“I learned that I don’t have to change”: migrant/seasonal farmworker undergraduates’ experiences at academic conferences

Abstract

Undergraduate research experiences can have a powerful impact on career aspirations and research skills, particularly among students from historically underrepresented groups. This study explores the conference-going experiences of first-generation, Mexican American undergraduates from migrant/seasonal farmworker backgrounds in the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) at Arizona State University. Our research affirms that undergraduate conference participation strengthens students’ sense of self-efficacy, or their ability to incorporate existing skills and competencies into their academic identities. However, conference experiences were most impactful when students experienced their cultural and academic identities as integrated. CAMP students also saw their development of self-efficacy through conference experiences as relational and connected to their ability to “give back” to their communities. Undergraduate research experiences can be integrated with a “border pedagogy” approach that brings students’ cultural knowledge into dialogue with academic knowledge production.

Keywords:

• Migrant education
• Latinx
• postsecondary
• undergraduate research
• self-efficacy

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Oscar Mancinas and Garine Palandjian for their contributions to data collection and analysis. Thanks also to Dr. Seline Szkupinski Quiroga for her steadfast support of this project and her insight into CAMP and migrant education. Above all, we are profoundly grateful to the CAMP Scholars, alumni, and staff who participated in our study, especially those whose words and experiences are featured in this article: Sofia, Vanessa, Seline, Sabrina, Marian, Elizabeth, Josefina, Jack, Betty, Eliana, Alejandra, and Nate.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Since CAMP only provides financial assistance for undergraduates during their first year at an institution of higher education, CAMP Scholars who had completed their first year at ASU were referred to as program “alumni.” CAMP alumni often remained closely involved with the program throughout their undergraduate education; some worked for the program as peer mentors or office aides, while others maintained relationships with CAMP staff and students and volunteered at program events.

2 A major theme of the broader study was the significance of ASU’s program as the first CAMP grant at an Arizona public university in the context of a history of hostility toward Latinxs and public education in Arizona politics and CAMP’s long presence elsewhere (see O’Connor et al., 2020). We also concluded that the institution would be easy to identify from the researchers’ affiliations. Because of these factors, the research team received permission from ASU’s Institutional Review Board to use the university’s real name. This provision appeared in the consent documents. Student and staff names are pseudonyms except for Dr. Seline Szkupinski Quiroga, the CAMP Program Director and an anthropologist who joined the research team as co-PI.

3 While ASU CAMP is the first program of its kind at an Arizona public university, it is important to acknowledge that Arizona Western College, a two-year institution in Yuma, AZ, has hosted CAMP since 2010.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Brendan H. O’Connor

Brendan H. O’Connor is associate professor in the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University.

Hannah Kirsch

Hannah Kirsch graduated from Arizona State University in 2021 with a degree in biological sciences.

Nicole Maestas

Nicole Maestas is an undergraduate student at Arizona State University with a major in political science and minors in Spanish, Russian, and statistics.