Audio New documentary sheds light on Latino dropout rate (story audio) Jason Ruiz talks to MPR's Annie Baxter about their approach to the project Ruiz shares stories of the students' migration 'Our parents work in meatpacking' Claudia Fuentes talks about recommendations for change Photos Hacer researchers Jason Ruiz and Claudia Fuentes Resources Hacer Long Prairie/Grey Eagle school district Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

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New documentary sheds light on Latino dropout rate
by Annie Baxter, Minnesota Public Radio
June 24, 2004

Hacer researchers Jason Ruiz and Claudia Fuentes were part of a team that looked at the high dropout rate among Latino high school students in Long Prairie, Minnesota. Their new documentary draws from the personal stories of Latino teenagers to examine the dropout problem. (MPR Photo/Annie Baxter)

This year for the first time ever, three Latino students successfully completed all the requirements to graduate from Long Prairie High School. It's a positive step, but hundreds of Latino kids in Long Prairie never make it that far. The chronic dropout problem is the subject of a new radio documentary called "Aprendemos juntos." In English, that means "We learn Together." It was produced by a local Hispanic advocacy group called Hacer.

Undated — A few years ago, Claudia Fuentes, Hacer's executive director, was researching seven rural Minnesota towns that have a strong Latino presence. She says she discovered many positive signs of the vitality and health of rural Latinos. But education was an issue in all these towns, as high school dropout rates were high everywhere.

Fuentes says this didn't surprise her, but she was surprised by how dismal the situation was in Long Prairie, where not a single Latino student had ever graduated from high school. This was in a town where the overall graduation rate was high, around 97 percent.

So Fuentes enlisted the help of Jason Ruiz and other researchers to look at the problem. Ruiz is a graduate student in American Studies at the University of Minnesota, and he served as project manager for Hacer's work in Long Prairie.

When Ruiz started the project, he surveyed the landscape of earlier research on Long Prairie. He said the conclusions made about the dropout rate had left out a critical element, namely the voices of the Latino teenagers who were at stake.

Ruiz and his colleagues decided to engage the high school students and produce a radio documentary that would tell their stories.

At first, the Hacer team conducted several interviews with all 30 of the Latino students enrolled at Long Prairie High School. Then they focused on about five students who had especially compelling stories to tell.

Ruiz says he was surprised to find how highly the students valued education, and how much their parents supported their schoolwork. But he contends that the students' difficult personal circumstances, and an inhospitable school atmosphere, keep the dropout rate high.

Hacer researchers Jason Ruiz and Claudia Fuentes discussed the documentary with MPR's Annie Baxter. To listen to their conversation, choose the audio links in the right column.

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