Samira Rivera

Position
2020 - ILLINOIS
Bio/Description
Samira Rivera is a junior at Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy, otherwise known as Rudy Lozano Leadership Academy in Chicago, Illinois. While visiting the Chicago History Museum, she and her classmates noticed there was no Latinx history in the museum other than a stereotypical low rider in the entrance of the museum. They came up with an idea to write to the museum to express their concerns, pointing out how much it affected them as Latinx youth in Chicago; they felt overlooked, forgotten, and devalued. Afterwards, they posted on social media to spread the word and get more people invested in their project. The posts started to blow up, and the museum reached out to their teacher personally, asking to set up a meeting with the students. Samira was one of the main speakers in the meetings and other events the students were invited to in regards to this project. As a result of multiple meetings with the museum, there are now agreements for a temporary and permanent exhibit featuring Latinx history.