Feliz Día Del Amor y La Amistad

Greetings from Latinx Student Services, we hope you have a spectacular dia del amor y la amistad with your loved ones. One highlight this past month included a special trip to El Mercado Central with our HOLA scholars, where we learned about the contributions of our Latinx immigrant communities in Minnesota. We are grateful for your continued engagement this year. A reminder that we are here to support you, so don't hesitate to continue reaching out to us for any questions and concerns.

Con cariño y respeto,

Latinx Student Services Team

Meet Kay Carvajal Moran

Kay Carvajal Moran is a community organizer, youth worker, and performer majoring in Sociology and minoring in History. Born and raised in Minneapolis along with her two younger siblings and parents, Kay considers herself “a proud girl from SouthSide Minneapolis.” As the oldest sister and a daughter of immigrant parents, Kay was oftentimes supporting her family to navigate life in the United States. At the age of three, Kay witnessed her dad getting fired right after an accident at his workplace. Seeing the injustices his dad went through because of his legal status motivated her to lean on her community when injustices occurred. For Kay, the immigrant community has always been a community she admires and is committed to fight for. 

Kay’s biggest motivation is her mother, who often reminded her daughter of the importance of carrying yourself with humility. To be humilde and treat those around you with respect are values that Kay continues to carry and practice as she engages in her community organizing. Most recently, in the struggle of immigrant rights, Kay Carvajal Moran has been advocating for a bill that has once again been introduced to give undocumented immigrant communities the right to drive without fear. House File 4, also known as the “Driver’s Licenses For All” bill is a symbol of perseverance, exhaustion, and solidarity. If passed, it will be a clear message that we stand with immigrant communities who are essential to all that we do. In addition to her work around driver’s licenses, including sharing her testimony, she is also a youth worker at Pillsbury United Communities, a local non-profit organization serving predominantly communities of color. Through this work, she has been able to share her passion for social justice and has supported her youth to pursue their dreams. 

Navigating higher education has been a challenging experience for Kay Carvajal Moran, from finding the right profession to advocating for students of color at the University. She used to blame herself for not being able to figure out how to navigate higher education, however, after a deep reflection, she realized that it was the educational system to blame. Her goal is to pursue a master’s in urban planning, she wants to continue learning about her roots and create meaningful connections. Dancing and crafting have been a few activities that Kay engages in to practice self-care. Her advice for the younger generation is to stay humble and to never get comfortable with the systems that continue to oppress our BIPOC communities. Kay is a courageous, resilient, and amazing student. We couldn’t be more proud of all her accomplishments thus far. If you know Kay, you know how a social butterfly she is. If you ever need a study buddy, want to grab food, or need advice about college, don’t hesitate to hit up Kay!

Multicultural Life Scholarships and Scholastic Connections

Our program scholarships recognize returning underrepresented undergraduate students in the Day Program. Students who are eligible may receive a $2,500-$5,000 annual, renewable award. The deadline has been extended to Sunday, February 19th!

Immigrant Opportunity Fund

This fund is available to our DACA and undocumented students at Augsburg University to provide financial assistance with their tuition expenses. Once all funding has been distributed, the application will be closed. Email hernaner@augsburg.edu or mlife@augsburg.edu if you have any questions!

Page Education Foundation

The Page Grant is our scholarship program awarded to students of color who graduate from a Minnesota high school and attend a Minnesota post-secondary institution.On average over 500 Page Scholars are selected to receive a Page Grant. Page Grants range in value from $1,500 to $2,500 annually. Subsequent grants are based on student’s academic progress and mentoring performance. Recipients of the Page Grant are called, "Page Scholars". The deadline to apply is Saturday, April 1st.

Building Strong Families Scholarship

Wallin Educational Partners is developing an exciting new opportunity to support current college students who identify as students of color and are interested in social work and/or family studies-related majors. Students should be attending one of our current partner colleges for the program, have demonstrated financial need, and be focused on hands-on work with youth and families for a career. 

Research Assistant Internship at HACER

HACER offers many internships for students and professionals looking to build their experience and assist with their ongoing projects.

Congressional Internship Program with CHCI

CHCI’s curriculum is centered around a graduate-level non-credit public policy course. Participants connect with Latine leaders, grow their professional network, and engage in civic engagement. The fall of 2023 internship program runs from August 23rd to November 17th, 2023, the deadline to apply is March 1st, 2023.

Summer Research with URGO

Get paid $6,000 for 400 hours of research and $3,000 for 200 hours of research plus a generous housing discount for living on campus. You will get the opportunity to work with an Augsburg faculty member to engage in research or creative activity in any discipline. The deadline is Thursday, February 9th.

2023 Latina Leadership Fellowship

Esperanza United is seeking research and policy, leadership fellows. You will receive a stipend of $6,000 with an option to apply for additional funding for fellowship activities. This will take place from mid-May to mid-Aug and it requires a 20/hr. time commitment, meetings, and training will take place virtually. The deadline to apply is Friday, February 10th by 5 pm EST.

Paid Opportunity for Fluent Spanish Speakers: Judge the Spanish Debate League

The Minnesota Urban Debate League, a program of Augsburg University, is seeking fluent Spanish speakers to serve as debate judges for our upcoming Spanish Debate League tournaments. We will pay judges $55 per tournament. No debate experience is required, but Spanish fluency is. All judges will receive training. Judges are asked to listen to students speak, choose a winner, and provide written and verbal feedback at the end of the round.

BIPOC Scholarship

The Lacek Group LLC, a globally recognized leader in loyalty, customer engagement, and data-driven communications in Minneapolis, is thrilled to offer two $5,000 scholarships to two BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) students, one each for a high school senior and a college student. The study area needs to be in or related to marketing, communication, business, finance, creative arts, analytics, or computer science. Applicants must be residents of Minnesota but may attend college in Minnesota or Wisconsin. The deadline for submitting an application is April 15, 2023.

Scholarship for LGBTQ+ Students

PFund’s scholarship fund is used to provide scholarships to LGBTQ+ learners from the upper Midwest at all stages of their education. In 2022, PFund Foundation distributed a record $125,000 to 50 queer students from across the upper Midwest. The Deadline to apply is March 17th at 11:59pm Central Time.