hesitant to do and in these spaces because I love my culture, and I wanna get to celebrate it, especially when I go to school for 7 hours a day. I don't wanna feel like I have to act like someone not it's and also the Kentucky student voice mail is just I've gotten to interact with people whose families are also immigrants. And I was like, it's just, you know, you have to find your community, and that's what you have provided me with. And it's just I am so appreciative of that.

Liza Holland [00:17:13]:
Oh, that's so neat. And, you know, Colombia does have an amazing and rich history. I was executive director for the Pacifino Horse Association for a long time, and a lot of our membership was in Colombia. And just the richness with the horse industry and all that kind of thing, there's so many parallels here. So I'm glad you're here, but I totally respect how you love Columbia as well. So what do you wanna do eventually? Once you're out of school, do you have any thoughts as far as where you wanna go to college or to university if you're gonna do that or what you wanna do with it?

Louisa Sanchez [00:17:46]:
Well, yeah. In terms of what I wanna major in, definitely something in English. I was thinking maybe comparative literature just because it's like literature and then you also get to learn about other cultures and stuff. Yeah. But my end goal would definitely be going to law school, maybe becoming a lawyer.

Liza Holland [00:18:04]:
Hey. Hey.

Louisa Sanchez [00:18:06]:
Yeah. But in terms of the colleges that I wanna attend, I don't really have any in mind, just scholarships mostly. Yeah. Yeah. For undergrad, I'm thinking just where it's makes the most financial sense.

Liza Holland [00:18:22]:
Yeah. Unfortunately, a lot of folks, we have to put that return on investment filter about college anymore. Goodness. I know you're gonna be successful nowhere no matter where you go. But so, Art, my final question to all my guests is what would you like for decision makers in education to know?

Louisa Sanchez [00:18:41]:
So I would like decision makers in education to know that students can and students are. Our voices often go unheard, but I believe the Kentucky student voice team is an exemplary model of the possibilities of fighting for a more equitable education system in our commonwealth when students are treated as active partners in education. We are affected by education decisions, and more should be done to empower students to be involved in education justice. I think there's definitely a lot of passionate students who don't really know how to get their voices heard just because there's not a lot of opportunities or systems in place that they know of that they can use in order to elevate their voices.

Liza Holland [00:19:26]:
Well, you know, that kinda gives me a good additional segue there because a lot of kids don't know. They're not familiar with the student voice team. So if I was a potential recruit for the Kentucky student voice team, why should I join?

Louisa Sanchez [00:19:40]:
I think you should join because you will find something that you like. There we have a lot of people on our team. We have 3 teams, and then inside those teams, there's just a lot you can do. So no matter what your perspective is in education, you can find your place here. I mean, we are self selected and self appointed. So, definitely, you don't have to deal with those strict hierarchies of, oh, just, like, having to get to the top. No. You can just really follow the flow and do what you want.

Louisa Sanchez [00:20:15]:
And in terms of, oh, if one day you're busy and can be as involved, that's okay. You know? The support system here is strong enough that if you have specific needs, they can be accommodated for just because of the nature of the team is not rigid at all. It is just very supportive. And so I think students should definitely feel encouraged to try it out and see for themselves if they like it or not like it because there's a lot to the team. You know, it's a very complex sort of network.

Liza Holland [00:20:49]:
Well, I am in awe and admiration of the effort, and the thing that I would add to that is this is truly a student led initiative. The adults are facilitators. They are not the directors of this particular team, and I think that makes it all the more powerful.

Louisa Sanchez [00:21:06]:
Absolutely. Sometimes I I forget about the teachers because, I mean, we're all students and sometimes you're like, oh my goodness. That would be get messy or be difficult. Not at all because it's just the sheer passion of all of our team members is palpable. You can just feel it even through Zoom where you can't even, you know, be in contact with the person physically. You can just feel it, and there's a lot to learn from others, and there there's a lot that you you can share about yourself. So it's definitely a very supportive environment.

Liza Holland [00:21:37]:
Oh, that's so exciting. Well, Louisa, thank you so much for taking your time and sharing your stories, and I will be very much looking forward to hearing more of them as as they come out.

Louisa Sanchez [00:21:48]:
Well, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity, Alyssa. It has been amazing.

Liza Holland [00:21:54]:
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of education perspectives. Feel free

Liza Holland [00:21:58]:
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