English in Action put together another iteration of Immigrant Voices from Thunder River Theatre in Carbondale on Saturday, Nov. 9. This time it featured six speakers, a sold-out crowd, and a bevy of emotions.
Follow along as host Alya Howe and the speakers share their unique journeys to the Roaring Fork Valley.
MIGUEL CARBALLO - Miguel was born in October of 1964 in San Miguel, El Salvador. He grew up on a farm with his brothers and sister.
He has degrees in education and psychology from the Pedagogical University of El Salvador.
He is married to Edith and has four sons and two grandchildren. He has been in the United States since 2000 and works at Colorado Mountain College and Whole Foods. He lives in El Jebel and joined English in Action as a student in 2016. Miguel was a part of English in Action’s first Immigrant Voices and joins us again with another story tonight.
ANA QUICENO – Ana was born in Armenia, Quindío, Colombia. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in modern languages from Quindío University and her Master’s Degree in TESOL from Greensboro College in North Carolina.
Ana spent five years teaching Spanish at Jordan-Matthews High School in rural North Carolina. Since 2017, she has been a kindergarten teacher in the bilingual program at Basalt Elementary School.
While teaching is her passion, Ana also enjoys dancing and rollerblading in her free time.
SUSANA SALAMUN – Susana Salamun is the Latino Services Officer for Alpine Bank. She leads Alpine Bank’s ongoing efforts to serve the Hispanic and Latino populations throughout Colorado. She also serves as board member of the Aspen Community Foundation, the Latino Chamber of Commerce in Boulder, and the State of Colorado Minority Business Advisory Council and has been invited as a guest speaker at many local and regional organizations.
Born and raised in Mexico, Susana has lived in the Western Slope of Colorado for the last seven years.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Mexico’s prestigious Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education.
Susana lives in New Castle with her husband and enjoys traveling, hiking, and playing piano in her free time. Susana believes in leading by example, being a positive influence and playing an active role in her community.
PATRICK BIZIMANA - Patrick was born in exile into the extended Rwandan royal family. He was reared in Burundi and educated in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As a student, he worked to unite Rwandans and reverse the divisive legacy wrought by Belgian colonialism and Rwandan corruption. After the 1994 Tutsi genocide, Patrick returned to Rwanda to support post-conflict reconstruction in the education sector via Sports for Peace programming.
He served as a technical advisor in the Rwandan Federation of Football. Now in the US, Patrick looks to continue his work in peacebuilding and conflict resolution.
BEATRIZ SOTO – Beatriz hails from Chihuahua, Mexico, where she grew up bi-culturally in Mexico and the United States.
After graduating from Basalt High School, she studied architecture in Chihuahua City. Her strong focus on environmental and social justice led her to CORE (Community Office for Resource Efficiency) in the spring of 2019, where she has orchestrated a culturally appropriate workforce development program for Spanish speakers.
Beatriz also runs the Defiende Nuestra Tierra program for Wilderness Workshop, volunteers in schools to encourage young Latinos to lead in STEM fields and become stewards of the land and to understand the importance of their voice in environmental issues.
Beatriz and her young son Joaquin, love to travel, snowboard, camp, hike, and eat good tacos!
All speaker biographies were provided by English in Action