By Kadjata Bah While pursuing STEM and STEM-related majors, some HMoob students are motivated by the idea of giving back to and re-engaging with their communities. This blog continues to follow Sarah, a nursing graduate who endured push-out and racism, inspired by her family’s cultural and spiritual traditions. “Giving back” is a concept familiar to …
By Javit Thao, UW–Oshkosh As children of immigrants, HMoob students often have a strong motivation to be academically successful, become financially stable, and maintain cultural proficiency. Oftentimes, they feel an immense responsibility to give back to their family, community, and people. This desire can sometimes come from a process that racialized immigrant students experience and …
By Steven Yang Queerness as/is Action “Queerness” is a term that encompasses a plethora of identities and concepts. It is a term that actively critiques and challenges power, rather than being merely a description of a person’s sexual disposition. Queer theorist Jose Esteban Munoz says, “Queerness is also a performative because it is not simply a being …
By Vincent Lee Our preliminary data from Spring 2023 reveals that the low participation in a survey and interview for the College Paj Ntaub study may be related to the lack of institutional infrastructure, limited resources, and minimal opportunities for campus engagement at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh (UWO). In Spring 2023, 265 students identified as …
By Andy Yang HMoob students at UW-Oshkosh continuously expressed feelings of isolation and lack of belonging on campus. According to an interview with Yuli, a nursing student, she stated that, Like Yuli, HMoob students in both STEM and non-STEM programs at UW-Oshkosh shared with us their overwhelming feelings of isolation on campus. In dealing with …
By Steven Yang and Matthew Wolfgram Co-Ethnic Studies Courses Ethnic studies is an academic discipline focused on the study of power relations and their impact on minoritized communities, which emerged out of the post-civil rights era student activism in the United States since the 1970s (Hu-DeHart, 1993). Examples of ethnic studies departments and programs include …
By Matthew Wolfgram and Kiera Hook The Our HMoob American College Paj Ntaub research team is a participatory action research (PAR) project that focuses on HMoob student experiences that support and obstruct success in college. This blog is a preliminary analysis of the role of English Language Learner (ELL) pullout in the K–12 educational experiences …
By Lisa Yang From an early age, I’ve often heard HMoob adults going through deep sadness, mourning the fact that HMoob tsis muaj teb chaws, or how HMoob don’t have a country. This saying is integral to growing up HMoob as stateless people. Statelessness constantly reminds us everywhere we go of our displacement and subjugation. In …
By Chundou Her A hot day in June can’t stop pre-health students from showing up in their business casual best for networking and getting support for med school. I was woefully underdressed in my typical summer attire: shorts, a baggy t-shirt, and tennis shoes. Though my fear of being underdressed and underprepared was calmed when …
By Mai Chong Yang The “Our HMoob American College Paj Ntaub” research team has identified several factors such as academic gatekeeping, transactional advising, STEM pushout, and institutional invisibility that impact HMoob American STEM students negatively, often directing them to non-STEM fields. We wanted to learn more about the student support resources that could counter these …