Marco Joven Domínguez - Story of Self
In the San Fernando Valley, I attended Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) schools throughout my K–12 educational experience. Growing up in the San Fernando Valley, I was surrounded, predominantly, by Mexican and Mexican-American people, and the LAUSD schools I attended had predominantly Mexican-American and Latine student bodies. At home, I was surrounded by comfort and familiarity. In arriving at a predominantly-white institution like Harvard, however, I was immediately faced with culture shock, and it was difficult to acclimate to an environment in which my peers did not look like me, and where the students in my courses neither shared, nor understood my cultural experiences.
I felt so removed from comfort and home. It was not until the first few weeks of my first year at Harvard that I encountered Harvard-Radcliffe RAZA, Harvard’s Mexican student organization that creates “space, visibility, and community for Mexican students at Harvard University since 1972.” I attended my first RAZA social event—what we call “mesas”—in mid September of 2021. The “mesa” (meaning “table”) is the monthly social gathering that RAZA puts on to bring Mexican and Mexican-American students together and build community among students from similar backgrounds, though all identities are always welcome at our events. At my first RAZA “mesa,” after drowning in discomfort and culture shock, I was pulled to shore by the sounds of the music I hear at home, the sight of the Mexican flag, and faces that reminded me of the Valley.
Photo by Bryant Y. Valenzuela
In December 2022, I was elected Social Media Chair for the Harvard-Radcliffe RAZA Executive Board. As Social Media Chair, I run RAZA’s social media presence; particularly, our Instagram page, creating and designing flyers for our events and working to create a strong “public narrative” through our social media. Social media is difficult, as it is what people first see and look for when they are searching for additional information on a person, organization, business, etc., and how one presents oneself is crucial to how they are perceived and received by the audience. In my role, I prioritize the goal of ensuring that RAZA builds the strongest version of its “public narrative” to directly meet our mission of creating visibility for Mexican students on our campus.
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