In conjunction with the Chatham 250 celebration, Chatham Community Library will host a virtual lecture by Dr. Virginia Cárdenas.  The program, entitled K-12: Tracing the Latino Experience in Chatham County Schools, is part of a series of discussions chronicling the history of communities of color in Chatham County.  It will be held virtually on Friday, June 25, 2021, from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.  A question and answer period will follow the lecture.

 Dr. Cárdenas will take the audience on a journey through her personal walk as a Latina teacher, principal and administrator of public schools. She will describe how the first Latino students, who were members of a family recruited by the poultry industry, were placed in the same classroom because only one teacher in Siler City spoke Spanish.  She will discuss retrospectively how Chatham County Public Schools worked to address the needs of an unexpected influx of students by creating partnerships with other County agencies. She will tell of the successes, the failures, the barriers to equivalent education, and the lessons learned allowing Chatham and other counties to improve educational opportunities for Latino students.

Dr. Cárdenas began her career as a teacher in Chatham County Schools, and later served as the director of the Magnet School Assistance Program for Wake County Public Schools. As a teacher, principal and school administrator, she has worked to provide all children with a quality education that lays the foundation for success and global citizenship.

Cárdenas is now a retired educator who holds a master’s degree in school administration and a doctoral degree in school leadership from UNC-Chapel Hill. She is the Chair of UNC’s Alumni Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity, and former Chair of the ACRED Latina/o subcommittee.

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required and is available at https://tinyurl.com/CCL-Cardenas.