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Letter home: SVHS grad reflects on first year of college

By Edwin Reyes Herrera, Class of 2016 —  I have a neat, reversible bow tie; my preferred side has purple and pink flowers on a metallic silver background, but I tend to show off the side with a yellow and purple checked pattern out of guilt from time to time. When I flip a coin to leave a decision to chance, I sometimes wish it landed on heads instead of tails. Or vice versa.

After a year at Macalester, in Minnesota, I saw the decisions I made have two sides, with different consequences in the future. This began with my choice to attend Macalester – only going home once every school year, being cold, and exploring a new area. Nevertheless, I find it difficult to look back on how my life once was, before Macalester.

This spring semester made the difference. I thought it would be normal – taking classes to finish General Requirements to graduate, being on the varsity track and field team, meeting more people, and going home once again. There was much more.

I took a linguistics class, The Sounds of Languages, where I learned to produce and listen to the sounds that make up every language of the world. I recall feeling prideful for being bilingual, and moved to discover more about how people speak, and why people speak differently. Becoming a journalist is still my dream, but perhaps I could pursue a job in the translating and interpreting industry, too. I am a communication enthusiast, after all.

When I wasn’t making strange noises in the library for Linguistics, I was on the track. After taking a hiatus from track and field during my senior year at SVHS, I realized I missed it dearly. I still run the 400 meters and I am fortunate enough to be on the 4×400 team with a great group of seniors that have treated me like their younger brother. The camaraderie on our team is unbelievable and I am looking forward to having this for three more years.

Not only that, I was surprised to see how “Mac” instills a strong sense of identity and involvement in and out of classrooms. I attended three different showcases featuring students on campus performing dances, spoken word, or songs to express their pride in their African-American, Asian-American and Latino heritage, respectively. I also witnessed the Women’s March, as thousands walked to the state capitol building. I resonated with a field trip I took to Minneapolis to learn about the Latino community as part of my Intro to U.S. Latino Studies course. We visited a bike shop called “Tamales y Bicicletas,” a church, headed by a Chilean pastor with an emphasis on art, the Latino Economic Development Center (which resembled La Luz in the Springs) and Mercado Central, a hub for Latino stores.

I stayed in Minnesota for Spring Break. I learned that 1), I should never expect three sunny days in a row without a snowstorm, and 2), if I had grown up in Minnesota, shoveling snow would be my favorite chore. After a snowstorm, I recruited a native Minnesotan to help me shovel the snow off the track so we could complete a workout. No one could have expected for me to become Minnesotan this fast.

On a different note, I became an on-campus Zumba instructor for Mac students. With this, I realized I should stop trying to plan my every move and enjoy new experiences as I find them. I especially took solace in this when my intended major did not turn out to be what I wanted to study when I first came to Macalester. What it took for me, an always-on-the-move college student, was to stand still so that everything else around me could also, letting things work themselves out naturally.

For example, I was fortunate enough to enjoy the relationship I built with my assigned roommate, so I agreed to room with him again next term. Even though my summer plans were not set earlier, I was chosen to be an Orientation Leader to welcome the incoming Class of 2021 this fall. I didn’t have any expectations for my Neuroscience intro course, but our professor always had us discuss with our “neighbor” a topic he lectured on, and I ended up meeting one of my best friends now.

In the Intro to U.S. Latino Studies class mentioned before, our discussions covered this “third space” Latinos live in throughout their experiences in the United States. As a Latino, I understand how balancing two identities is difficult, but I have never felt so torn between two places as I do now. I am still amazed I am only known as Eddy here, something that contributes to my feeling caught in-between what I grew to love in Sonoma and the new experiences that make me want to stay in Minnesota.

I weighed finding a job or internship in California versus the Twin Cities. Thanks to Macalester’s valuable internship resources, I was hired to work as a paid, full-time intern at an immigration law firm in Minneapolis for the summer as a Spanish translator and caseworker.

There will be other times where I have to make decisions again. I keep my inner circle tight, sharing my greatest goals and dreams to those closest to me back in the Springs. I hold myself to the highest possible standard here at Mac because I’m representing more than myself. I do take into consideration how my actions will affect those I love. But who better to ask what’s best, than me? Summer in Minnesota was inevitable.

 

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