Rafael Briones, who moved to the United States from Mexico 12 years ago, considers himself fortunate to be pursuing a college education at Ball State University.
That's because, for many first-generation Hispanic students in the United States, going to college is considered a luxury.
"Planning for college isn't an opportunity for them," Briones said. "They don't even dream about it."
But Briones aims to change that.
Briones, a graduate student in digital storytelling, is helping develop a 20-minute documentary for which he will interview Hispanics about the concerns they face when they send their children to college. He is working with three other co-producers on the project, which will be presented in Spanish with English subtitles, he said. He aims to have the project completed by the end of the semester.
The project will focus on topics such as scholarships and financial aid and the opportunities available to high school students who want to pursue higher education. The documentary will also focus on steps parents should follow when choosing a university.
"We want to show them they need to do research and make the best choice for their kids," Briones said.
He plans to feature four families in the documentary, one of which will be a Jay County family whose children do not have the financial means to attend college. Another family will include a Muncie woman and her son, a senior in high school who plans to go to college. Briones said the interview will focus on whether the student plans to go to Ball State and what opportunities Ball State may provide for him.
On Monday, Briones also plans to speak with Adam Winn, Ball State's assistant director of admissions, to learn what Ball State is doing to bring diversity to campus.
Briones said he presented the idea for this documentary project last semester to Chin-Sook Pak, associate professor of Spanish and a co-producer of the documentary. Pak, who teaches an Honors service-learning course that works with local Spanish-speaking immigrants, wanted to help with the documentary project to emphasize that "education is power," she said. Unfortunately, many Hispanic high school students are not aware about the Core 40 academic course requirement necessary to attend universities such as Ball State, Pak said. Some high school counselors have even advised Hispanic students to seek a technical track rather than the college preparation track because of their socioeconomic situations, she said.
"Many times, schools have lower expectation of these students because of their family and language background," Pak said. "Most Hispanic parents want their children to go to college.-á If we can encourage even just a few families and make this process of going to college more accessible, we feel that could be a beginning of a wonderful ripple effect."
The documentary's co-producers are piloting a video this semester and, after researching and testing, hope to seek a grant to further improve the project's quality and learn effective ways to disseminate it to the community. Briones said he would love for the project to reach nonprofit organizations, colleges and universities across the nation.
He especially encourages minorities who have ideas that will promote diversity and academic success to step up to the plate.
"Many of the things I'm doing, I'm doing because I really want to be used as a role model," Briones said. "If I can do it, anybody can do it."
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