Goshen College community members get up close with President Obama during Elkhart visit
Goshen College-affiliated people include 1. Jose Chiquito, incoming student; 2. Sonny Carreño, adjunct faculty from 2003-2009; 3. Gilberto Pérez Jr., senior director of intercultural development and educational partnerships; 4. Lisa Guedea Carreño ’84; 5. Alexa Valdez, a senior at Goshen College; 6. Richard R. Aguirre, director of corporate and foundation relations. (Photo contributed)
President Barack Obama was only in Elkhart for about five hours last week, but his short visit will be a lasting memory for some in the Goshen College community.
President Obama was in town on Wednesday, June 1, to talk about Elkhart County’s recovery from the Great Recession of 2009. He spoke to about 2,000 people at Concord High School, and later at a town hall interview hosted by PBS NewsHour, which aired nationally that night.
Watch the PBS NewsHour town hall
PBS Newshour contacted Gilberto Pérez Jr., Goshen College’s senior director of intercultural development and educational partnerships, to nominate 16 people from the Latino community to be invited to the town hall.
“It was an honor to assist PBS Newshour in identifying Latino leaders from Elkhart County,” Perez, Jr., said. “Those present are giants in our community. Being together in one room with President Barack Obama was an amazing experience.
About 100 people received an invitation to attend the town hall event with President Obama at the Lerner Theater in Elkhart, including current and future Goshen College students, administrators and alumni.
“It was wonderful to be a part of the town hall meeting,” Perez said. “President Obama reminded us of opening up our imaginations to a radically different set of future possibilities.”
Besides Pérez, others at the town hall with Goshen College connections included: Richard R. Aguirre, director of corporate and foundation relations at Goshen College; Lisa Guedea Carreño ’84, director of the Elkhart Public Library; Sonny Carreño, adjunct faculty from 2003-2009; Jose Chiquito, a senior at Goshen High School and incoming Goshen College student; Arvis Dawson ’76, a former executive assistant to Elkhart’s mayor; Zulma Prieto ‘01, the publisher of El Puente, the Spanish-language newspaper distributed throughout Michiana; and Alexa Valdez, a senior at Goshen College who is majoring in social work.
“Being invited to the town hall meeting was such an honor,” Alexa Valdez said. “However, I was hoping that issues that Latinos face would have been addressed. Latinos make up such a huge part of this community and we face a lot of issues, especially when immigration reform has yet to happen. It is a lot more than just having Latinos in the audience to showcase Elkhart County’s diversity, but to also make sure that their voices are not silenced, as they have been for a very long time.”
Goshen College’s Center for Intercultural and International Education, under the guidance of Pérez, has been a leader in developing relationships among local Latino groups and provides leadership for intercultural understanding in the Goshen community.
“I believe it was a milestone for so many Latinos to have been invited to interact with President Obama,” said Aguirre. “Ten years ago, there may not have been even one Latino present for an Elkhart County town hall with the president. I believe Latinos are key to the continued health and prosperity of Goshen and Elkhart County because of our rapid population growth. And we’re doing our part to improve our community.”
After waiting for several hours, the town hall participants erupted in applause when Obama walked on to the stage accompanied by Secret Service agents. The president sat down and was interviewed by Gwen Ifill, the co-anchor and co-managing editor of the PBS NewsHour.
During the 70-minute event, President Obama answered tough questions from both Ifill and audience members on the economy, healthcare, gun control, refugees, the upcoming presidential elections and other issues facing the country today. Arvis Dawson ’76 was able to directly address the president with a question about transgender rights in regards to bathrooms.
Earlier in the day, Brian Wiebe, former Music Center executive director (2001-2012) and 2016 graduate of the master’s in intercultural leadership program at Goshen College, earned a meeting with Obama before the president’s speech at Concord High School.
Wiebe leads Horizon Education Alliance, an organization which has helped the White House connect with Elkhart County politicians around some of President Obama’s initiatives.
“In a private setting like that, you realize how intently he listens to each person,” Wiebe said.
Wiebe talked to Obama about how Elkhart County has rallied around education.
“I shared with him that after his last visit in 2009, our community all came together to focus on education, with industry leaders and all seven superintendents working together to create the organization Horizon Education Alliance,” Wiebe said. “I told him that that Elkhart County would be a place he’d want to visit again in 3 to 5 years.”
⎯ By Brian Yoder Schlabach and Richard R. Aguirre