Jesse Ibarra, the Bakersfield College ambassador for the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, just returned from HACU’s 20th anniversary get together in San Antonio.
Ibarra, 34, has been the ambassador for about four months and has attended BC for four years. He’s majoring in liberal studies and history.
Ibarra said he heard about the program from a professor on the campus who was aware of the program and suggested that Ibarra apply.
Applicants have to have a letter of recommendation from an instructor and submit the application along with about 9,000 others from all over the country. Only 150 are picked to attend and Ibarra was one of the ones selected. Ibarra went on to say that he is the only ambassador here at BC with Cal State Bakersfield having four. These gatherings take place once a year with the next one being in Chicago, and HACU has also finalized a commitment with Spain to have one there.
Some of the workshops offered at the event were leadership, discussion on the college drop-out rate of not only Hispanics but other minorities as well.
Ibarra said that he was surprised to see the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency with their own recruitment booths. The Coast Guard was also involved, bringing in students of a higher caliber.
When asked about what he got from his trip, Ibarra was quick to say “cultural enrichment, networking, and being a minority in the same struggle with other minorities; we see eye-to-eye on a lot of things.”
Ibarra added that he was surprised also to see a large number of African Americans in attendance.
HACU offers a lot of programs and has become a political force in Washington, D.C., and HACU is able to lobby on a lot of issues.