CORVALLIS, Ore. — Oregon State University Extension Service’s Juntos program has hired two coordinators with deep ties to their communities in Central and Eastern Oregon.
“We are excited to have Emily and Nayeli join the Open Campus and Juntos team and begin connecting with local students and families."
Nayeli Contreras will serve as coordinator for Malheur, Morrow and Umatilla counties. Emily Chavez Romero will serve as coordinator for Deschutes and Jefferson counties and will support the program in Crook County.
“We are excited to have Emily and Nayeli join the Open Campus and Juntos team and begin connecting with local students and families,” said Gina Galaviz-Yap, Juntos statewide director for the OSU Extension Service.
Juntos provides access to education through community-based partnerships and unique programming. Open Campus launched Juntos in Oregon in 2012.
Juntos (“together” in Spanish) is a multicomponent program that brings Latinx families and educational institutions together to create pathways to higher education for Latinx youth and their families. The program’s motto is “Juntos para una Mejor Educación” (Together for a Better Education).
Juntos is unique among college access programs because it engages the entire family with a strong emphasis on cultural responsiveness while minimizing barriers to participation.
Local experience and leadership
Contreras grew up and went to school in Umatilla and Hermiston and is a graduate of Hermiston High School. She graduated from Oregon State in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in human development and family sciences.
During college, she participated in the College Assistance Migrant Program and worked for the Centro Cultural César Chávez for three years. She recently completed a master’s in the College Student Services Administration program in Oregon State’s School of Language, Culture, and Society.
She comes to the OSU Extension Service from the Blue Mountain Community College Hermiston Center, where she spent the last 4½ years, most recently as center director. Prior to becoming director in June 2021, she was a student success coach, Latinx liaison and the Hermiston Center precision agriculture coordinator.
Contreras worked closely with local high schools on college recruitment, including supporting federal student aid application workshops, College Application Week, informal tours of the Hermiston Center and serving as a mentor in ASPIRE — Active Student Participation Inspires Real Engagement.
Returns to Juntos as coordinator
Chavez Romero participated in Juntos as a student in Redmond. She recently graduated with honors from the University of Oregon with a bachelor’s degree in Indigenous, race and ethnic studies and minors in Latinx studies and anthropology.
She graduated from Ridgeview High School in 2018 and, through her volunteering with the Latino Community Association and social justice activism, was awarded a Ford Family Foundation scholarship.
At the University of Oregon, Chavez Romero pursued opportunities to continue her work in racial equity and human rights, particularly within the immigrant social justice movement.
She served as the student program assistant in Multicultural and Identity-Based Support Services, where she aided in planning, implementation and marketing of educational and community-building events and programs that support “Dreamers” and other undocumented college students in Oregon.
She was co-director of the 17th and 18th annual Raíces Unidas Youth Conferences hosted by the University of Oregon’s MEChA chapter. The conferences invited Latinx high school students from across the state to attend workshops on topics such as culture, Indigenous roots, identity, education, gender, sexuality, immigration, the Black Lives Matter movement and allyship.
Previously titled Coordinators with deep ties to their communities join Open Campus and Juntos
