About the Archive’s Director Juan Carlos (J.C.) Rodríguez II
Juan Carlos (J.C.) Rodriguez II is a graduating fourth-year scholar of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity (RDI) from the College of the University of Chicago; among the first few students graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in RDI, J.C. has dedicated many of my studies to empowering Black, Latine, and Indigenous students of color through recognizing, celebrating, and acknowledging the individual community cultural wealth one might have with their community through education and counseling. J.C. holds a belief that the best way to empower and meet the needs of a student of color is through (1) acknowledging their stories as valid and real, (2) viewing their stories through the lens of Critical Race Theory that recognizes their stories as counter-narratives against a structural society endemic of racism, and (3) encouraging them to share their stories and live their truths. Through these steps, we can help empower our students of color and us as faculty to reimagine, reinterpret, and reclaim the past and present for a more empowering future.
J.C. (Right) with 2 of his former (MS)2 Students at Andover’s OWHL Libary.
About the Archive
“This bracelet tells a story. Not just the bracelet when it’s finished, but the making of it tells a more important one. This bracelet is a story of our shared experience as students of (MS)2. A mix of several different beads and people all having different colors and backgrounds but are all brought together to tell a story”
"Voices of (MS)²," uses digital storytelling to create a community archive that documents the experiences of Latino/a/e/x, Black, and Indigenous Students of Color who have participated in the Math and Science for Minority Students (MS²) program.
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At the heart of the Voices of (MS)² archive is Macias’ powerful analogy of beading a bracelet to tell a story. Each bead represents an individual experience, creating a collective narrative when combined. Similarly, the archive offers a platform for students to share their unique stories. Still, the sum of these individual accounts ultimately tells the larger story of students of color in the (MS)² program. Just as a bracelet is more than the sum of its beads, the archive transcends individual experiences to offer a shared history of resilience and learning.