Revitalized SACNAS Grinnell chapter premieres with STEMsgiving event

Over plates of Mexican food and cups of hot cider, students, faculty and staff played Jenga and swapped stories at a STEMsgiving celebration hosted by Grinnell’s chapter of Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). The event began under the gentle glow of ambient lights and the flicker of candles on autumn leaves strewn across tables, creating a warm and inviting gathering space.

“I was just really excited to see people being in the community,” said Yessenia Alvarez Zamora `27, SACNAS president. “That’s something that gets thrown around in Grinnell, the word community, so just the fact that we were able to build a space for professors and for students to be together felt amazing honestly.”

SACNAS is a national nonprofit and network of student and professional chapters dedicated to fostering the success of Chicano/Hispanic and Native American students and scientists in earning advanced degrees, pursuing STEM careers and attaining leadership positions. 

Attendees at the STEMsgiving event could sign their names in a guest book. (Brisa Zielina)

Grinnell’s chapter was established in 2012 as the first SACNAS chapter in Iowa under the advisorship of biological chemistry Professor Heriberto Hernandez. The following year the chapter received the “Role Model Award” from SACNAS in the 2013 Chapter Awards, but was forced to shut down during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. “When COVID started, it was really hard to keep [the chapter] because we went online for a year, so we kind of lost contact,” said Hernandez. ”The students who were leading graduated, so it was hard to recruit students.”

Four years later, Alvarez Zamora, with her close friend Judith Rodriquez `27 and other students, successfully restarted the chapter and hosted their first major campus event, STEMsgiving. 

Alvarez Zamora who calls Michoacan, Mexico home, and Rodriquez who hails from Dallas, Texas, are both first-generation college students. They are majoring in biology and biochemistry respectively, and each of them are concentrating in Latin American studies. Both aspire to go to medical school. The two met for the first time in their first year during the Grinnell Science Project, where they began discussing creating a community for students of their background to support one another. 

Alvarez Zamora is the first member of her family who graduated past elementary school. “Getting into a school as good [as Grinnell] was a really big deal, but that also put a lot of pressure and a lot of disappointment in myself that did not allow me to give myself the the leeway that you give yourself as a student, as someone that’s learning how to be a student, how to be in college, how to network,” Alvarez Zamora said. “We can both probably attest to the fact that this is not a unique experience.”

 “When [Yessenia] brought up the idea of reestablishing SACNAS, I thought it fit perfectly within the context of our own friendship, the support between us and just extending that to building a bigger community for people who are underrepresented,” said Rodriguez, specifically referring to people of color in the sciences. 

“We’ve gotten to know a lot of different people within the field and we all kind of have the same struggles,” she added of the students in their biology and biological chemistry majors. “We all kind of feel the same way.”

The SACNAS chapter in Grinnell distinguishes itself with its inclusivity towards non-STEM students as well as students of different backgrounds. As Hernandez explained, the organization also supports students from the humanities and social sciences, as well as students that are not of Hispanic or Native American descent. Alvarez Zamora and Rodriquez said that Grinnell SACNAS is unique in its close-knitted community, which makes it more suitable for students to establish meaningful relationships with their professors outside of the classroom. 

Alvarez Zamora and Rodriquez are both hopeful that the newly-established SACNAS chapter will remain active for many years to come, but as they are approaching their senior year, they feel concerned about interest among new students to become part of the cabinet. Alvarez Zamora and Rodriguez said they hope their reestablished SACNAS chapter will continue to foster a welcoming home on campus, where members feel included and motivated to contribute and carry that spirit forward for future students.

Avarez Zamora and Rodriguez encouraged students to keep themselves posted about upcoming SACNAS events in the spring semester.