Clara Puente

I took my parents early voting this year. I felt it was necessary to get our vote in early and in person. Although the pandemic should have discouraged my family and me to vote by mail, I did not trust our postal service. Due to the nature of our political dividedness, I had a bad feeling thing it would not work out perfectly. So, in the midst of a pandemic, we voted in person. My family had never early voted before because quite honestly, we were not that informed or politically active. My parents only found themselves participating in the national elections because there was less national encouragement for local and mid-term elections. I believe this presidency has changed a lot of Americans in not being indifferent about our voting rights. It is important, especially for me, to use my vote as my voice. In Springdale, we elected our first Latino city council member. An amazing accomplishment for a city.
I enjoyed voting in person, and I am grateful to have taken my parents with me. Thankfully, my dad was able to cast his vote before his accident. My sister, however, had to go vote on her own the morning we left for Dallas to be with my dad. We voted at the civic center, and I found it to be safe and spacious. Everyone was so kind except for the old man at the door – he might have been having a bad day, but I will never know. The place was everything I expected it to be like: spacious and safe. However, I was anticipating a long wait time because my parents and I went towards the end of the day Saturday afternoon. Overall, my voting experience was pretty mundane, and that’s exactly how I want it to be and stay.

I volunteered three hours to Arkansas United. This week was our phone banking campaign to get Latinos in Northwest Arkansas to fill out the census. The census is an important part of our communities so that we may get the appropriate funding. Our goal was to ensure that we encouraged the Latino community in Northwest Arkansas. Earlier in the year, the census count was threatened by the Trump administration with the citizenship question. This brought fear into our community here in Northwest Arkansas, and it was important to reassure and inform our neighbors and friends that it would not be on the census.

Prepared for the gala at Embassy Suites in Rogers. We set up the silent auction, add gold tablecloths, and made sure the sound system was in order. The event was a success and we raised over 25k. We are excited to see our community being so helpful and willing to integrate those who are new to NWA.

I took a study break from finals, and I made my way to Hotz for a donut!!

Sent out emails for our gala fundraiser that Arkansas United was planning on having! We are hoping a huge turnout in order to keep supporting our immigrant community in NWA.

I volunteered at Arkansas United. I translated legal documents from English to Spanish. Also took the time to make some calls for a fundraiser.

I was looking into study abroad grants in case I wanted to take another chance at learning and exploring all in one! Chelsea was awesome about presenting the information, and she definitely gave us great pointers to succeed in the application process.

I attended Planting a Seed. I thought it was very thoughtful and insightful. As a minority, it is important to stand up for one another and also be willing to learn about cultural appropriation. It gave me a lot to think about moving forward in my undergrad career.

I formed a part of the panel that talked about learning from past "failures". Failures on campus tend to be seen as detrimental and it's important to not see them as that; failures are the best learning opportunities we can take for ourselves.

At the NWA Immigration Resource Center, I worked on poster for the vigil being held in Fort Smith and Little Rock protesting the new law S.B. 411.