Every person has personal barriers they need to cross in order to accomplish their dreams. For dreamers (undocumented students), those barriers are much greater than those of other students.

As the title implies, the students are dream pursuers with big hopes for the future. They need to work even harder to pursue the “American Dream”. As once said by Ms. Dignani, “we work twice as hard to get half.” that’s exactly what these dreamers do.

Every other Monday in room 222, Ms. Ponce and Ms. Dignani host the Dreamers and Allies Club, which focusses on providing undocumented students with the resources and support they need to succeed. To make a clarification on who dreamers are they come in different ages and races , they are not all hispanic and young.

Dreamers face a lot of challenges when it comes to transitioning from high school to college including not being eligible for many scholarships or colleges. “As my search to universities are coming up, there’s a lot of universities I would’ve loved to apply, and they will not even consider my application,” states a senior at Back of the Yards.

Whether it is through workshops or people who come to speak to the dreamers about their past experiences, students are exposed to different resources and people that can help keep them informed, and prepare them with leadership skills and other skills like networking.

Another focus of this club is to form leaders that can come back and inspire countless other dreamers. Ms. Ponce stated, “…I hope that it (Dreamers and Allies Club) does continue and it grows stronger, and again that our past members come back and talk to current students.”

Many undocumented students go most of their lives thinking they do not have the potential to make it far. Fortunately, Dreamers and Allies Club also empowers undocumented students by reassuring them that there is help out there and pursuing their dreams is possible.

With constant changes relating to higher education access for dreamers, hopefully things will change for the better.

– Citlali Perez