{"id":7059,"date":"2024-04-29T11:22:23","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T17:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/?p=7059"},"modified":"2024-04-29T11:22:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T17:22:23","slug":"opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening students eyes to improve the Rio Grande Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Pete Mendoza<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_5510-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7060\" srcset=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_5510-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_5510-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_5510-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_5510-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_5510-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Sociology Lecturer Jose Villarreal, Kalpulli Ayolopaktzin Aztec dancers and attendees posing for a photo<br>Pete Mendoza | Vaquero Radio<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Sociology-0426_mixdown.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">The Sociology Department held \u201cExploring the Reality of Migrant Families and Human Rights Conference\u201d to raise awareness about the situations on the border last week on the Edinburg campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sociology Lecturer and conference host Jose Villarreal said the conference gave a closer look on the topic of forced migration and gave a sentimental viewpoint from migrant families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cWe need to examine migration more carefully to have a moral worldview in order to understand the complexity that\u2019s involved in migration,\u201d Villarreal said.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Guest speakers from various organizations, including Human Rights Center, the Consulate of Honduras and Proyecto Libertad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The conference showcased the Kalpulli Ayolopaktzin Aztec dancers at the beginning of the event and as a break in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each speaker gave remarks that not only educated students and faculty, but aimed to inspire and motivate attendees to connect with those in their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Attorney for Whitworth Cigarroa Carlos Flores said to improve the Valley and ensure its safety, people need to communicate with one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cWe have to get out of this us versus them narrative and go speak to the stranger,\u201d Flores said. \u201cTo solve our problem, we need to encounter the stranger, which is us.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Students were even given the opportunity to ask questions after each speech and discuss their thoughts even further afterward as a group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Texas Civil Rights Humanitarian Outreach Coordinator Denise Molina addressed a question from a student about protesting, in which she said a protest is a call to action to defend people\u2019s rights and to express the people\u2019s thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p> \u201cI always tell young folks, \u2018If you don\u2019t do it, who else will?\u2019\u201d Molina said.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is Pete Mendoza for Vaquero Radio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pete Mendoza The Sociology Department held \u201cExploring the Reality of Migrant Families and Human Rights Conference\u201d to raise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":7060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[68,656,44,657,42,26],"class_list":["post-7059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic","tag-edinburg","tag-migrant","tag-news","tag-sociology","tag-students","tag-utrgv"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Opening students eyes to improve the Rio Grande Valley - The Valley&#039;s Student Station<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opening students eyes to improve the Rio Grande Valley - The Valley&#039;s Student Station\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pete Mendoza The Sociology Department held \u201cExploring the Reality of Migrant Families and Human Rights Conference\u201d to raise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Valley&#039;s Student Station\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-29T17:22:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_5510-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Pete Mendoza\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Pete Mendoza\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Pete Mendoza\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cc6dbc7576ab19e2c6aa37d56ceeb37f\"},\"headline\":\"Opening students eyes to improve the Rio Grande Valley\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-29T17:22:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/\"},\"wordCount\":309,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_5510-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Edinburg\",\"Migrant\",\"NEWS\",\"Sociology\",\"Students\",\"UTRGV\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Academic\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/\",\"name\":\"Opening students eyes to improve the Rio Grande Valley - The Valley&#039;s Student Station\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_5510-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-29T17:22:23+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Opening students eyes to improve the Rio Grande Valley\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Valley&#039;s Student Station\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Valley&#039;s Student Station\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/output-onlinepngtools-scaled.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/output-onlinepngtools-scaled.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":946,\"caption\":\"The Valley&#039;s Student Station\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cc6dbc7576ab19e2c6aa37d56ceeb37f\",\"name\":\"Pete Mendoza\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cffde2d7f5686c06004e89a738fd1c773fa5a5ea2daf0755f12454a17ecac864?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cffde2d7f5686c06004e89a738fd1c773fa5a5ea2daf0755f12454a17ecac864?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Pete Mendoza\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/author\/pete-mendoza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Opening students eyes to improve the Rio Grande Valley - The Valley&#039;s Student Station","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Opening students eyes to improve the Rio Grande Valley - The Valley&#039;s Student Station","og_description":"Pete Mendoza The Sociology Department held \u201cExploring the Reality of Migrant Families and Human Rights Conference\u201d to raise","og_url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/","og_site_name":"The Valley&#039;s Student Station","article_published_time":"2024-04-29T17:22:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_5510-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Pete Mendoza","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Pete Mendoza","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/"},"author":{"name":"Pete Mendoza","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cc6dbc7576ab19e2c6aa37d56ceeb37f"},"headline":"Opening students eyes to improve the Rio Grande Valley","datePublished":"2024-04-29T17:22:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/"},"wordCount":309,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_5510-scaled.jpg","keywords":["Edinburg","Migrant","NEWS","Sociology","Students","UTRGV"],"articleSection":["Academic"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/","url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/","name":"Opening students eyes to improve the Rio Grande Valley - The Valley&#039;s Student Station","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_5510-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2024-04-29T17:22:23+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/opening-students-eyes-to-improve-the-rio-grande-valley\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Opening students eyes to improve the Rio Grande Valley"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/","name":"The Valley&#039;s Student Station","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization","name":"The Valley&#039;s Student Station","url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/output-onlinepngtools-scaled.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/output-onlinepngtools-scaled.png","width":2560,"height":946,"caption":"The Valley&#039;s Student Station"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cc6dbc7576ab19e2c6aa37d56ceeb37f","name":"Pete Mendoza","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cffde2d7f5686c06004e89a738fd1c773fa5a5ea2daf0755f12454a17ecac864?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cffde2d7f5686c06004e89a738fd1c773fa5a5ea2daf0755f12454a17ecac864?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Pete Mendoza"},"url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/author\/pete-mendoza\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7059"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7062,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7059\/revisions\/7062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}