Biography
A Commitment to Enhancing the Aspiring Educator Voice
Hi, my name is Roman Trejo and I am an Aspiring Educator from Illinois. I am pursuing a degree in secondary education social sciences. Being raised by my grandmother and single mother, my family ensured I was raised with my native culture. As a Latinx, Native American, and a member of the LGBTQ+ community; I relied on my hardworking ethic and voice to raise myself above structural barriers to success. After experiencing amazing mentorship from a Latinx educator, I had decided to give back the gift of potentially changing one of my own student’s life by answering the call to teaching. I became engaged with the National Education Association through my devotion to grassroots organizing and promoting equitable representation for people of color. As an Aspiring Educator I have led the charter of a chapter dedicated to recruiting and retaining future educators of color, fundraised scholarship grants to graduating collegebound Latinx seniors, and organized in support to local associations protesting in the community. I proudly serve as the Aspiring Educators representation on the NEA Hispanic Caucus board and as a member of the Aspiring Educators Advisory Committee. I hope to continue serving the Aspiring Educator’s voice as your next board of director.
Exemplifying the Aspiring Educators
Core Values
Educator Quality
Connecting Future Educators of Color to More Opportunity
Growing up in a predominately Black and Latinx community, there is one aspect of attending public school that was not reflective to the student body: the staff. By the time I graduated high school, I encountered only two educators of color throughout my entire K-12 educational career. Keeping this in mind, I decided to establish the Moraine Valley Aspiring Educators with the main goal to recruit more Black and Brown future educators, while being able to connect these individuals to professional development opportunities around the state and national conferences. The chapter has grown to become a community volunteer resource and actively works to establish a mentor relationship with high school students in hope of leading these young individuals into the education profession.
Community Engagement
Grassroots Organizing and Partnership
From my earlier years in high school, I sought to rejoin my own school as a community resource for everyone to value. With the aid of the NEA Hispanic Caucus and Illinois Education Association, we partnered with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) to host Know Your Rights sessions for undocumented families living in the community. The success of these sessions were later hosted at middle schools and high schools in the surrounding school districts, and accommodated in Spanish and Arabic. As an Aspiring Educator, the mission to continue promoting public schools as public resources for everyone has not ended but expanded beyond previous thought parameters by expansion of DACA clinics for undocumented students, community dances to fundraise senior heritage scholarships, and other diverse resources to the surrounding populations.
Social Justice
Becoming a Warrior for All
Throughout my time organizing for communities with my union, understanding that the National Education Association upholds social justice work by supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, a clean DREAM act for undocumented students, and fair discipline policies to all students had allowed myself to amplify these topics while working among diverse audiences. Social justice advocacy to myself means working as hard to combat others structural oppression as one would do for themselves. Being a dedicated and strong ally in the fight for change, while being mindful of personal privilege. As someone who finds themselves at intersectional elements of society, I understand what it means to take a stand, and utilize times of possible privilege to provide platforms for issues that need immediate action.
Political Action
Mobilizing the Aspiring Educators Voice
Showing up and being instrumental in the waves of change sit in my heart as ways to lead a fight for reform. From the organization of walk outs to demand better gun-control to protect students/educators alike, lobbying administrators and legislators for changes in policies, while picketing alongside striking educators in the community are just some ways I live this core value. As future educators, demanding to be apart of the fight for better public schools and social atmospheres is an element of our dedication to the profession. Most recently, marching with the Black Lives Matter movement while orchestrating food drives to the community affected by COVID-19 with a focus on completing the 2020 Census are some ways political action and social justice have become daily staples of mine.
Why am I running for
Board of Directors?
Responsibility Representation Resilience
I am honored to take this time to share with you what has compelled me to run for the NEA Board of Directors. The answer is simple: I want to fight and advocate with you. The United States of America is undergoing immense change, and we the people have demanded for this change for far too long. As Aspiring Educators, our roots in fighting for a brighter future and better public schools date back to our program's organized efforts during the civil rights era. We have always been a voice of passion and advocacy in this massive association. Given the circumstances of our reality, it is more important than ever to elect a fighter that will continue to move us forward to hear the needs of all our members and fight with responsibility, equitable representation, and resilience against all odds. I am passionate about this work, and with your support I look forward to uniting Aspiring Educators across the country to achieving the progress we are all striving to see, especially in these pivotal times.
My experience in serving on caucus, state, national, and local leadership has taught myself skills to identify and address key issues that affect all Aspiring Educators. Most importantly, an issue for one Aspiring Educator is a crisis to us all. I hope to gain your support in moving forward with progress.
Roman Trejo
Standing In Solidarity with
Black Lives Matter
June 4th, 2020
As a non-black person of color, my solidarity and devotion to fight for racial/social justice stands with my Black brothers and sisters. Thinking about my grandmother's words regarding the state of the country when she was alive; she often spoke of social media news, and would detail her life in the 1950s and 60s. Her message to me, and others in our family were clear: fight. Therefore, I am proud to march and fight against police brutality as a devoted ally to the BlackLivesMatter movement. Showing unity across ethnic/racial barriers will demand the change needed and the voice to be heard while residing in these uncertain times. Justice MUST be served for all Americans, not just the few.
-Roman
Contact Me!
Thank you for your interest in Roman Trejo for NEA Board of Directors. Questions? Inquiries? Conversation? I am here whenever needed.
Blue Island, Illinois
708-928-0419