Susan Carrasco. Photo by BB Rivas / El Concilio Family Services
Editor’s note: Part of a continuing series of stories profiling the award-winners of El Concilio Family Services 2014 Latino Leadership Awards. The awards gala will be held on Saturday, May 31 at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center. Click here to register or to become a sponsor or call 805-486-9777 for more information.
Amigos805 staff reports
Susan Carrasco, born and raised in Oxnard, attended Santa Clara High School, Channel Islands High School and Ventura College, where she served as Associated Student Body president and president of Ventura College MEChA. She also landed the first female comedy role on the Latino Fox Television’s “The Culture Clash Show” and is still the only female member of the comedy troupe “The Chicano Secret Service.”
She earned her associate’s degree from Ventura College, her bachelor’s degree from CSU Channel Islands (where she founded the university’s first MEChA chapter) and her master’s degree from the University of La Verne. She has been employed with the Oxnard Union High School District for 14 years, is a college and career center adviser, the last seven as the MEChA adviser.
She is the community liaison for Oxnard and Ventura Colleges, CSU Channel Islands, Upward Bound, Future Leaders of America and other local organizations.
In her acceptance letter, Carrasco said she pays “homage to the Chicana/o activists who fought to establish equity in colleges and universities. They modeled the way. I learned also by my family’s value of education and from local Oxnard educational intellectual educators who served as excellent role models, to give back to our community and to focus on the youth and families’ assets, not deficiencies, and to see the potential in all people.”
For more information on El Concilio’s programs and services or reservations for the awards gala, visit www.elconciliofs.org or call 805-486-9777.