Diego Aleman: A name synonymous with "role model"
Being fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to attend school on a full ride scholarship at a prestigious institution such as American University, with the support of the Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholars, a strong and select group of students I am both intimidated and proud to call my peers, mentors and friends, has given me a fantastic chance to reflect on what I stand for and what I want to do with this unique college experience. I remain in a constant state of awe at this fantastic opportunity, and it forces me to question what it is that I accomplished to place myself in a position to represent Frederick Douglass by being a recipient of a scholarship dedicated to him, his work, and his values.
In my high school career, I was a member of Mestizo Arts and Activism (MAA), a leadership and think-tank group that prepares youth to conduct research on issues affecting the predominantly Latino/a communities of Salt Lake City. Since joining MAA three years ago, I have assisted in the maintenance of a website engineered to inform undocumented students about their options for applying to college, written for a Chicano/a community newspaper surrounding issues of systemic racism, and given numerous presentations on a variety of social justice issues.
None of these projects have come without dedication to the innovative ideas and creative process and are often infuriating and frustrating. This work, while difficult at times, has shaped a sense of purpose within me, a burning passion, which is only enflamed further by obstacles, that makes me want to be known as someone who fought tirelessly to give back to his community and had an impact, whether that impact is big or small. Through my collaborations with my peers and my community members, I learned to acknowledge the ways I am privileged as a U.S born, light-skinned son of college-educated and professional parents. I had to build bonds of solidarity across the differences and similarities with students who share my racial identity but also have different levels of privileges and disadvantages in terms of socioeconomic status. The critical awareness, knowledge, and experience that I gained each week from continually self-reflecting, have had a profound impact on my character. Beyond that, I worked to affect the lives of many students by sharing my own story, spreading knowledge and presenting the MAA model of teaching through multimedia productions.
This work has inspired me to continue engage with kids from marginalized communities, in order to help them understand what challenges they face and how they can do something to better themselves. It is the greatest hope of many of the mentors that we will reach a point where MAA can be integrated an official classroom, and eventually, in the distant future, an entire school. As someone who grew into his own under the guidance of this rather unique teaching model, and as someone who helped shape it in my later years, these goals of projecting the MAA model on to a larger scale are extremely important to me. Therefore, I hope to continue with work similar to that of MAA throughout the rest of my life, working in my community to fight issues of systematic injustice and empowering young adults to take charge of issues that are personal to them. Ultimately, I hope to empower them to give back, further the community that has given so much to them and to me.
It is my desire to be remembered as someone who strived to give back to the community that built me up, based on the values that MAA instilled within me. I want to be remembered as someone who made a difference and actually impacted the lives of youth in my community, just like the projects that I worked on in MAA, but on a larger scale. I want my name to be synonymous with “role model,” “community leader,” and “critical problem solver.” All of these skills had were seeded in my experience within MAA, and, it is my sincere hope that with the values of Frederick Douglass guiding me, I can grow these skills so that I can leave that legacy. I am also convinced that without MAA, I would not have been prepared to receive this scholarship nor would I have any sense of confidence in working in a program that bears the name of Frederick Douglass.
With this generous gift comes a great sense of responsibility, to uphold the values of Frederick Douglass, but, while the prospect may seem daunting, I can honestly say that I am extremely excited and passionate to leave my legacy and build from the values of Frederick Douglass and this program.















