国产传媒

A former English major at the Mount and now nearing completion of a master鈥檚 in education with an emphasis on school library and information technology at Fresno Pacific University, Yahtina Macali Soto 鈥�07 has been featured before for her work at the Sonia Sotomayor Learning Academies when she developed myriad online programs to keep students engaged during the pandemic when they were relegated to learning from home. 

She has since created programs designed to foster her students鈥� self esteem and pride in their Indigenous cultural backgrounds, and she used this work as a basis for obtaining a Fulbright scholarship, where she worked with other recipients to develop additional lesson plans and programs that they could all use in their communities. As part of the Fulbright, recipients also typically travel to other countries to share their programs.

Many of the children at the Academies felt 鈥渓ess than鈥� in society because they spoke Spanish. Soto admits that even some school administrators were guilty of saying things like 鈥淲e don鈥檛 speak Spanish here; we speak English,鈥� which frustrates Soto. 鈥淭here are plenty of job descriptions in Los Angeles that require, or at least prefer, that the applicant speak Spanish. Why are we telling our kids not to speak Spanish?鈥� Given that some authority figures are sending negative messages, Soto says it鈥檚 not surprising that kids have low self-esteem. There are students who speak a third, indigenous language, and they often get called indios. 鈥淭hat like a slur for saying that a person is stupid,鈥� explains Soto, when they should be valued for having a third language and world view. 

鈥淎 lot of the children, they learn to feel less than because they speak Spanish or an indigenous language,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 reframe their minds: that鈥檚 not a weakness, that鈥檚 actually a strength. Don鈥檛 lose your home language. Be proud of who you are. You determine who you are, and bi-literacy, bi-culturalism, equals global competency. Remember that we鈥檙e all interconnected, and we all have a similar thread.鈥�

Soto鈥檚 projects thus focus on self-determination. She teaches students to understand who they are and their place in the world so that they can connect to others. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important that they understand their past and what they can use from the past to make a better future.鈥�

Her students learned about native tribes in California, their original food sources, sustainable living arrangements and how to take that information and replicate it to prevent of lot of issues that we鈥檙e going through now in terms of environmental impact, for example. Soto worked with other teachers to create interdisciplinary projects, and students created sculptures and monuments, wrote poems and created recipes based on indigenous food and cooking practices. 

Soto鈥檚 Fulbright cohort focused on helping students become globally competent to better compete with other nations and communicate more effectively with other cultures. Cohorts are assembled based on similar themes so that everyone can work together and expand their lesson plans exponentially. The 75 people in her cohort came from all areas of the United States. 

The timing of Soto鈥檚 Fulbright, which was completed during the 2021-2022 academic year, necessitated some changes, largely because of COVID. A symposium typically takes place in Washington, DC, and there is a meeting with the president of the Fulbright Scholarship Board, a ball and a dinner. The symposium was moved online and the other events canceled.

鈥淚t was disappointing,鈥� Soto admitted. 鈥淚鈥檓 still hoping to go to Colombia for two weeks to teach the various lessons plans that the cohort members produced. But it was a great experience, as far as meeting the people in the cohort. They鈥檙e all amazing teachers with great ideas. It was fun working together on projects, which led to the creation of an online, four-month course that we developed from our work. My district was very excited about this project, and it aligns with the themes of my school.鈥�

For now, her students at Sotomayor are benefitting from her work. As a teacher librarian, Soto is able to garner maximum exposure to her work, as the entire school is involved with the library. Indigenous People鈥檚 Day and Earth Day are examples of schoolwide events under her purview. A culminating project included a visit from Uruguayan Pulitzer-prize winning photojournalist Pablo Albarenga, who covers Indigenous rights as well as issues surrounding the Amazon. The visit was a byproduct of the Fulbright, as it was among her cohort that Soto learned that schools could apply to have a political journalist visit campus to address students.

Soto鈥檚 efforts with her students have paid off. The students are engaged, spending much of their free time in the library working on displays, running a mental health fair, creating a Twitter account for the library, hosting a talent show, making videos and creating a podcast.

In her work reframing her students鈥� attitudes about themselves, Soto is giving back. Formerly a foster child, Soto credits the Mount for having assisted her. 鈥淚 had so many great experiences with people at the Mount, which was particularly impactful coming from a place where I didn鈥檛 have any love,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey reframed me into believing that I was worthy and put a lot of love into me. I started to think about the kind of person I wanted to be, and they helped me be that person.鈥�