Out of all clubs offered here in Hughson High the one that just really stands out because of how accepting and welcoming it is most definitely HYLC. Hispanic Youth Leadership Club or HYLC as most of you know it is run by Cindy Newsome. She is a Spanish teacher here and she teaches both Spanish 1 and 3. You may know her as a very chippy, kind person. She sees good in us all. This helps the club representation and shows that the responsibility is being held by an amazing person who really does wish the best for not just the members of the club but as well as her students. As Newsome stated in her interview, “All students are welcomed from different ethnic backgrounds. You don’t have to be Hispanic in order to be a part of this club, you just have to be a willing participant that can represent not just the club but the school.”
HYLC builds itself off the many students who attend Hughson High and their different cultural backgrounds as well as how they participate. There are many different events and opportunities that can help the community where you can participate if you were to join. These events consist of car washes, dances, and selling aguas frescas and nachos. Many of the current members really enjoy these events and find it can bring the club members together and really bond over the differences and similarities of their cultures. Even members that do share the same culture or heritage find that they can be so similar yet different in their own unique way. This just goes on to prove how the club has a way of welcoming and bringing people together.
The events really do help the community as well as the students. The community is helped by HYLC because Newsome encourages students to participate in charity work such as “Hughson has Heart.” HYLC continues to help the students because all the work they accomplish doesn’t just show how meaningful cultural appreciation is but it can show colleges they apply to how the participants were a part of the community and really putting in the work. All of this is something colleges want to see, especially if you’re doing something that is a part of a group that shows the diversity and finding the similarities.
Although the H in HYLC does stand for Hispanic, that does NOT mean you have to be or considered Hispanic in order to join. The basis of HYLC is not just focused on the fact that you are hispanic but rather if you would like to show appreciation of your cultural heritage hispanic or not. Members of HYLC are not just there to talk about their own cultures but to be open to learning about what other cultures are like. They aren’t there to degrade and belittle other cultures but learn and to show support to the many different cultures that appear on the campus, the community, and fellow members showing them that they encourage differences and are welcome to it.
This all just really goes to show that HYLC is very welcoming and important. It shows that differences are not wrong but should be shown and encouraged because differences really do bring people together. They just have to be willingly open minded people. So if you want to be part of a club that will not only be good for your transcripts for college but something you truly want to feel supported and welcomed by, I encourage you to join HYLC. Be the reason why someone feels well represented culturally.
