I LEARN AMERICA x MOLAA - StoryShare
Melanie & Carlos Andrés Gómez Conversation
Melanie Arroyave is a Rutgers University graduate and an active-duty member of the U.S. Coast Guard. Born and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey, in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, she is a proud Colombian-American, the first of her family to attend college and she’s well aware of her own family’s struggles as Andean natives of Colombia. She’s been involved with I Learn America since her senior year at Bayonne High School, NJ when she wrote her poem “I am From Humble and Twisted Roots.”
Carlos Andrés Gómez is a Colombian American poet, speaker, actor, and author of Fractures, winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry, Hijito, winner of the Broken River Prize and a #1 SPD bestseller, and the memoir Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood, released by Penguin Random House. A star of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, TV One’s Verses and Flow, and Spike Lee’s #1 box office movie Inside Man with Denzel Washington, Carlos is widely known for his viral poems, “Where are you really from?” and “What Latino Looks Like,” which have garnered millions of views online. Winner of the Atlanta Review International Poetry Prize and the Sandy Crimmins National Prize for Poetry, he partnered with John Legend on Senior Orientation, a program to counteract bullying and champion inclusive masculinity among high school students. Carlos is a proud Latinx and father.
I LEARN AMERICA (ILA) is a transnational, multifaceted, and participatory youth development and education program that uses the power of creative storytelling and the arts to foster empathy, urgency, and action around issues affecting migrant youth, as they forge their path in a new land. Through collaborations with schools, storytelling mentors/artists, activists, and community-based organizations, ILA strengthens young people’s social-emotional learning and helps them transform their stories into tools for social change and personal growth.
To learn more about I LEARN AMERICA, visit their website.