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Students in Service and Leadership at Harvard

Marco Joven Domínguez - Blueprint of Action

“Space, Visibility, and Community: Student Voices and Initiatives Toward a Public Narrative” is an effort to answer the question of how student voices, experiences, and perspectives can be leveraged to create community, belonging, and a “public narrative” on the college campus in creative, meaningful manners. In order to alleviate issues of visibility and the lack of institutional support faced by Harvard-Radcliffe RAZA, I provide a series of valuable ideas to implement Mexican students’ voices to create visibility on college campuses, and acquire support from the institution. Utilizing data from expert and empirical interviews, as well as literature on creativity and on the Latinx experience in higher education, I came up with the following ideas and recommendations for RAZA’s use:

1. Preserving Traditions Through On-Air Radio Broadcasting:
In 2014, RAZA hosted one of the first Mexican music-based live radio shows. Entitled “The Cinco de Mayo Orgy,” running for 12 consecutive hours of Mexican music, members of RAZA highlighted artists and musical genius from a myriad of Mexican artists and Mexican music types.

Recommendations:

As a member of WHRB, I can leverage this resource to put RAZA’s name on live radio, while simultaneously sharing a piece of our culture with the world.
Members of RAZA can work to ensure that the organization revives the “Cinco de Mayo” live show tradition, making it a recurring affair every reading period and promoting the broadcast on our social media platforms.
Highlight and uplift smaller and upcoming Mexican artists on weekly live air times.
Promote RAZA’s upcoming events on live air, encouraging students to attend our events and/or support our cultural fundraisers.

2. Expanding the “Monthly Digest,” Creating a Physical Version:
Every month, RAZA sends a newsletter to its mailing list of over 1,000 subscribers detailing the events of the month, highlighting Mexican students on campus, and providing a space for subscribers to offer feedback and suggestions.

Recommendations:

Diversify the experiences in our student spotlights: highlighting first-years, incoming first-years, and include reflections from current students, especially graduating seniors.
Highlight public service opportunities to support Cambridge and Boston's Latinx communities.
Make the newsletter more interactive: create submission opportunities for art; goings-on in students professional, personal, and academic lives; and suggestions.
Spotlight students' experiences with our events, including testimonials and suggestions
MAKE THIS A MAGAZINE! Creating a physical version of our current “Digest” might be more appealing to a wider audience, as individuals will be encouraged to purchase their own copy. RAZA will make a profit, while simultaneously getting our name out there.

3. Mexican Content on TikTok: @harvardraza:
TikTok, as the most downloaded application, worldwide, in the year 2022, is a crucial tool to exploit to strengthen our “public narrative” not only on campus, but worldwide to reach a larger audience, demonstrating to the world that Mexicans and Mexican-Americans are at Harvard!

Recommendations:

Show real-life experiences of Mexican students at Harvard (e.g., “a day in my life”).
Highlight Harvard's existing support systems for Mexican students and students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Show students’ lives outside of the classroom (what are Mexican Harvard students up to on the day-to-day?).

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Marco JD blueprint