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When I read about Aspirational Capital I couldn't help but think of my mentor telling me that my parents didn't come this far to make nothing of myself. Being well aware of the reasons why my parents came to the United States, I constantly kept that in the back of my mind as I was growing up. Knowing that immigrant parents want their kids to be successful, one way that will help parents keep their aspirations alive is by making school visits and involvement less intimidating for them. A direct call to invite them and letting know what services will be available for them can go a long way in actually getting parents to get involved.

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At a previous job, I was one of the very few spanish speaking individuals on the campus. My position was a bilingual aid working with the EL students. When it came to conferences or parent meetings, I was asked to attend so I can help translate. I couldn't help but feel great about giving these parents the opportunity to feel comfortable in a setting that perhaps has always been intimidating for them. This is the way to go to help increase the Latinx parent involvement. Giving parents the opportunity to become involved without language being a barrier will allow Latinx parents to show up without the fear of not being able to communicate with their kid's teachers.

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When I read about aspirational capital, I began recalling the countless times that I didn't feel like going to school. My mother would always tell me, "Yo me esfuerzo en trabajar para que tu puedas estudiar." It was her way of letting me know that she wanted me take advantage of the opportunity that was being given to me. Her saying was something I kept in mind as I went for my undergraduate degree. As a future counselor, I can help students by sharing my experience as an example. Letting them know that their experiences can motivators to accomplish their parents or their own aspirations and that I am there to guide them with any possible resources at my disposal.

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One thing that my mother always wanted for me was to be able to be bilingual. At first I thought of it as a burden because at a very young age I was expected to be able to translate a lot of things that I had not heard of before. The other thing that I didn't like was the occasional accent that was heard when I spoke English. It wasn't until my Chicano Study classes that I began to accept my bilingualism as a tool of empowerment. As counselors we should be able to guide students to realize that their language is a source of empowerment  and identity that can help their community.

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As I read about navigational capital, the first thought came to mind was my experience in college. Being the first in my family to attend college, I had to figure how the system worked. The positive in that was that my parents were learning right along side me. This experience served to help my brother and cousin as they prepared for college by allowing me to give them some insight to what to do and get rid of some of the jitters they had. As a future school counselor, I can take this experience and guide students who might be in the same position I was in. Additionally, I can encourage them to have their parents involved of all information they receive because from what I learned parents are interested in learning, but just have no idea where to start.

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I was never one to be social, so getting through the first two years of undergrad were a bit difficult. At the end of the second year of being in community college, my English professor/Puente mentor was very social and always encouraged me to increase my sociability. As I began working in the school setting one of the principals thought me that having social capital was important because it created opportunities that otherwise would not be available. I began practicing even more and at this point in life feel that my social capital has expanded far more than community college. As a school counselor, I will let students know about the importance of connecting with people. It creates opportunity to possible careers or more things that can benefit them.

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Family is at the core of my grounding. Growing up my family unit consisted of my mom, aunt, brother, and myself. It wasn't as big as other families that I have seen, but they were and continue to be supportive in anyway possible. They have guided me through various life situations and have always helped me to remain grounded when needed. My family has taught me to be the person that I am by instilling values that have influenced my work and personal ethics. When I begin working with students, I will be able to let them know that their familial capital is important in their identity. As a future counselor I will try to celebrate their family heritage because they provide the values that will shape us. More importantly I will let them know that family units can be blended and I say this because I myself come form a blended family that is still supportive.

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Resistant capital is important for all to have. I am not a confrontational person, I love to be in peace. Although, as I have learned being non-confrontational is doesn't mean being a push over. Many times I have had to stand up for myself and my mom had always told me that there would be times were I would have to be strong. She would let me know that just like there are people who would be genuinely excited for me to succeed, there would be those who will not want that. As a counselor I can prepare my students to be ready to face their challenges without having to compromise their true selves. Knowing of resistant capital I can try to identify different methods and resources to have at my disposal to aid my students as they face a world of uncertainties that lies ahead.

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I was fortunate enough to have a decent experience navigating the college application and experience due to my older siblings. They both experienced going away from home for college so they were a huge help to me when I needed it. Unfortunately, not everyone has that similar experience. Especially for older siblings who are children of immigrant parents, they are challenged with the multiple barriers that navigating the system comes with.  As counselors, we need to ensure that all students have the opportunity to successfully navigate the system whether it's helping them get to college, attain their ideal job, or link them to community resources they and their family may need.

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At a very young age, I began to play organized team sports. I played throughout my entire life till I was about 19-20 years old. I was always involved with teams and in high school I joined a couple of clubs. During undergrad, I became involved with an organization on campus. Throughout these multiple experiences, I created multiple social networks that all served/serve different purposes in my life. I have learned the importance of creating social networks and how they can benefit your life experiences. Encouraging students to create a social capital can really improve their educational experience. Not only will it teach them how to be social with their peers, but also how to be comfortable in situations that they might find challenging.

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My experience with family was a little different than your typical nuclear family experience. I was raised to see people who genuinely cared for me and there for me to be family. My parents made it clear to me that anybody can be family. To this day, I am not as close to my extended family, but I can say I have a solid family as my backbone. Although they are not my immediate blood, they are the people who are truly there for me when I need them the most. I am really grateful that my parents raised me this way. I think that it is important to realize that we don't always need to stick to people just because they have the title of "family". It's important to recognize that we can make family of anyone that we feel genuine connections with. I think that this an important conversation we can have with students who might have estranged relationships with their parents/guardians, or other family members.

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As a Second generation Latino Aspirational capital is important. A lot of our families came from other countries to make it here in the US. We have a huge advantage because we personally know the stories of the hard work it took our families to make it here. My parents did not inspire met o get an education but to be a hard worker. Having a good work ethic is something important to have a job and in life. Not every LatinX comes to this country and goes to school. My parents worked hard and made their money working hard. Now that I have grown up and done back braking work, I saw the importance of education. My parents now that we are both older we see the importance of education. My parents and I don't want my brothers to get into a warehouse job where they can get fired at any second. As a counselor, I can tell students from first hand experience the jobs they can get out of high school aren't the jobs they want for the rest of their lives. Experience and education is what's required to make it.

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Since I was little I remember my parents encouraging me to learn how to defend myself. I learned to do this being the youngest of three siblings. As I went into high school and began to learn more about defending myself and my community from social injustices, I developed the ability to speak up and build resistant capital. I think that building resistant capital is extremely important for students to learn how to assert themselves in spaces that they may encounter any type of inequality. The transition to college for many students sometimes becomes challenging for this reason. In order for them to be successful in these spaces, the ability to advocate for themselves can be very beneficial.

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Probably my favorite thing about being Latino is speaking Spanish. Especially in this country we have more access to other Latinos of other countries and we are all joined by the language. We can enjoy other music an food because we can read the menus. We can travel to other countries and not be taken advantage of because of the language we speak. At work and school, you have a bond with people because you do not have to worry about the language barrier. As a counselor, I have parents come up to me because I was able to speak Spanish. We have to see our language as a positive because its a powerful tool. Educators and counselors should emphases to students learn another language because of the opportunities it gives you.

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As a counselor, I see the importance of navigational capital. I didn't have anyone besides my friends I met at college to help me. Luckily, I was in the military and I could use resources to help through college. Most students are not lucky to have friends or family in college. A lot of students I have talked to in my field work sites are still the first ones in their families graduating high school. From experience academic success can be traced to involved parents. As a counselor, the more I involved parents inn their students college future the more likely the student will succeed in college.

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When I hear social capital, I always think about its not what you know, but who you know. I feel like strangely my family has made me a social person. I always start with a hello or handshake, from years of saying hello to every family member at events. Being social and polite is important in every aspect of life. You never know when someone can help you. For example, I never though of going to grad school but when I did I had to get letters of recommendation. I never heard of letters of recommendations I asked a few teachers and they gladly wrote me one. As a counselor, we must be able to communicate well and have empathy. I feel like social people naturally gravitate to this profession.

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As a counselor, I see the effect of good and bad familial capital. A good effect is a strong support system and being able to to talk someone. The bad effect is having super high standards we cant achieve. As a college student I see the pressure of always wanting to make your family proud and that pressure can create unwanted stress. Having parental involvement can be the biggest factor in academic achievement. Familial capital helps with students finding an identity. During the teenage years students are more focused on their social life and who they are. Having that familial capital is important to guide them through those difficult times of self awareness.

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When I think of resistant capital, I think of advocating. Just because someone says it has to be this way doesn't mean it does. We used to have segregated schools till students resisted and fought for equal education. As a counselor, we must teach students right from wrong and to stand up for themselves. This country is built on resistant capital, we are the land of the free home of the brave. We must teach students to use their words instead of anger to express themselves. In schools I see students act out because they cant control their emotions. Teaching Conflict resolution can help students increase their resistant capital but learning how to engage people in civil conversations.

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Aspirational capital is essential to all students, when seeking motivation we also need to look to see who we aspire to and see as a mentor. My main inspiration to do well in school were my parents, they would always encourage me to pursue higher education to pursue my dream career or to at least have a job that did not require a lot of physical challenges like their jobs. They worked hard to allow myself and my siblings to have the opportunities we needed to be successful and for that I am grateful. It is important to show the students we help the value in aspirational capital, and find that person that they aspire to. 

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Aspirational capital is essential to all students, when seeking motivation we also need to look to see who we aspire to and see as a mentor. My main inspiration to do well in school were my parents, they would always encourage me to pursue higher education to pursue my dream career or to at least have a job that did not require a lot of physical challenges like their jobs. They worked hard to allow myself and my siblings to have the opportunities we needed to be successful and for that I am grateful. It is important to show the students we help the value in aspirational capital, and find that person that they aspire to. 

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Linguistic Capital: At my current job there are not that many Spanish speaking employees in my department, I am one of them. I love having the opportunity to help Spanish speaking students navigate the resources and academic life at a community college as well as helping Spanish speaking parents as well. I currently am working with a group on campus to increase our ESL program and I hope to continue helping spanish speakers navigate their academic and career goals at my current worksite. 

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Linguistic Capital: At my current job there are not that many Spanish speaking employees in my department, I am one of them. I love having the opportunity to help Spanish speaking students navigate the resources and academic life at a community college as well as helping Spanish speaking parents as well. I currently am working with a group on campus to increase our ESL program and I hope to continue helping spanish speakers navigate their academic and career goals at my current worksite. 

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I was the second of my immediate and extended family to attend college and although navigating through college applications and the FAFSA application was challenging, I did have the help of my older brother who had attended UCSB and he helped me with my applications and some of my FAFSA application but he also shared resources with me to help me complete my applications and FAFSA successfully. I am grateful for the knowledge he shared with me to be able to navigate this critical part in my academic life, I hope to do the same with the students I work with.

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I was the second of my immediate and extended family to attend college and although navigating through college applications and the FAFSA application was challenging, I did have the help of my older brother who had attended UCSB and he helped me with my applications and some of my FAFSA application but he also shared resources with me to help me complete my applications and FAFSA successfully. I am grateful for the knowledge he shared with me to be able to navigate this critical part in my academic life, I hope to do the same with the students I work with.

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Growing up I was not always a social being, especially when it came to professional settings, I was always scared to say or do something wrong, however I have always faced my fears and through college I made an effort to participate in my student government and joined a sorority. Through the various clubs and participation I realized the importance of social capital and realized that sometimes it is about who you know and to always give good impressions, thus it is imperative to pass down the importance of social capital to my future students and emphasize the importance of growing their social circle.

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Growing up I was not always a social being, especially when it came to professional settings, I was always scared to say or do something wrong, however I have always faced my fears and through college I made an effort to participate in my student government and joined a sorority. Through the various clubs and participation I realized the importance of social capital and realized that sometimes it is about who you know and to always give good impressions, thus it is imperative to pass down the importance of social capital to my future students and emphasize the importance of growing their social circle.

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Familial capital is important to be successful. I was blessed to have supportive parents and one supportive sibling, however two of my older siblings were not really supportive and chose paths I did not. I realized that sometimes we make our family by choosing the family we want and staying away from toxic family members or setting boundaries for family that don’t support us or don’t wish us well. I have built a family of close friends who do support me and share similar experiences to mine, thus it is important to have family close but to also build boundaries with those family members who are toxic.

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Familial capital is important to be successful. I was blessed to have supportive parents and one supportive sibling, however two of my older siblings were not really supportive and chose paths I did not. I realized that sometimes we make our family by choosing the family we want and staying away from toxic family members or setting boundaries for family that don’t support us or don’t wish us well. I have built a family of close friends who do support me and share similar experiences to mine, thus it is important to have family close but to also build boundaries with those family members who are toxic.

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Resistant capital is essential for our integrity and to defend our point of view. Growing up my mom would sometimes say to me “not te dejes” there are times when people will try to take advantage of you so don’t let yourself be fooled, always defend yourself and your beliefs. In my workplace I am vocal when I feel there has been an injustice and fight to correct injustices or change policies or procedures that are not fair. Advocating for oneself is imperative and I will ensure the students I help have the resources and practice. 

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Resistant capital is essential for our integrity and to defend our point of view. Growing up my mom would sometimes say to me “not te dejes” there are times when people will try to take advantage of you so don’t let yourself be fooled, always defend yourself and your beliefs. In my workplace I am vocal when I feel there has been an injustice and fight to correct injustices or change policies or procedures that are not fair. Advocating for oneself is imperative and I will ensure the students I help have the resources and practice. 