A Chicana, First Generation Graduate, and HBUHSD Alumni
CLAUDIA RAMOS FOR HBUHSD 2020
UNITED FOR CHANGE
​
UNIDOS POR UN CAMBIO
CÙNG NHAU PHÁT TRIỂN
About me
My name is Claudia Ramos and I am running for Huntington Beach Union High School District Board of Trustees.
​
I am a child of immigrant parents and a first-generation college graduate from UC Riverside with degrees in Psychology and Ethnic Studies committed to advocating for all members of our school community, including those whose voices are often unheard and unrepresented. As a Chicana and Marina High School alumna, I have personally experienced the academic and social struggles that many Latinx students face and gained a better understanding of our diverse community through people such as my Vietnamese American classmates.
​
Through my work in Education Organizers for Racial Equity, I collaborate with HBUHSD teachers, students, and alumni to help create a more inclusive school environment. I am running to be a HBUHSD Board of Trustee because I want to empower our school community and help shape a better experience for all current and future students, some of whom are members of my own family.
My family and I have lived in Huntington Beach for most of my life and I am rooted in our local community. This place is my home and I am dedicated to continuing my life and work here for many years to come to make it a better place.
​
Please join me in the fight for change, your voice matters! TOGETHER we can build a better HBUHSD.
"As a Chicana and
Marina High School Alumni "
An important fact about me is that I identify as a Chicana, a Mexican-American female. This identity is important to me because my work is the continuation of the Chicanx community's long history of political activism and social justice. The term Chicana is one that I learned and started to identify in my second year in college. Identifying myself as a Chicana is also labeling myself as an activist who is willing to help empower the voices of people who are not listened to within my community.
As an alumni of Marina High School, I am rooted in my experiences as an HBUHSD student. I lived the AP classes, swim practices, and club meeting. I also endured the academic and social pressures that students continue to face. I am dedicated to understanding the experiences and issues that matter to students to help create a school environment that enables all students to thrive.
Family
Family has always played an important role in becoming the person I am today. My parents are two of the strongest, most inspiring figures whom I look up to. My father and my mother immigrated from small pueblos in Mexico to Orange County in their late teens and early twenties, respectively. I have had the privilege of visiting their hometowns with them since the age of 3. Every trip I take to see my family in Mexico, I learn more about my Mexican heritage and how it relates to my life in Huntington Beach. Growing up in a Mexican household, my parents made a clear distinction of only speaking English at school and only speaking Spanish at home. Because of this distinction, my parents helped ensure that I would be fluent in both languages.
​
From the moment I started learning English in Kindergarten, I had the responsibility of helping translate important paperwork to my parents. Whether they were report cards, important documentation, or invitations to my peer’s birthdays, I was always the one translating them from English to Spanish. It has been a difficult task that, even to this day, I continue to do. Luckily, access to the internet has been a great tool that has helped make the translation process a lot easier.
Even with the lack of knowledge of the English language, my parents were my core motivators to do well in school. Their encouragement and love allowed me to take Honors and Advanced Placement classes in high school. Although they weren’t able to help me with the homework or the activities as much as they would have liked, they were always right by my side making sure I was on my A-game during the stressful times.
​
Gracias Mamá y Papá por estar siempre a mi lado en mis estudios académicos y mientras doy este paso monumental para postularme para HBUHSD Board of Trustees.
School and Career
High School was a very unique time of my life because it was the time when I started to be more involved in my community and became more aware of my position in my community. I attended Marina High School, graduated in June of 2016. During my time at Marina, I was involved in various clubs, such as Key Club, Make a Wish, Red Cross to name a few, and was a swimmer. The various clubs I was in allowed me to make connections with other students at Marina as well as students in other high schools from HBUHSD. I enjoyed being able to make a difference whether it was at the local level or the school level. Being on the swim team was the first time I ventured out of my comfort zone into an activity that I had little to no previous experience in. Being on the team took a huge portion of my school day. The 5 am practices to the late-night Swim meets were always a challenge to work with. However, by being involved in both clubs and the Swim Team, I learned how to manage my schedule around my academics.
​
In addition to clubs and athletics, I was also enrolled in various Honors and Advanced Placement classes. Although they had a heavy workload, I still pushed myself to take as many of these classes as I could. From doing research about these classes, I learned how important they would be for my college career. With the support of my parents and my own motivation, I was able to take these classes, do well in them, and to be involved in so many extracurricular activities. Although this was a great experience, one aspect of high school that I would have wanted different was to see more students and teachers of color in my school. As a Latina, I felt underrepresented during my time at school. There were very, very few Latinx teachers. There were very, very few Latinx students taking Honors and AP classes. Latinx history wasn’t taught in any of my textbooks. There were very few people who I could speak to on a personal level regarding my experience as a Latina in a predominantly White society. During high school is the time when teens start to develop their identity. For me, because of the lack of Latinx figures in high school, it was a time of questioning my identity and not reaching a concrete answer to who I was. However, I was able to develop my identity in High School and proudly identify as a Chicana.
​
I can, now, proudly say that I am a Chicana and a first-generation college graduate. There are moments when I can’t believe it has happened. After high school, I was accepted into the University of California Riverside where I earned two degrees, Psychology and Ethnic Studies. One of the main reasons why I choose UCR was because of the diversity among the students and staff, something my high school lacked. At first, it was a culture shock. I had been in predominantly White schools to a college that was rich diversity. It felt like home.
​
I went to UCR with the thought that I would become a School Psychologist. I wanted to work with students, parents, teachers, and staff to help improve school environments. I started to take more classes on the Development of individuals starting with Infancy through Early Adulthood. One course that changed my perspective on Psychology and about my identity was “Introduction to Race and Ethnicity.” This Ethnic Studies class introduced me to the term Chicana. A Chicana, or Chicano, is an individual of Mexican descent or origin living in the United States. A Chicana is a Mexican- American. A Chicana is an individual who actively works to improve the community for others. I am a Chicana. For so long, the term Mexican-American was not one I particularly liked. Why is my Mexican heritage displayed before American? Why am I labeled Mexican-American and not American-Mexican? Identifying as a Chicana allows me to be proud of both my American and Mexican upbringing. To me, they’re not mutually exclusive because the interrelationship between the two creates my identity. Because of this one class, I was inspired to study Ethnic Studies alongside Psychology. Through my time in college, I was able to develop my identity as a Chicana and have gained more knowledge to help better my community of Huntington Beach.