“When people ask me where am I from I say, ‘I’m from the same place as you. I’m from Earth.’”

The Spanish Club presented a diverse panel of Latino alumni, faculty, and community members. Friday afternoon they shared their experiences as Latinos and Hispanics in the United States and how immigrating to the U.S. transformed them and their idea of home.

Each story was told in Spanish which displayed a large range of dialects and experiences from different countries. Professor Jesus Ilundáin-Agurruza, who emigrated from Spain, spoke about the education system.

In Spain, one is only allowed to study a single topic. So for Ilundáin-Agurruza, coming to America meant getting to learn about anything and everything he wanted. The freedom to study a variety of subjects.

Professor Franco, originally from Puerto Rico, spoke about the transition and how different it was from what he expected.

Puerto Rico, being a U.S. territory, made immigrating to the “mainland” a simple task. Franco spoke about how he thought that, given Puerto Rico’s connection to the U.S, transitioning here would be easy.

But it was a huge culture shock.

How Puerto Ricans in the U.S. display pride for Puerto Rico, is different than the way it is displayed in Puerto Rico.

In the U.S., Puerto Ricans wear and display the flag to show pride, whereas in Puerto Rico that is seen as odd.

Flora Victoria Maciel ‘15, spoke about her transition from Mexico to the U.S. when she was 7 years-old.

She said that when she was in Mexico, she wanted to come up north because that was where her father worked. But she noted that, like many other panelists, when one immigrates to the U.S., no one really takes into account how long it might be until one has the chance to return.

She hasn’t been to Mexico in seven years.

Inés Peña was born and raised in the U.S. but her parents were immigrants.

She spoke about how different it was being one of the few minorities in school. She said that when she went to college to get her education it was partially for her but was mostly for her parents, to show them that their hard work was worth it.

The last speaker was Mr. Flavio, who was a former member of a forensics team in Guatemala.

After the Guatemalan Civil War, thousands of people were missing. There were signs all over that said, “Donde están los desaparecidos?” or “where are all the missing people?”

He was part of the team that would seek out these people in the most unusual places and identify the skeletons so they could be returned to their families.

When he immigrated to the U.S., he was interrogated by Homeland Security but was let go and was able to come to McMinnville and get married.

All of these stories were very different, but there was a common thread.

None of them felt completely part of their native country anymore, nor did they feel completely apart of this one. Professor Flaco said, “Soy un ciudadano del mundo.” I am a citizen of the Earth.