Brandon Gonzalez Blog

One T (My First Year of Teaching)
June 1, 2020

My journey to becoming a teacher began in ninth grade at KIPP Denver Collegiate High School. I was the first person in my family to have ever enrolled in high school. Before stepping into any of my high school’s classrooms, my high school took the incoming ninth grade class to Colorado State University for our orientation. We were fortunate enough to spend a week at the Colorado State University dorms. My roommate, Saul, was just as shy as I was, but we were glad we were placed together, and we are still friends to this day. After setting all of our bags down, we were taken to an enormous lecture hall in the Clark building where all KIPP Denver Collegiate High School teachers were waiting for us. When I say all teachers, I mean all teachers. They were applauding us as we came in they told us we would one day take classes in a lecture hall that big. Their words, and their belief in students they have never met inspired me.

I wanted to one day be the one to inspire the incoming ninth grade class at KDCHS the same way that they inspired me. In addition to Colorado State University we also visited University of Denver, the University of Colorado, Brigham Young University, and many others. At every university we toured I asked one question: what support does this university provide for undocumented students? Every time, I received the same response that I did not want to get. “Unfortunately, we do not have any scholarships for undocumented students and you will most likely have to apply as an international student.” These beautiful campuses we visited were places I wanted to be. I wanted to learn from the best teachers at those campuses and make my parents proud, and with that one sentence, my dreams of being a college student were crushed.  

By my senior year of high school: I was no longer undocumented, I was able to receive Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which is an immigration policy that allowed for some people brought to the United States as children to apply for employment authorization. Those of us who qualified were assigned a social security number and we and received deferred action from deportation. Having a social security number gave me greater confidence when applying to colleges. I was now eligible to be considered as an “in-state” student for all state schools in Colorado, new scholarships were being developed to help fund undocumented and “DACAmented: students fund their college costs. I finally had options.  

After my sophomore year of college, I decided to transfer from the University of Puget Sound to the university where my teaching journey began, Colorado State University. I had classes in the same enormous Clark building, where all the teachers in ninth grade told me I someday take a class in a lecture hall that big.  

At Colorado State University, I was able to become a teacher to my peers. My junior year, I was appointed president of DREAMers United, a group for undocumented students at CSU. In my role as president, I made contact with a well-connected professor who provided me with immigration policy updates that I would relay back to the club each week. This experience gave me the confidence to apply to be Leadership Coach during my senior year for the KEY Communities, the most diverse learning community on the campus of CSU where incoming first year, second year, and continuing students are paired with a mentor and create an inclusive sense of community. I became a mentor to 15 students across CSU ranging from sophomores to even fifth year students. I taught my mentees how to manage their social lives with their schoolwork. I also helped many of my mentees break out of their shells and join clubs they were previously too timid to consider.  

After four short years, I am proud to say that I am first-generation college student! 

Just prior to graduating college, I was accepted into Teach For America, and the first and only school that I interviewed was at KIPP Denver Collegiate High School to teach ninth 9th grade Algebra position. I could not believe that my dream of one day inspiring the incoming ninth grade class to KDCHS was becoming a reality. As a first-year teacher at a KIPP high school, I was overwhelmed with the amount of work I was required to complete each day, but it was very rewarding. I am now at the end of my first year as a teacher and recently one of my advisory students said, “Mr. Gonzalez, you inspire me because you have shown that KDCHS students can go to college, be successful in college, graduate, and then have a meaningful career.” My goal of inspiring students was accomplished! 

The Importance of Ethnic Studies
July 2, 2019

When signing up for classes for my last semester of undergrad, I needed to take an upper division level course to help me fulfill the requirements for my Interdisciplinary Legal Studies minor. I decided to take Race Formation in the United States because the professor offering the class has been a great support for undocumented students at CSU. It was my first ever Ethnic Studies class and I did not know what to expect. 

The first day of classes, I walk in and see an extremely diverse group of students. Throughout the previous seven semesters at two different universities, I had never seen as classroom as diverse as this one. As an Economics major, most classes were predominantly white (specially at my first university where I was usually always the only student of color) with very few students of color. Stepping in to a class where I saw many other people who shared the same traits and qualities as me and every day I cannot wait until I have to go to this class because I feel comfortable and free of judgement from the professor and my classmates. 

Prior to the class, I had an understanding that racism exists and the way the United States exists today has disenfranchised people of color due to racism. This was only a very vague understanding of racism. The readings the professor assigned were long, sometimes difficult to read due to the disgusting actions and extent that people have gone and still go to in order to suppress others that they deem inferior. Nevertheless, the readings, I found to be interesting because they detail events, actions, and legislation in history by people with the only intent to put people of color at a disadvantage. 

I tend to think of the world as progressing. Examples of what I mean by the world progressing are the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, the implementation of Title IX, and the ruling of Roe v. Wade. Throughout the semester, after reading how overtly racist people were in their efforts to suppress people of color, I wondered if people see the events that I consider progressive as a form of regression. I wonder how people can truly believe that inequality and racism is better than equality for all. 

Another interesting point the professor and the readings have allowed me to realize is that the United States was built by white men with a foundation of racism, exclusively for white men. One easy example is the acceptance of slavery as lawful. The other major key point for how white men constructed this country specifically to keep whites in the majority is through the implementation of the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924. The Johnson-Reed Act established a group of people that should be allowed or worthier to immigrate to the United States and another group of people that are less deserving because of their “inability to properly assimilate and contribute to the country.” Interestingly, some of the same rhetoric can be heard under the current presidential administration.

“Sí, Se Puede” is a phrase born of farmworkers, who, under the leadership of the UFW, César Chávez, and Dolores Huerta, fought valiantly for equal protection under the law. As a result of the efforts of the UFW, “Sí, Se Puede” has become well known as a call that engenders hope and inspiration in those who face similar battles. We thank the UFW, whom we acknowledge to be the sole and exclusive owner of the Trademark SI SE PUEDE, for granting us a limited license to use“Sí, Se Puede” in connection with our efforts to recruit, in Colorado, students of Hispanic or Latino descent for our law school pipeline program. For more information about the programs offered by the UFW, please see UFW’s webpage (www.ufw.org); UFW Foundation’s webpage (www.ufwfoundation.org); and UFWF’s immigration services webpage (www.sisepuede.org)