Celia Fenollar Rubio by Lluvia CarrisozaUndocumented Resilient and Organized (URO) is a new club at NEIU. Visions for this club began in the Fall 2011 semester, where a group of students concerned about the immigrant struggle met to talk about their concerns and dreams. The group of students went ahead and started a club under the leadership of Jose Herrera. URO is an organization of undocumented and fellow students who can relate, commit and contribute to the five points that unite us:

Building a community of support among undocumented students at NEIU.

Creating awareness about issues affecting undocumented students and students of mixed-status families. This includes educating administration, faculty, staff and students but also ourselves.

Mentoring undocumented high school students as they transition to higher education.

Building bridges among other student organizations on and off campus.

Expanding financial resources available to undocumented students through: fundraisers, new scholarships, and other incentives.

URO is not just for undocumented students, but for anyone that can relate to the undocumented struggle. URO decided against having officer names such as president, vice president etc. instead URO has Organizers, Coordinators, Financial Officers and Facilitators.

José G. Herrera is an undocumented and returning student majoring in sociology. He is a co-founder and organizer of the newly formed club organization “Undocumented Resilient & Organized (URO).” José is a single father who is challenging the system that questions his legality in the U.S and uses his life experiences as a tool for education, mobilization and to empower others; he hopes to do the same with the education of academia. His priority is to build a structure that would allow him to continue to work as a person who is committed, who wants to stand up and challenge oppressive structures.

“I have come to an understanding that education is empowering – in order to understand what is going on and why, in order to be heard, we need to educate ourselves, and this allows us to challenge injustices and fight to make change,” said José G. Herrera.

Outside of campus, José continues his work of activism as an organizer with the immigrant rights movement and other social justice organizations. Currently he is doing a research project on “bridging the mass detention, incarceration and deportation of immigrants with the prison industrial complex.”

Joselyn Galvez is a co-founder and coordinator of the Undocumented Resilient and Organized (URO) Club. She is a senior majoring in mathematics and secondary education. Joselyn came to the United States in 2001 from her native country, Honduras. Joselyn experienced first-hand the struggles that non-English speakers face in school. Her goal as a high school educator is to teach mathematics to students who are learning English as a second language. She wants to develop an environment that would help foreign students adapt to their new country, feel welcomed at school and facilitate their transition in and out of the bilingual program. Joselyn Galvez believes that by providing fundamental assistance to bilingual students, they will be able to overcome the language barrier so that they can not only survive but also succeed in school.

Lluvia Carrisoza has been undocumented for twelve years. She lived in fear for most of that time. She grew tired of her fear and now she is a co-founder and organizer for the newly formed group Undocumented Resilient & Organized (URO). She is a senior pursuing a Spanish and Art double Major. Lluvia is not much of an activist, but charged with the need to help her community she joined this group in hopes of providing a better college experience for her fellow undocumented students. Although her heart is set in attending La Universidad Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) for her MFA she wants to leave this country knowing she has helped lessen the immigrant struggle

By Janean Watkins