A week ago, I met with Ms. Egan to discuss certain aspects of my project such as my objectives, the intended audience, and how to educate the Emma Willard community about businesses that are beneficial to the local immigrant population. Through this conversation, we decided that a great way to do this would be to create a database with information about restaurants, companies, and shops that Emma students should support. I am also hoping to create a list of "red flags" that customers should look out for at a business with regard to exploitation and research local organizations that have provided employment in a safe way during COVID-19. I am incredibly excited about this prospect because in my experience, the students at Emma Willard frequently engage with stores and shops in downtown Troy. So, providing this information to my school would both educate students on equitable, sustainable places they should buy from and also support local businesses that are doing good for the community. In order to gather information to lay the foundation for my database, I plan to have conversations with Ms. Halfi and people involved with Capital District Latinos so that I may identify specific places to research.
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Throughout October and November, I plan to collect books, newspapers, and primary sources related to the exploitation of Latin American immigrants in the workplace. I will then compile this information into blog posts/essays and publish them to my website. In December, I hope to connect with some local organizations, such as Capital District Latinos and the Berkshire Immigrant Center, in order to learn more about this issue on a local level. Around January, I hope to conduct a few interviews with representatives from these organizations. Towards the end of January, I will be taking a class taught by Ms. Egan titled "Advanced Studies Spanish V: La migración e identidad," which will perfectly align with my Signature project. So, for the next few months, I will also be writing about my experience in that class and how it has contributed towards my Signature project. In April, I will begin to prepare a presentation to be shared with the Emma Willard Community that will hopefully include a series of blog posts/essays, interview transcripts, a recommended reading list, and some self reflection.
My name is Gabriela Zasada and I am a senior boarding student from Williamstown, MA. I grew up on Caretaker Farm, an organic farm in the Berkshire Valley, which my father manages. My mother works as a "Community Outreach Organizer" for the First Congregational Church in Williamstown. Her work with local Latin American immigrants inspired my Signature project for 2020-2021, titled "Latin American Immigrants of Berkshire County" (here is my website: ilaberkshire.weebly.com). This year, my project revolves around how Latin American immigrants have been exploited through the food industry. I was inspired to begin researching this topic through my U.S. History course last year, where I was given the opportunity to learn about the Bracero Program and the Mexican migrant workers who were confined to farm work. Additionally, I was recently made aware of some local events related to the mistreatment of Latin American restaurant workers. Because of this, I am interested to learn more about how these immigrants have been impacted by the food industry both throughout history and on a local level.
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