Name: Esteban Alarcon
Hometown: Chicago
Year: Junior
Major: History
Dream Job: High School History Teacher
Esteban Alarcon is the co-president of LUCHA, an organization for Latino educators.
What is your position in LUCHA?
EA: Well it’s a very lax position. I’m essentially the co-president of LUCHA (Latino Educators United for Change).
Tell us a little bit more about what LUCHA does.
EA: We aim to provide Latino or any students of color with a support system to help them go through the teaching program. We get our members connected with friends. We know that we are already working at schools and so we help our members with networking. We also have a yearly conference where we have guest speakers touching on subjects like the “school to prison pipe line” or the concept of neoliberalism.
What made you join?
EA: I wanted to join/start the organization up again because I was in need of more connections and felt it would be a good idea for incoming students to have a place to go for questions. The secondary education program at UIC is very vague and doesn’t do much to guide incoming students. I know I had to go out of my way to find help. If LUCHA were there, it would have been much easier. A student organization full of students in the Teaching Program is a great resource for students coming to UIC looking for guidance in the Teaching program.
Do you think LUCHA has helped students other than yourself?
EA: Well, we just started the organization back up last year so we’ve only ever seen this incoming group of freshman. So far, it seems we’ve helped this group out a lot. Our eboard consists of 2 “Teaching Of” students and 2 Elementary Ed students so we have provided guidance for students in both departments. Every general body meeting our members would have tons of questions about the program. Questions regarding observation hours, credit hours, or any kind of hours that aren’t clear enough. We’ve also helped our incoming group by taking them to the Teachers for Social Justice Curriculum Fair earlier this year and opening their eyes on how to implement social justice into their future curriculum plan.
How often do you host these conferences?
EA: The conferences take place wherever we can get a room. We usually have them in the conference rooms on the 6th floor of SCE.
Do you need to be a part of the club to attend these conferences?
EA: Anyone is welcome to these conferences. We try to spread the word through LARES emailing lists.
You can check out their Facebook group to talk to someone and get more information,