Wallace State graduate Javier Morales visits campus in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month
HANCEVILLE, ALA. – Wallace State Community College alumnus Javier Morales visited campus recently in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Morales, who earned an associate’s degree from Wallace State in Human Services, spoke to students during his first presentation and to the college’s faculty and staff the following day during a professional development opportunity. The event was sponsored by the Wallace State Diversity Committee.
“The purpose of Hispanic Heritage Month is to recognize that there is a community full of different cultures. It’s not set aside to minimize any other culture. The purpose it to understand, learn and get to know a little more about culture that is growing in the United States. It’s growing in Alabama,” Morales explained to Wallace State students.
Morales added that it’s important to embrace different cultures and their traditions within Alabama and across the states.
“It helps when we share culture and knowledge and form friendships with people from different cultures. When we break those barriers, we see how this world is global. Everybody has talents, everybody has good qualities and everybody has friends. When you build yourself a network of friends, whether it be Hispanic friends or from another culture in the area, you’ll see that your horizons open,” Morales said. “You get to know a different way of life than your own and build a new network of friends.”
Morales currently serves as an outreach coordinator and grant writer at Northwest Vista College in San Antonio, Texas. He has worked for more than 20 years to enhance the lives of migrant farm workers and their children in various capacities including grant writer, program director, parent educator, farm worker advocate and as the first Hispanic radio DJ for education development in Alabama, establishing WCRL 1570 AM in Oneonta.
Morales was born in San Antonio, Texas, and lived in both Texas and Mexico during his childhood. He later moved to Oneonta, where he lived in Alabama for 15 years. While living in Oneonta, Morales established Project Aprende, which provides learning services for at-risk Hispanic students to better prepare them for the transition from high school to college. Morales has been awarded grants from both the United Way of Central Alabama and the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham to assist in those efforts.
After graduating from Wallace State, Morales earned a bachelor’s degree from Athens State in behavioral science and a master’s from Texas A&M in bilingual education.
In August, Morales was named one of Wallace State’s Most Outstanding Allied Health Alumni.
For more information about Wallace State, visit wallacestate.edu.
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Russell Moore
Staff Writer
Wallace State Community College
P.O. Box 2000, Hanceville, AL 35077
1-866-350-9722 256-352-8443 direct
Visit us online at www.wallacestate.edu
Kristen Holmes
Communications & Marketing Director
Wallace State Community College
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E-mail: kristen.holmes@wallacestate.edu
Office: 256.352.8118 | Cell: 256.339.2519 | Toll Free: 866.350.9722
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