Vanguard University trains next generation of Latina/o leaders
Vanguard University President Michael Beals’ remarks Monday morning were brief yet powerful.
Beals spoke at the completion ceremony for this year’s Leadership and Latina/o Identity course, as 37 first-year and transfer Latino students at Vanguard completed a six-week program.
Beals focused on some different numbers. In the hallway to his office, 10 pictures of presidents of the university date to 1920.
“There are nine men and one woman,” Beals said. “They share one commonality: We’re all white.
“I plan to be here for quite a number of years,” added Beals, who has been Vanguard president since 2013. “But it could be as soon as my successor — but likely no more than two presidents from me — the president of Vanguard will be a Latino or a Latina. I truly believe that.”
About 47% of Vanguard students are of Latino heritage, the most of any demographic. Nationwide, about a quarter of first-generation students are also Latino.
Celina Canales started as director of the Jesse Miranda Center for Hispanic Leadership in August, when Norlan Hernandez left for an opportunity at Fresno Pacific University.
It’s more than just a job for Canales, who’s also the director of university engagement and was previously the director of academic operations in the office of the provost.
“I have been personally influenced by the life of Dr. Jesse Miranda,” said Canales of the leader of the Hispanic Evangelical movement, who died at age 82 in 2019. “He was like a surrogate grandfather to me.”
Members of Miranda’s family attended Monday’s ceremony. They heard from some students who graduated the program; each student got a crew-neck sweatshirt and laptop sleeve as a gift.
Benito De La Rosa commutes from Riverside by train and bus to attend Vanguard and participate in the program.
“In high school, I was in a lot of leadership classes,” De La Rosa said. “After these sessions, I kind of learned that being a leader is more than just what you’re able to impact on people, it’s what you’re able to impact on yourself as well. The only true way to be able to lead people is to lead yourself first.”
Emiliano Sosa was in the program last year. Now, the third-year Vanguard student has stepped into leadership with the Intercultural Student Programs.
Canales said the vast majority of the ISP leadership team is Jesse Miranda Center alumni.
“When I said yes to this journey, it was a turning point in my life,” said Sosa, who is originally from the Central Valley and whose father and mother are both from Mexico. “I wanted to develop my leadership skills and my professional skills. Taking this course not only did that, but it helped identify who I was culturally, where my roots came from and how I could be in the workforce as a Hispanic. We learned a lot about different leaders.”
The keynote speaker at Monday’s event was Dr. Michael Jimenez, an associate professor at Vanguard who worked with students on a deep dive into Miranda’s life over the summer as part of the university’s Summer Undergraduate Research Program.
Canales said she plans to expand the Leadership and Latina/o Identity program. This fall, faculty and administrative leaders taught on topics including cultural identity, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, integrity, mentorship, goal setting, legacy building and more.
Currently, the program is voluntary and students don’t get academic credit, though they do get chapel credit.
“The plan is to make this a credit, and then to build a leadership course that goes throughout their college experience,” she said. “We did personal leadership this year, next year I want to take this class and whoever else wants to opt in for credited, one-on-one leadership. Then their junior year, team leadership. Their senior year, organizational leadership. We’re scaffolding leadership as they are growing and getting ready to be launched.”
Her goal for the Jesse Miranda Center as a whole is also in focus. She said she wants each Latino student to leave Vanguard with a sense of confidence and ownership, and to know that they are equipped to walk into work situations or leadership opportunities and know they are “right-sized,” just like their white counterparts.
“Not over-sized where they’re loud and obnoxious, not small where they’re not truly themselves at any table they’re invited to, but right-sized, completely who they are created and called to be,” Canales said. “If all of our students can walk and talk and move with that kind of confidence, then we have accomplished our goal.”
A future Vanguard president may just be the end result.
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