In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, the The Multicultural Innovative Community for Academic Success and Achievement program hosted a screening of the Disney film “McFarland USA” and an opportunity to hear from one of the film’s original runners.
The film “McFarland USA” is based on cross country coach Jim White moving into McFarland, Calif., located in the San Joaquin Valley northwest of Bakersfield.
The film shows how White inspires a group of students to develop as runners, and also helps them in their personal lives.
Thomas Valles, one of the original boys on whom the film is based, shared his life story and experiences on campus on Oct. 9, discussing resilience and the challenges he faced growing up as a Mexican-American farm worker, student and runner.
“We live in a time in our life where we need to be good examples for the next generation for people that look like us, we all need encouragement,” Valles said. “And I hope I can encourage you to do the very best you can be wherever you’re from, whether you’re born here, or whatever country you come from to be here. This is the American dream guys and don’t be scared.”
Valles said both his parents were farm workers with little to no educational background and never talked about college, which made his education feel like less of a priority.
“To accomplish something like winning a state championship, it took a lot of work, it took a lot of effort, it took setting goals, and when you set goals in life, sometimes there are setbacks,” Valles said. “I’ve had my setbacks.”
MI CASA provided attendees with snacks and drinks, such as elote and Coca-Cola.
“I learned that no matter the obstacles you go through in life, there’s always a better outcome to it, even if you don’t get exactly where you want,” said Angel Takeuchi, a 20-year-old health major.
Takeuchi said she related to him a lot because she’s been through a lot of things herself, so seeing how far he went in life with all the things he went through was very inspiring.
Ana Mercado, a communications professor, said she liked his message on how success isn’t just clear cut, even if we don’t finish college, we might not get to where we’re going, and what we learn here is something that no one can ever take away.
“I think it’s just the opportunity to recognize students aren’t just black and white, some students aren’t just here and being full time students, they’re navigating a lot of different parts of their life,” Mercado said.