“The only Mexicans I’ve ever met ..”

Josie Villanueva
Washington, DC

“… pick our melons on my Daddy’s farm.” she said to me, with wide eyes, on one of the first days at Hoosier Girls State. I was one of the very few Latinas in the program, a delegate chosen for my academic excellence and leadership at my high school. I think it was her surprise at seeing me there that was the most heartbreaking. I was 17 years old and the year was 2005.