University of Kentucky members were invited to a panel about students’ experiences in their “challenges and triumphs” as children of immigrants in Kentucky.

The Lewis Honors College hosted the panel on Tuesday, Feb. 25 in the Lewis Scholars Lounge, moderated by Julie Boutwell-Peterson, a lecturer in the college.

The college’s senior lecturer, Tara Tuttle, was also part of the event’s organization and introduced the five students to the audience.

“Their stories are a testament to resilience, courage and the power of embracing diverse identities,” Tuttle said.

Ejemen Unuakhalu, a human health sciences senior raised in a Nigerian household, said she agreed to be one of the speakers as she saw it as a fitting opportunity to spread awareness about immigration issues, especially under the current U.S. political administration.

According to The Associated Press, within the first week of President Donald Trump’s return to office, a mass deportation policy alongside the increase in immigration officers arrests has been intensified in the country. 

Unuakhalu said this political approach to immigration has opened her eyes to the matter.

“We need to put faces and stories to these laws and policies,” Unuakhalu said. “You (Trump’s voters) are impacting families, children, parents, daughters, sons. It’s bigger than just a vote.”

Unuakhalu said finding her voice as a child of immigrants at UK  was a challenging journey, especially when transitioning into college. 

“Who wants to be looked at differently? I already look different, I don’t want to have different opinions,” Unuakhalu said.

Now as a senior in college, Unuakhalu said she has felt more comfortable in her Nigerian identity and wants to give voice to children of immigrants who are afraid to speak up for themselves. 

Dalia Basinac, one of the speakers and a political science senior whose parents are from Bosnia and Herzegovina, also said opening up a space for conversations about the immigrant identity is crucial. 

Basinac said she still considers children of immigrants an often neglected community

“There are no programs, there is nothing that is set aside for us, so any opportunity where we can speak on a panel about our own experiences, as a lot of the other members and I have said, this felt like a great support group that we were just missing our entire college career,” Basinac said.

Known as a “loud but full of love” people, the Bosnian culture is still overlooked in UK’s campus international initiatives and events, according to Basinac.

“Even though I am a senior, I do hope that, you know, that (the Balkan) community grows a little bit more but doing events with other children of immigrants still helps me find a bit of a community,” Basinac said.

Jose Villanos, one of the panelists and an agriculture and medical biotechnology sophomore, whose father is from Mexico, said being a child of an immigrant can involve both dread and resilience.

Villanos said these feelings remain true, especially after witnessing his father being deported from the U.S. five years ago.

“I remember always having that fear in the back of my mind. . .when it happens, your world just falls apart,” Villanos said. “It still hurts, it always does, I miss my dad every day, but being here. . .I’m working as hard as possible for him, exactly how he wants me to, so I can eventually support him.”

Coming from a rural community in Sonora, Kentucky, where the people have always shown love and support to Villanos’s family, Villanos said his father would still question the inconsistency of the political mindset of the people from the countryside.

“Although he has all these friends, this conservative community, yet when they go vote, they vote for the people against him (Villanos’s father),” Villanos said.  “It just doesn’t connect in his mind why would they do that and I can’t explain it either.”

The panelists said they intend to break stereotypes and clarify the true reality of their hard-working immigrant parents and deconstruct the idea of a “millionaire” America.

Another panelist, Sofia Novoa, a biology freshman whose mother is from Ecuador and her father from Germany, said sharing the experiences of children of immigrants is a way to showcase an unknown local diversity.

“I’m just of the firm belief that people should try and learn the most about every other culture as they can,” Novoa said. “We have a very close-minded community here where they (locals) are not as interested in what’s going on outside of Kentucky and I think outside perspective is kind of lost here and it loses all the power.” 

Novoa said having people who have experienced different worlds and have stories to share is the only way more people from Kentucky can have access to new realities and learn from their differences.

“This is not just a celebration of their individual stories but also an opportunity for us to reflect upon…belonging, identity and the immigration experience,” Tuttle said.