Help an Immigrant Youth go to College

Jesus Villalba is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Guadalupe Gastelum.

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My name is Jesus Villalba Gastelum, and I’ve been organizing for the climate and immigrant rights for almost a year now.

I was born in the state of Sinaloa in the year 2002. Because of political reasons during the summer of 2005, we were forced to flee my home country, bound for the United States. Since then, I’ve lived throughout the entire SouthEast Los Angeles Region, along the Los Angeles River.

I turned three here and though I learned English during second grade, I have spent all of my school years and practically my whole life in the United States. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been any luck until now when it comes to my status in the United States, and it’s increasingly becoming apparent that I will most likely not be able to pay for college. During the November of 2019, I applied to California State University Stanislaus, Dominguez Hills, East Bay, and Sacramento. I also applied to the California Dream Act as an AB540 student, which allows me to receive financial aid through the State.

I’m looking at a cost of anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 in University Costs, counting what the State of California has currently offered to give me should I attend California State Universities. This does not take into account costs like books, deposits, or living expenses, which are getting increasingly difficult to figure out. I don’t have a work permit, which leaves me open to really only jobs that are underpaid and leave me susceptible to issues like wage theft and other workplace abuses.

My parents are currently getting their work permits and legal paperwork done, after living in this country for more than a decade. These bills are getting increasingly difficult to keep up with. This month alone, my father spent almost 1,000 dollars on his and my mother’s paperwork, this is 25% of our monthly budget, which is a deadly blow considering we are a family of five with one income.

This past year, I’ve dedicated my life to organizing for the future, and I still firmly believe that we must act upon climate change and realize that people like me are also humans.

In March of 2019, I helped organize one of the biggest mobilizations of students in Los Angeles for the climate, as one thousand students marched with us downtown, demanding environmental justice. In April of 2019, I went to Sacramento with CHIRLA and spoke to Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon about the need to implement the California Golden Promise, policy that would make it easier for students like me to attend university and pursue education beyond a bachelor’s degree. In June of 2019, I risked deportation and flew to Washington, DC as a youth delegate and spoke with CA congresspeople on the need to pass HR-6 also known as the DREAM Act. In September of 2019, along with four amazing individuals, I led an environmental justice protest that was more than 20,000 strong. We managed to bring councilmembers and the mayor of Los Angeles out of their offices to address us, this is what people power looks like.

This year, I’m gearing up to do one of the greatest things I could ever hope for: be the first person in my family to graduate. I am of a mother from a rural village in Mexico, and a father from the town considered the birthplace of Cartels. While my parents and I fled environmental disaster and violence, here I sue for peace and environmental justice. Where my mother was forced to drink mud to stay hydrated, and my father’s family hide during times of war, I wish to thrive and bring something good to this world.

When I got to the United States, I didn’t speak a word of English. I lived with my parents, and all of our family also only spoke Spanish. During my Pre-K and Kindergarten years, I began to attend school in a Dual Language program, meaning that I had the option to speak Spanish during half of the day, and remain silent the next half.

I didn’t completely grasp English until I was in the second grade. Though my parents are not at fault for any of it, I will never forget the anxiety and stress that I had as a child simply because I could not express myself properly in English. It took years of tutoring and classes before and after school to understand it.

When I became proficient enough in English, I became the voice of my parents. I would live-interpret their haggling match with the lady at the mall when I was ten years old. When my younger brothers were born, I guided them through the paperwork, live translating letters as I read them in English and spoke them in Spanish.

When I was in 9th grade, I fell in love with French. I learned it and became conversational within the semester. In tenth grade, I learned Brazillian Portuguese and also enjoyed every second of it. I’m now studying German, and though it’s harder than the others I am still loving every second of it. During the summer I will be studying Nahuatl at the Plaza de Cultura y Artes for free.

My contribution to this world, something I want to do for the rest of my life, is to be an interpreter. I want to interpret for immigrants, especially indigenous, peoples and help them defend themselves and express themselves in an ever so hostile atmosphere. I want not to be the voice of people, but instead the empowerment of them. So many of us have amazing ideas and dire needs, but we are not getting this across because of language barriers.

I want to be an interpreter and a translator. I don’t want to speak to your brain, I want to speak to your heart. And because of this, I ask you, kind stranger, to please help out in any way to get to University. In the most selfish way of all, I ask you to assist me. Do not let me become someone in the background, help me survive and thrive.

I’m asking for an amount that would help cover university and the first year of expenses. If I am granted additional aid, I will be able to use this to cover approximately the four years of school plus my first year of living expenses. If I am not granted additional aid, I will be able to use this to cover my first year of tuition and my first year of living expenses.

Whether we reach the goal doesn’t matter much. I’m asking for you to help me buy time, time that I need to get on my feet and be able to find a real solution. Even helping cover an intent to enroll deposit or orientation fee is a huge gift, I just need time.

Graduating High School is one of the greatest and most significant honors I can bestow upon my parents, and I hope to go to University and ,too, make them proud there. We came to this country to survive, but I want to live. Please, help me do that.

These funds wouldn’t be touched for anything except true living expenses or college expenses. This means tuition, books, orientation, food, transportation, rent/housing etc.
Anything over the amount will be used to help cover immigration lawyer costs going towards my parents’ paperwork or hopefully my own in the future.
The campaign goal may shift depending on school costs, as paperwork is still being processed and scholarships etc are looked into.

- I'll include a few pictures of things that I've been up to.

Academic Decathlon, Feb 2019.