Isabel Castillo Archives - EMU News

Registration is now OPEN for Homecoming 2014

Mike Zucconi — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 18:13:03 +0000

Registration is now available for Homecoming 2014 at ��ݮ�� (EMU), Oct. 10-12.

Celebrations and events include:

A festive gathering preceding class reunions on Saturday, Oct. 11
Class reunions for years ending in “4” and “9”
Departmental breakfasts and special interest reunions
A Jubilee Alumni event and program for alumni who graduated more than 50 years ago
Sporting events: soccer, field hockey and volleyball
Community picnic on Saturday evening for ALL members of the EMU��ǳ��ܲԾ��ٲ�
Sunday worship service with alumni award recipients

See the .

Remembering 2013

In 2013, EMU recognized the first “Outstanding Young Alum”; embraced music and theater performances; enjoyed fellowship with alumni and donors; and cheered on the Royals during . Browse and learn more about the honorees , and .

Future Homecomings

Don’t forget to save the date for future celebrations. The 2015 Homecoming and Family Weekend celebration is scheduled for Oct. 9-11, and the 2016 celebration will be held Oct. 14-16.

Near-home “cross-culturals” prove to be life-changing too

Chris Edwards — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 23:03:42 +0000

For most EMU undergrads, cross-cultural study entails deepening their knowledge of humanity in such settings as South Korea, Eastern Europe or the Galapagos. Yet others find equally life-changing experiences in their own backyards.

Since 2001, EMU has offered the “local context ” program for students whose work and/or family responsibilities preclude lengthy travel, says , assistant professor in the and the program’s course leader.

Sarah Baker, starting her senior year at age 26, was one of 13 this May who explored diverse communities locally during evening sessions, and in Washington, D.C., for a weekend.

Perfect for single parent

“It was perfect for me because I’m a single parent,” says Baker, who had wondered since entering EMU how she would complete the cross-cultural graduation requirement. She and her son, in third grade, live with her parents in Rockingham County. Having never traveled further than Florida, she hopes to go overseas someday, but not without him now.

However, Baker told fellow-students in a recent chapel service that having been raised locally, when the class studied Harrisonburg history, “I thought I couldn’t learn anything new. How wrong!”

She explained, “Without this class I would never have heard about Zenda or Newtown.” Newtown is the historic name for the area settled by former slaves. “We’d always considered it the ‘bad’ part of town. I had no idea why,” Baker recalls, although her aunt attended school with Newtown’s basketball icon, Ralph Sampson. Studying Newtown and Zenda (a historic black community in northern Rockingham County), meant enjoying a home-cooked meal and hearing residents’ stories. Learning about “urban renewal” decimating Newtown in the 1960s, Baker empathized, recalling woods and fields of her childhood being razed for development.

Discovering “bad” part of town. . . isn’t

Students visited a Newtown church and a local mosque – both “different, very different, but good,” says Baker. And although raised in the Brethren church, she encountered fresh history when visiting the .

Carrie Allen McCray’s book, Freedom’s Child: The Life of a Confederate General’s Daughter, served as a reference, Durham says – giving perspective from black descendants of Gen. J.R. Jones, buried in Harrisonburg.

More lessons came with viewing the locally produced documentary, The Latino Underground, and meeting , who advocates nationally for the Dream Act proposal to allow a citizenship path for undocumented youth such as herself, brought to the United States as a child.

“She is amazing,” says Baker, who grew up observing immigration changing the local community. Early in elementary school, Baker met her first, lone Hispanic classmate, while adults complained, “They’ll steal our jobs.”

Eager not to be narrow minded

She says that mindset had been a “single story” for her – referring to a video the class saw in which Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie addressed The Danger of the Single Story. Starting with childhood memories of reading, and trying to emulate, British tales containing snow and ginger beer, Adichie said such a “single story” may crowd out other perspectives. “We form our own opinion from others’ stories. It makes us narrow- minded,” explained Belinda Hinkle, of Grottoes, who also spoke in chapel about the class, calling Durham’s teaching “awesome.”

Baker – who had only seen one large city (D.C.), and that only with her son to visit museums — shared a poem it inspired her to write:

The city created beggars and riches.###Starvin’ people in line for soup kitchens. . .

The students visited office, studying its work of public advocacy. They stayed at Church of the Pilgrim and visited the multicultural .

Exploring non-touristy D.C. on foot

Durham, sending them off in small groups to explore city neighborhoods, advised sampling ethnic foods, adding, “Don’t go as a tourist. Go to feel and see.” She reported, “They walked their legs off” – estimating 15 miles for many.

“It was real,” Baker recalls. When she suggested her group visit the historic , and two young men realized they would be the only Caucasians present, she says, “They freaked out.” She smiles: “I told them I was going in, so they had to follow me.”

She recalls an earlier “wow moment” when employed in the during a . Clearing tables as an African group finished dining, she realized she was the only white person there. “I was sticking out like a sore thumb,” she laughs. “It was humbling.”

Changed forever

In the class and on the trip, conversing and keeping journals, she feels “a lot of us learned from each other”– often from sharing uncomfortably different reactions. Some, herself included, were moved, but others not, by the film, Chocolate City, depicting black residents displaced by gentrification. Seeing homelessness troubled most classmates. Baker observed, “When you’ve got the super rich, you’ve got the super poor.”

She’s determined to attend graduate school. The local context class, Baker says, “changed me forever.”

Outstanding Young Alum: Castillo Campaigns for Immigration Reform

Steve Shenk — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 17:55:47 +0000

Still in her 20s, Isabel Castillo ’07 is already a nationally recognized leader of the immigration-law reform movement in the United States. She was the commencement speaker at the University of San Francisco, was called one of “, and was .

Risking deportation to her native Mexico, Castillo is publicly campaigning for sweeping changes in the way the U.S. deals with its 11 million undocumented residents. She is especially promoting a bill in the U.S. Congress – the – that would help people like herself who were brought to America as children by undocumented parents. DREAM stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors.

When she spoke at the University of San Francisco in 2011, Castillo received an honorary doctorate “for unwavering advocacy for the passage for the DREAM Act.” She was the youngest EMU graduate ever to win an honorary doctorate.

A standout student at Turner Ashby High School in Bridgewater, Va., Castillo faced bleak prospects for college and employment when she graduated. Many colleges do not admit undocumented students and most employers will not hire someone like her. She does not have a Social Security number.

EMU admitted Castillo, but she struggled to pay her way, since undocumented students do not qualify for the usual loans and scholarships. However she managed to graduate in 3½ years with the highest academic honors, earning a degree in social work.

Now she travels widely to speak and campaign while working as a server in a family restaurant in Harrisonburg. After speaking with Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia recently, he told Castillo’s story on the floor of the U.S. Senate during debate on an immigration bill.

“Every day about 1,000 undocumented immigrants get deported from the U.S.,” she says. “Deportations should end while Congress tries to pass immigration reform.”

“I haven’t worked with any other young alum who has accomplished as much as Isabel in such a short period of time,” says , EMU’s director of career services. “She has the odds stacked against her and yet she continues to persist and successfully advocate for her cause.”

Castillo Sees Movement Toward Easing Immigrants’ Plight

Lani Prunés — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 19:25:13 +0000

After a June 2012 announcement by President Obama to grant “deferred action” to undocumented youth, Isabel Castillo ‘07 applied for authorization to work and live legally in the United States for the first time in her life. She also began assisting many others with similar applications.

Nevertheless, Castillo, a national leader in advocating for immigration-law reform, says “deferred action” falls far short of addressing the plight of undocumented immigrants living in the United States. For Castillo, the solution lies in enacting the , along with larger immigration reform and community support.

DREAM (which stands for Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors) and Obama’s have parallel criteria to permit minors brought illegally to America to remain in the country after they become young adults. The criteria include:

• having arrived before the age of 16

• having lived in the U.S. for more than five years

• being between 15 and 35 at the age of applying

• no criminal record

The big difference between the two is that DACA is short term, while DREAM offers the hope of a permanent solution. DACA provides those eligible with work permits and is only valid for a two-year period, putting childhood arrivals at risk of deportation in the future.

“Deferred Action is very temporary, and it’s not a path for legalization,” Castillo says. “There’s still that risk that a new president could come in and cancel this program at any time.”

Castillo has been campaigning for the DREAM Act because it would permit “conditional legal status” – and a pathway to eventual citizenship – for those who meet certain criteria in terms of educational achievement or military service.

While thrilled to see any movement whatsoever in the direction of reform, Castillo feels DACA was a political move on President Obama’s part, timed to garner the votes of Latinos in the presidential election.

Brought from Mexico to the United States at age 6, Castillo has been fighting for immigration reform since graduating magna cum laude from EMU with a social work degree. Unable to work legally, she decided to speak up on behalf of herself and other undocumented young adults, despite the risk of deportation and separation from her loved ones.

Castillo has been covered in the , , , and , a network that produces the second-largest amount of Spanish content in the world. She has spoken before governors, members of Congress and state legislatures, and university students, sharing her experiences and advocating legislative change. She has received an honorary doctorate from the University of San Francisco for her efforts.

The issues faced by immigrants like Castillo go beyond inability to find legal employment. Without a social security number, they cannot get driver’s licenses, apply for government-backed student loans, or even get admitted into most colleges, even if someone pays their way. James Madison University, for example, does not take undocumented students. These difficult realities motivate Castillo to go wherever she can – as close as churches and schools in the Shenandoah Valley to educate residents, as far south as Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to rally against “low-profile” deportations, and as far west as the University of Hawaii in O’ahu, where she discussed how to achieve equality for all immigrant youth, regardless of their legal status.

In October 2012, Castillo and supporters of immigration reform achieved a victory on the local level. Castillo spoke at the Rockingham (Va.) County Government Building on the topic of 287G, a contract signed between local government and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Though the ostensible purpose of 287G was to deport high-level criminals, Castillo and her allies found that of the 297 individuals deported under 287G, only 12 percent were high-level offenders.

Thanks to mass emails, phone calls, flyers, and informational meetings, over 100 came to an Oct. 24 rally to ask that 287G be terminated, including many from EMU.

Professor Carol Snell-Feikema of EMU’s , who attended the rally, said afterwards that she was thankful for Castillo’s “gifted voice, speaking on behalf of those most affected.” She added that Castillo “presented solid empirical evidence, as well presented the human side of the issue. She spoke from the heart, told personal stories with real impact, and did a great job of summarizing our work of interviewing Latinos in the community on the real-life effects of 287G in their daily lives.”

ICE wanted Rockingham County to extend 287G for three more months, but Rockingham County took no action at the meeting, causing 287G to end.

Supporters of 287G could attempt to reinstate it in December, and there is ever-constant work to do when it comes to local law enforcement, let alone that of the state and federal level. Castillo does not see herself giving up the struggle anytime soon for more humane laws.

EMU Opens Convocation “Like No Other”

Mike Zucconi — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 13:56:34 +0000

��ݮ�� (EMU) called students, faculty and staff to be “like no other,” as a Christian university and as servant leaders, to the standing-room only crowd in Lehman Auditorium during opening convocation Wednesday, Aug. 29.

“The story of the Good Samaritan reminds us that those who serve most effectively are not typically the most respected among us, nor do they often come from the ranks of those with obvious power,” said Swartzendruber. “Servant leaders are those who frequently did not seek leadership roles but act out of deeply held values which are often then noticed by others.”

Swartzendruber linked his message to several alumni who have made an impact as servant leaders across the world, including: , a 2007 graduate of and a ; Eliza Barnhart Burkholder, a 2009 nursing graduate who received the first in Harrisonburg; , a 2007 graduate and DREAM Act advocate; and , a 2007 graduate who is leading an environmental effort in Borneo to stop palm oil producers from taking over the rain forest, among others.

Faculty, staff and returning students line up from Lehman Auditorium to the Campus Center in a “human tunnel” to welcome new members to the EMU community. Photo by Jon Styer.

In distinguishing EMU from its peers as a “Christian university like no other,” Swartzendruber noted its diverse program base.

“There are five Mennonite colleges in the U.S. and EMU is the only one that embodies a seminary, a Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, a , and with the advent of the new this fall, a total of ,” said Swartzendruber.

EMU also includes an to prepare non-native speakers for futher academic study and a popular .

In closing, Swartzendruber issued a promise to students that an education at EMU is more than just a one-way “dissemination of information” that can be found on podcasts and mass lectures.

“Our promise is that for your tuition payments, you will have every opportunity to become an educated person, one who will be prepared to serve and lead in a global context. And we will fulfill that promise by seeking to be ‘like no other.'”

Cross-cultural sending

The convocation closed with a commissioning for students who left campus Wednesday on fall semester cross-cultural seminar to New Zealand and .

, professor of , and his wife Kathy, will lead a group of 22 students to New Zealand to explore the variety of sustainability issues facing the island country.

Faculty, staff and students gather to pray for the cross-cultural groups leaving for South Africa/Lesotho and New Zealand. Photo by Jon Styer.

The program will have two themes—cultural and environmental. The cultural studies will center on homestays and the book, “The Sociology of Everyday Life in New Zealand.” They will spend time in urban and rural areas, focusing on specific environmental issues and applying them to their particular interests and fields of study.

The majority of the stay will be in the mountainous and agricultural environments of the South Island.

The South Africa and Lesotho group, led by Harlan de Brun, instructor in physical education and recreation, and assisted by EMU alumni Denay Fuglie and Kelsey Yoder, will study the values and norms of South African culture, learn about the African Independent Church movement, do elementary Sesotho language study and focus on community development and projects with particular attention given to AIDS issues.

The group of 21 students will read, hear lectures and journal about the history and culture of Southern Africa, including the Apartheid era and how religious beliefs affected government policy. They return to campus Dec. 5.

‘Shenandoah Welcome’

Returning students, faculty and staff gave new members of the EMU community a traditional “Shenandoah Welcome” as they wended their way through a human “tunnel” of smiling faces and clapping hands accompanied by Appalachian bluegrass music.

EMU’s fall semester ends Dec. 14.

(President Swartzendruber speaks at 12:50)

Castillo Spotlighted in The Atlantic Magazine

Bonnie Price Lofton — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:36:05 +0000

Isabel Castillo, who holds a ’07 degree in social work from ��ݮ�� (EMU), is recognized in the November issue of The Atlantic as one of the “21 brave thinkers of 2011.”

Castillo’s life was summarized in magazine by Jose Antonio Vargas, a former Washington Post reporter who identified himself as an undocumented immigrant to the United States, like Castillo.

“Isabel Castillo was 6 years old when she was smuggled across the Mexican border,” Vargas wrote. “While her parents picked apples and the family sold tacos out of their home in the Shenandoah Valley, Isabel dreamed big — but only so big. After all, she did not have a Social Security number.

“Unable to apply for financial aid, she worked for a year, off the books, to save money for college. After graduating magna cum laude from ��ݮ�� in 2007, she was unable to legally find a job.”

Vargas praised Castillo for refusing to fearfully hide in the shadows and for pressing Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell in a public meeting to endorse the DREAM Act. This act would give undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children a path to legal residency.

Since the summer of 2010, Castillo has become a national leader as a highly public advocate for undocumented immigrants. She was the 2011 commencement speaker at the University of San Francisco, which conferred an honorary doctorate on her. She was featured in a Feb. 20, 2011, New York Times article, “” and on Telemundo, the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world.

Recently Harvard Divinity School chose Castillo to be one of 40 invitees to its 2011 Diversity and Explorations Program to be held Nov. 8-10, 2011. Castillo’s invitational letter cited her “combination of academics and interests in social justice and diversity, as well as [her] desire to explore connections with graduate studies in theology, religion, or ministry.”

National Spotlight on EMU Grad Isabel Castillo

Bonnie Lofton — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:55:42 +0000

Isabel Castillo ’07 has become a nationally recognized spokesperson for the plight of undocumented young people in the United States.

Castillo was featured in a Feb. 20, 2011, New York Times article, “.” This publicity led Jesuit-run University of San Francisco to invite her to be its commencement speaker this spring and to offer her an honorary doctorate.

On Feb. 24, 2011, Castillo was interviewed for Telemundo, the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world.

Castillo first came to public attention on July 20, 2010, when she was one of 20 undocumented young people arrested in Washington DC for staging non-violent, sit-down actions at the Hart Senate Office Building to appeal for passage of the DREAM Act. (The Act was derailed when it was five votes short of advancing in the Senate.)

Castillo was brought by her parents as a 6-year-old to the United States. She graduated from Turner Ashby High School near Harrisonburg, Va., with a 4.0 GPA. She graduated magna cum laude from EMU, with a major in social work.

Congressional passage of the DREAM Act – the acronym stands for Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors – would give undocumented immigrants ages 12-30 a path to legal residency. They would be able to apply for citizenship if they serve in the military or get a college education. It would take at least 10 years and perhaps as much as a 15-20 years for a person to satisfy the requirements.

On Aug. 26, 2010, Castillo spoke eloquently at a town hall meeting held by Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, a Republican pushing for tougher deportation policies. In January 2011, she went to Richmond, the capital of Virginia, and testified before a House of Delegates subcommittee that was considering a proposal to bar undocumented students from state-supported colleges.

In October 2010, Bob Edwards of National Public Radio interviewed Castillo for a segment of his national show.

Castillo’s biggest risk is being deported and ending up alone in an unfamiliar setting in Mexico, away from her home, her family and her friends. “At first, I’d only allow the media to shoot my face turned away and only my first name,” she told the New York Times reporter.

“And then it just progressed. I said, O.K., use my face and you can say I went to a local university. Then it was, I graduated from ��ݮ�� and I’m Isabel Castillo.”

Castillo paid her way through EMU by working 30 hours a week at unsalaried casual jobs, such as babysitting and waitressing, and continues to survive by working in this manner, while accepting multiple (usually unpaid) invitations to speak on the DREAM Act.

A reporter for the Capital News Service in Richmond quoted Isabel as saying: “I started doing activism because the issue affected me, but now I do it for the thousands of people like me who are scared to stand up. I have a sense of relief.”

She adds, “I’m not ashamed or scared. I’m not a criminal. I’m no longer going to hide in the shadows.”

EMU Alum Isabel Castillo: Giving the DREAM a Push

Jeremy Hunt, Daily News-Record — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0000

A local immigrant rights activist and 2007 EMU alum returned to Harrisonburg late Wednesday following a trip to D.C., where she was arrested during a demonstration on Capitol Hill.