Jaime Contreras
Graphic Designer, Marketing Specialist
Growing up in Michoacan, Mexico, I know the struggle that immigrant students have faced since their childhoods in both their homelands and in schools here in the United States. I come from a family that had to move to Mexico shortly after my father’s deportation and felt the hard impacts of anti-immigrant laws here in the U.S. This is a part to why I started getting involved with clubs in high school and college to help out people like me who have struggled due to unfair governments and lack of resources available to us. Being able to work at Weber State University allowed me to work closely with many of the DREAMers that attend the university and have been able to be the voice that they are not allowed to have to defend themselves from our government.
ABOUT US
DREAMers all over the country have their own American Dream they aspire to achieve. After years of hiding in the shadows, a program emerged to help our people, which is known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This program does not automatically give the recipients the same rights as an American Citizen. That is shown primarily in the fact that these people may not qualify for any federal funding with financial aid, unemployment, welfare, student loans, etc., so they must work hard long hours to make enough to both provide for their household, and to go to school. We see these struggles everyday all around us. These are people that go hungry in order to have money for transportation. These are people who have to focus on school aside from trying to survive everyday through racism, discrimination, and exclusion.
The Dreamers Award provides financial support to allow students a small relief in their daily worries. The scholarship allow students to focus more on their education rather than work.
Cristian Gutierrez
DACA Advisor, Weber State University
I am the son of parents who fled war-torn El Salvador. They were activists who could no longer stay there because of the risk to their lives. I was born in California, but later relocated to Ogden, Utah. I recognize my privilege of being an American citizen, seeing that my parents and siblings struggled due to their status, and language barriers; a struggle too many share. I graduated from Weber State University, and now work as an Advisor for Undocumented and DACA students. A product of the Ogden City School system, with hopes to help the next generation of students in the same way mentors came to my aid.
