In March of 2022, Texas A&M was federally recognized as a hispanic serving institution. As a part of the university and the MSC’s continued efforts to support diversity on campus, representatives from the MSC’s Student Conference On Latinx Affairs and MSC CAMAC had the opportunity to speak to more than 100 staff members of the Division of Student Affairs.
One of those representatives was Aaron Escoto, the current chair of MSC CAMAC. Aaron is a senior anthropology major planning to pursue immigration law after graduating. He has been a part of MSC CAMAC for four years. The discussion, moderated Dr. Felipe Hinojosa, professor of Hispanic Studies, focused on how students felt about Texas A&M’s new HSI designation and how the hispanic student community is supported. Aaron also mentioned how he focused on highlighting specific issues affecting Hispanic students, such as imposter syndrome and first generation guilt. “I know myself and in MSC CAMAC, there are many members whose parents are non-native English speakers and we talked about how to create a better outreach for those communities,” he said when speaking about what issues were covered in the panel session. When talking about how he felt presenting to the division, Aaron said, “It felt nice honestly, because it was about a topic that I was passionate about. It got me thinking about what already the Hispanic resources have already done for me and how [they] can improve the experiences and continue to do that for other students.”
This year, Aaron is leading MSC CAMAC to expand existing programs and even start new ones to serve the Hispanic community. This year his goal is to expand the reach of Poemas y Cafe. It started as a smaller program Aaron wants to grow into a lecture series. The series will feature a speaker talking about how to avoid burnout in a fun, poetic format. Aaron and the MSC CAMAC team are working on a new program involving border town outreach. Originally from a border town community, Aaron wants MSC CAMAC members to have the opportunity to be exposed to a community outside of Texas A&M and help students in border town communities with academics and college prep.