El Futuro de Los Lideres 2016
¡Viva la causa!
The 2016 M.E.Ch.A Regional Conference, better known as El Futuro de Los Lideres 2016 conference was a flying success at Western Oregon University on April 29th. The Conference ran from Friday until Sunday, spanning a total of three days to help bring a myriad of activities for the conference attendees.
What is the M.E.Ch.A Regional Conference about? The M.E.Ch.A Regional conference is a conference focused on bringing together M.E.Ch.A Chapters from around the state, whether those chapters are High Schools or Higher Education, the goal is to get as many Mechistas from the region together to celebrate a conference as a whole.
The more popular attendees are the bigger, local universities such as Oregon State University, Lance Community College, and University of Oregon. They bring many students of all types of backgrounds to these conferences. Their attendance helps bring the conference to life.
As the conference took place in Western Oregon University the MESA Board (M.E.Ch.A's officer group) had to take a hold of a giant mantel that many of them were not prepared for. With only three months to plan, prepare, and execute a conference, the MEChA de WOU officer group got busy. Countless hours were spent planning, attending meetings, signing paperwork, and speaking with businesses to bring this conference to life. However, the officer group made sure that not one person did everything on their own. Working in tandem the MEChA de WOU Chapter crossed off item after item on their checklist as they worked hard on ensuring that they wouldn't fall behind schedule.
Three stressful months later, and they brought the 2016 M.E.Ch.A Regional Conference: El Futuro de Los Lideres. Starting at 3:00pm on Friday, April 29th, the M.E.Ch.A de WOU Chapter got ready for the monthly Regional Meeting by welcoming schools from around the region and sitting down to talk business. At this meeting, MEChA de WOU's own Evelyn Guzman-Islas was elected as Co-Regional Representative for Aztlan del Noroeste. Meanwhile, Janie Ramirez, Brenda Flores, and Raquel Luna were all elected for regional positions as well. That put four of MEChA de WOU's finest leaders in the Regional MESA, which is a huge honor to hold for any Mechista around the state.
Saturday April 30th, 2016: The larger part of the conference started off without a hitch at 9:00am. The introduction, conducted by Evelyn Guzman-Islas and Hector Virgen-Marquez (External Co-Chair and Internal Co-Chair, respectively) was full of explanations regarding the conference events and what they should expect for the rest of the day. They made sure to send out thanks to many individuals, including their volunteers, who helped make this conference a reality, by giving out a shout out to them in recognition. Next the workshops. MEChA de WOU worked hard at ensuring that a variety of presenters would be present for the conference. Together, they got a myriad of presenters from Kristen Case and Alyssa Chiampi of Triangle Alliance (A LGBTQ and allies organization) to Oscar Sanchez, a representative of the Oregon Brown Berets.
As individuals went to their workshops the MEChA de WOU MESA board ensured that things ran smoothly. Through constant communication over Voxer, the Co-Chairs worked hard at making sure things fell into place. Whether that was by leading presenters to their room, coordinating the volunteers, or ensuring there were no technological difficulties, there was a lot of work to be done. The MESA board didn't falter to the stressful workload and continued onward through all the obstacles they had to face.
The Conference workshops stopped at 4:00pm on Saturday, just in time to have a presentation by multiple M.E.Ch.A alumni. Fernando Gaspasin, Mitzi Guzman, Veronica Lopez, Oscar Sanchez and Jill Torres all joined the Mechistas as alumnis from different backgrounds. They offered quality insight and wisdom to the Mechistas as a conversation was conducted back and forth between alumni and student.
After the panel they were greeted by Dr. Richard Santana, or better known as Senor Chocolate. Santana, the conference's keynote speaker, captivated the audience with his lewd performance that had people laughing and gasping. He focused on advocating for the idea of staying involved after University/College. He reminded the Mechistas that together they can accomplish anything, and the only way to stay whole is by keeping in touch with one another. M.E.Ch.A is a political powerhouse when it comes to farmworkers rights, alongside multiple other agendas such as immigration, HIV/STDs, intersectionality, and police brutality. Together they are strong, but separate they are not.
After the keynote presentation everyone moved to the front of the room to have a huge M.E.Ch.A Regional Conference group photo. Over fifty people were involved in this photo, and everyone was laughing and chatting with one another like family. Something that MEChA encourages is the idea of family. Keep your family safe, and they will keep you safe. The photo was immediately placed on social media, with hundreds of people reacting to the photo, it was easy to say the conference was ending in a good note.
As the night progressed, the MEChA de WOU MESA Board surprised the conference attendees once more by bringing an Aztec Dance Group, known as the Instituto de Cultura y Arte in Cochitl In Cuicatil. The group awed the crowed with their cultural dance, as they smoothly moved to the beat of a drum that echoed through campus.
The Aztec group presented MEChA de WOU with a gift of sage, and blessings from their gods to help aide the members in future endeavors. They left Western Oregon University that night, with blessings and good fortune for everyone who attended their performance.
At the end of the night, the students at the conference joined together for a night of dance and laughter. With a local DJ named Oscar Acevedo turning up the music for Mechistas to enjoy, the group of students danced the night away until the night ended.
A lot of hard work was put into creating and running the 2016 MEChA Regional Conference. With this being one of the only times that WOU has hosted a Regional Conference, the MEChA de WOU Chapter was pressured to ensuring it came out not only successful, but entertaining and informative.
A huge shout-out is due to the 2016 MESA Board:
Hector Virgen-Marquez
Evelyn Guzman
Brenda Flores
Janie Ramirez
Raquel Luna
Gabriela Tellez
Juan Navarro
Jaime Hernandez
Along with all the volunteers and supporting staff and alumni who participated or helped make the conference a reality.
