Articles - Winter 2008 - return to index
Learning leads to Activism for Marilen Delgado
-By Chris Cunningham
Marilen Delgado didn't intend to become a political activist. "It just kind of happened," she says, when she served as chair of the Latino Student Union at Lane Community College during her second year.
"Lane took me from wanting to be an architect and drew me somewhere completely different," says Marilen. She graduated in June 2007 and gave the student keynote address.
Marilen enrolled at Lane in March 2003, applying for an associate of arts Oregon transfer degree. However, her history on campus began as a Springfield High School participant in the college's cultural education program for Latino youth called Puertas Abiertas (Open Doors), part of the Rites of Passage summer program for youth of color.
Jim Garcia, co-founder of Puertas Abiertas, recalls that "Marilen already had the leadership skills, but never had the chance to exhibit them in a bilingual society." Lane gave the 22-year-old opportunities to grow.
As an LCC student, Marilen served on the Oregon Students of Color Coalition board, helping to "get students of color out to vote." She also was state affairs director for Lane's student government and in that role, helped the statewide Oregon Student Association successfully lobby for continued childcare funding. She was community college chair for the United States Student Association, which helped defeat federal legislation that would have jeopardized postsecondary education funding. Delgado capped her Lane experience as an intern for Rep. Nancy Nathanson, where she caught a glimpse of the "issues that lawmakers deal with during a legislative session." Marilen transferred from Lane to the University of Oregon where she continues to study sociology and political science. She is considering a master's degree in public policy, and possibly working in a nonprofit service organization.
Maybe one day, she muses, she'll run for public office.
Marilen began her college career as a Springfield High School student in the Rites of Passage summer academy at Lane.
Before she began college coursework at Lane, Marilen (back row in photo to right) participated in Puertas Abiertas (Open Doors), a program for Latino youth that is part of Lane’s Rites of Passage summer program. For details, see 2011sitearchive.lanecc.edu/rop
Read more Lane Success Stories
