It Takes a Village to Graduate a HMoob Student

• In Event: Refusing Racial Injustice: Generating Educational Possibilities Through HMoob Theory and Praxis

Abstract

Objectives: As DEI and Affirmative Action-based initiatives come under scrutiny, it is more crucial than ever to evaluate the impact of social, academic, and financial support programs for HMoob and other marginalized students. Our work suggests that singular points of support who often takes the form of academic advisors are not enough for all HMoob students to challenge institutional barriers. Rather, HMoob students prosper when provided rich communities of support that nourish peer relationships and intergenerational relationships. This paper follows the stories and experiences of a few HMoob undergraduate students at UW-Madison as they navigate institutional barriers toward STEM careers.

Perspective(s) or Theoretical Framework: Participatory Action Research (Fine & Torre, 2021) and Community Cultural Wealth (Yosso, 2005) go hand in hand for the success of this work. This project draws upon the expertise of HMoob students and scholars as the living, breathing “engine” of the work. In doing so, HMoob students research participants not only trust those conducting and guiding the research but also are weaved into our web of accountability–an accountability that demands of us, researchers, to answer to people first and institutions second.

Methods and Data: These stories were collected as part of a larger PAR mixed methods project which included a survey to all HMoob undergraduate students of the UW schools in addition to 75-minute interviews. We then did follow-up participant observations and unstructured interviews with participants in their respective support programs. Our case studies include Aiden, a HMoob student in the Pre-Health Scholars Program (PHS), and Dao, a HMoob student in the WiscSTEM program. Both programs support student success in STEM undergraduate programs as well as preparation for graduate school. Both programs also emphasize community and peer support in addition to mentorship.

Results/Conclusion: Successful support programming for HMoob students towards graduation and matriculation into graduate school rests on the cultural wealth with which many HMoob students enter college. For Aiden, this means having not only a plethora of mentors and advisors but also rich peer networks where the common goal is for all to succeed; not just one. This came through sharing resources and forming informal study and support groups. Dao indicated that being paired up with a peer mentor and faculty mentor within their own field as well as being a peer mentor for younger students allowed HMoob students to create a community for themselves within their field.

Significance: This collectivist approach that some HMoob students adopt in their support programs suggests that individual merit alone is not enough. Additionally, success in the HMoob worldview is not measured individually but rather based on how one can “pay it forward” and support their peers, families, and communities. HMoob students, therefore, are drawing upon their own cultural wealth as a counter to neoliberal ideals. Ideals that would demand of them to abandon their cultural ways of knowing and their communities. Understanding and leveraging this cultural wealth has the potential for greater outcomes for both HMoob students and those they interact with.

Authors

• Chundou Her, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Mai Chong Yang, University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh

• Matthew Wolfgram, University of Wisconsin - Madison