
Latino students from California talk about life: Elvira Vivanco explains how Chicano or Chicana, once a derogatory term used for Mexican-Americans, has been embraced by Latinos as a way to capture her cultural and political identity.

Latino students from California talk about life: Four-year-old Nancy Arévalo’s parents left her in El Salvador and her 17-year-old sister became her mother. Then she had to leave that mother behind when her parents managed to bring her to the US six years later.

Latino students from California talk about life: Salvadorean Nancy Arévalo remembers what it was like to be in a new country where she didn’t speak either English or the Mexican Spanish spoken by everyone else in the playground.

Latino students from California talk about life: Ricardo Avalos is proud of his Salvadorean roots and knows that speaking Spanish is the best way of passing this on to his children one day.

Latino students from California talk about life: Evelyn Torres describes the nine-day posadas festival in December, where Mary and Joseph search for a place to give birth, and tells us why it’s one of her very favorites.

Latino students from California talk about life: Evelyn Torres loves football, whether playing on her team or at home with her family glued to the TV screen watching Las Chivas, their powerhouse team from native Guadalajara.

Latino students from California talk about life: While Santa Monica is world famous for being an upscale beach area in Los Angeles, for Elvira Vivanco it’s where her traditional Pico neighborhood is disappearing with the rising costs.

Latino students from California talk about life: When she finishes college, Elvira Vivanco plans to return home to her traditional Los Angeles neighborhood to support the community that gave her so much.