372 attend Rita J. Martinez Youth Conference
By VICENTE MARTINEZ ORTEGA &
DEBORAH MARTINEZ MARTINEZ
PUEBLO — Hundreds of area high school students were treated to a day on a university campus, introduction to Chicano Studies and took home valuable educational gifts at a student conference held earlier this month.
The occasion was the 2025 Rita J. Martinez Youth Leadership Conference, held on Thursday, Oct. 16 on Colorado State University-Pueblo campus. Some 372 high school students participated in the third RJM conference. The theme was “Cultura Cura: Traditions as Resistance.”
They were welcomed and registered by 100 volunteers. Most participants came from high schools in Pueblo, Denver, Fountain and the San Luis Valley. Others represented Boys and Girls Clubs and non-brick-and-mortar schools.
Each student received a lanyard with a QR code that gave them the day’s agenda, a welcome by Lead Coordinator Dr. Victoria Obregon, EMS board president, a write up on the late Rita J. Martinez, the conference honoree, and descriptions of the 16 different workshops being offered.
As their registration package, each student received a full-sized, brand name backpack filled with supplies for the day — hygiene products, stickers, school supplies, and a big bag of snacks. Each student received a T-shirt bearing the conference logo.
For breakfast, students shared a traditional Mexican sweet roll, a concha, coffee bar or breakfast drinks.
A sea of chattering, smiling brown, black and white faces filled the ballroom as Master of Ceremonies Dr. Velia Rincón began the program by thanking sponsors — Servicios de la Raza – Services of the People, Boys and Girls Club of Pueblo County and El Movimiento Sigue — The Movement Continues. She challenged students to go forth and learn at the two sessions each student was expected to attend.
“Mira, our students walk in already powerful that day you could feel their spirt, said Dr. Obregon. “The conference just reminds them that their stories matter, their raíces run deep, and they belong everywhere from the barrio to the university to the boardroom.”
Youth conferences have been important to the Chicano Movement since the historic Chicano Youth Conferences organized by Denver’s Crusade for Justice in the late 60s and early 70s.
According to conference organizer and sponsor Shirley Romero of San Luis, Colo., “The relevance and value of the conference might be in the different perspectives the students are offered and that they are in a group of peers, kids who look like them. The conference enhances their loyalty to the community, to their future husbands and wives.
“Many of the students who attended all those years ago are now the organizers of these conferences,” she said. “Their skills are phenomenal. Loved the way they conducted the give-aways. They did it right there in front of people. One of the kids from my group, Move Mountains, received a Chromebook. His mom was grateful since they were unable to give him that tool.”
Romero said she also attended the Tim Hernandez session, “Existence Is Resistance” with her grandson. Hernandez talked about a piece of history, the decapitation and display of Joaquín Murieta’s head in California.
Hernandez asked the group, “Why do you think they did that?” Romero’s grandson replied, “To make the people afraid.” Then Hernandez connected the conversation to the present time. “What is ICE doing?” The students replied, “Trying to make people fearful.”
GOAL senior Isis Fox attended the conference with other students from the now-shuttered Cesar Chavez/Dolores Huerta School. She attended the session by Servicios de la Raza counselor Monse Jimenez Diaz on self-care called “Sacred Traditions.” She completed a leather medicine bag for her project during the session while learning about ceremonies and other traditions.
Fox also attended the Low & Slow Session on Low Rider Culture taught by Vanessa Torrez, Denise Torrez, and Taciana Torrez. Vanessa, an artist, was featured on the cover of the Lowrider magazine after her father, Mack, taught her the strategies for designing for lowriders during COVID. Fox was excited to meet Vanessa, a celebrity designer in the Lowrider world.
The keynote speaker was Alexis Aleman from Foos in Medicine. Aleman, one of two Latino, first-generation medical students in FIM, is no stranger to breaking down barriers and uplifting others while doing so.
Isis Fox, who has family members in the medical profession, appreciated his discussion of his struggles in high school. What if you’re a mess-up in eighth grade? Can you still be a doctor? Aleman answered these and other student questions. He understands the challenges that underrepresented minorities face in higher education.
This year, because of the large number of students attending, the coordinators decided to offer two sessions for the adults. One session was on Chicana/o/x Studies by Judy Baca, and a second session was on “Banned Books You Should Read” by Carmen Arteaga, a longtime Pueblo educator.
According to Arteaga, the adults were shocked that the books were banned. One book she discussed was Alexis Sherman’s Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. The character experiences both his reservation school and a school in an affluent neighborhood and learns systemic racial injustices. As one issue, he compares the age of the books the rich students are using to his rez school books.
Arteaga says the book was banned because it highlighted discrepancies between school systems. It was banned for “inappropriate age content,” which is the overall term for “not American enough.” She gave out several copies of banned books to the attendees.
Lunch was served, and while all were in the ballroom again, the Women’s Intertribal Drum Group performed with a special song saluting Rita J. Martinez. The group is unusual as traditional drum groups do not ever include women. The women drummed and sang.
Following Aleman’s talk, an afternoon snack of churros and ice cream was served. Dr. Rincón gave away many items collected by conference sponsors and volunteers in a game-show format. Students had previously been asked to complete a survey about their experience. Each responding student was entered to win the giveaway items.
As the wheel rolled on the TV screens, the winner’s name was announced to student applause. Several gifts, such as Chromebook laptops, headphones, earphones, and other items, were given to the students. The attending teachers/counselors/sponsors were entered into a drawing for a Slurpee machine. The winning teacher was from Pueblo Central High School.
This type of youth conference has a long history in Pueblo and Colorado. In 1977, students attended the “Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán” conference held at the Sangre de Cristo Arts & Conference Center in Pueblo. Both college and high school students were exposed to speakers such as Dr. Moises Venegas, then director of the Teacher Corps, Cleofas Vigil, a New Mexico land rights activist and artist, and Al Gurule, a former La Rasa Unida candidate for Colorado governor, talked about the grand jury.
National Conferences, such as Flor y Canto (with artists and poets), were held at the University campus. Students were invited to these conferences. Pueblo hosted the Richard Castro Youth Leadership Conference at the University.
In Denver, the La Raza Unida Youth Conference continues. In Pueblo, Creciendo Juntas was a middle and high school conference organized by Angelina Najar, Vera Estrada, Josephine Minjares, and Dr. Richard Rivera at Pueblo Community College. The Soy Unica conference started at Risley Middle School and moved to PCC.
One of the earliest student conferences was the Chicano Youth Liberation Conference held at the Denver Colleseum in March 1969. Poet Alurista delivered his Plan de Aztlan. The La Raza Unida Youth conferences continued at Metro State University.
The Rita J Martinez Youth Leadership Conference is bi-annual and alternates with the La Raza Youth Leadership Conference held in Denver, Colo., on the off years to promote access to other communities and universities throughout the state.