For Araceli, 17, others, Mission center provides anchor to family, Latino heritage and life

By Melissa Dudum-Maya and Laura Sullivan

When Araceli Leon, 17, was a young girl, she wasn’t sure just where in her life her Latino heritage fit in, and feeling lost she searched for where she belonged.

Fortunately for Leon, her father Jose Leon, the youth program director at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, helped guide her.

Before the center added on the current after school youth program, the MCCLA only offered lessons in the summer. Leon said that each year she remembers waiting for school to be let out, excited to return to the MCCLA because she’d soon see her friends again.

Since she was seven-years-old, Leon’s father allowed her to help out at the MCCLA when and where needed. Soon, she was a teacher helping other Latinos succeed too. “You can learn a lot from your peers,” Leon said.

During this period, Leon said that she didn't like her home life or school life, but when she went to the MCCLA she knew that people cared about her.

"I felt really wanted," said Leon. "It helped me develop as a person."

Through the years, Leon has met so many people through the cultural center that she constantly bumps into people she knows throughout the Mission. Usually, the high school friends she’s with give her a hard time because of her popularity.

"I've grown up here," Leon said. "It's a part of who I am. We're all doing this together like a family because we've seen each other grow up, and that's why students return every year."

Leon gives so much credit to the Mission Culture Center for her upbringing that when it came time to write her personal statement while applying to colleges, she chose the MCC as her paper’s topic, crediting the center for her scholastic and personal success.

"I don't know where I would be without the program because the program has taught me to keep an open mind," Leon said. "I didn't know where the Latino culture was until I came here. The center keeps the Latino Culture going."

According to the MCCLA's website, 'the programs philosophy is that arts are an intricate part of our youths' development. Through our Art, Dance, and Music classes children and teens develop confidence, self expression a sense of creativity, leadership team building skills and cultural pride and awareness (regardless where you come from). With the tools to become a more health conscious artistic and well rounded individual.'

Jose Leon said, “We want everyone to have a positive experience so they come back and pass the torch. We’ve been lucky to give them a good experience.”

Capoeira, hip-hop (beginner and intermediate), Latin Jazz Band, Mosaic, Tae Kwon Do, CMC Drumming, Intro to art, painting and drawing, arts and crafts and theater are all the classes that are offered to children and teenagers through the after school youth program at the MCCLA.

Youth hip-hop instructor Stephanie Owens took dance lessons as a student at the MCCLA when she was just 16.

After graduating with a dance degree from SF State, Owens came back to the MCCLA because it was close to her heart and she felt it was finally her time to give back to her community.

While she has danced at various studios throughout the city, Owens continually stays involved with the youth dance program at the MCCLA because she wants the children and teenagers to have the same environment she had when she was their age.

Owens remembers her first impression with the center was when she first walked into the dance studio. Seeing the smooth dance floor, large mirrors, and the sound system left Owens in awe. Though, what most impressed her the most were the adults present that took it seriously and made the environment feel professional. But most importantly, Owens said she felt accepted and loved.

"When you walk in here you immediately feel a connection and it's established immediately that this is a family," Owens said, adding that family life is an extremely important component of the Hispanic culture.

After emigrating from Mexico City to San Francisco, Hector Zavala, theater instructor at the MCCLA, also feels at home with the center’s community.

“To me this place is family and this is where I felt at home,” Zavala said. “It’s a family you create.”

Some of the students that participate in Zavala’s theater class echoed their instructor’s sentiments about feeling accepted.

Abraham Alberez, 10, said he likes to come to theater class because he has so many friends.

"I feel like I'm a part of something big," Alberez said, who began coming to the MCCLA when he was seven-years-old. "We're making something for people to laugh and to entertain them."

Alberez is a fifth grader at St. Peters Catholic school in the Mission District. He said his school offers theater classes, but explained that they are more structured and serious for his liking.

"We have fun here and I love to be here,” Alberez said.

Another fifth grader, Danilo Baraza, said that he comes to the center because it's his home and family.

"I love to come here," Baraza said. "I like being with my friends."

The ideology of the MCCLA is very important because this tight-knit community keeps former students coming back as instructors to give back to a place that helped shape who they are today.

“It’s a second home,” Jose Leon said. “ They would rather come back here because we make this more than an after school program, we make this a home.”