Cheers erupted, drums banged and chants ensued. If you closed your eyes, you’d swear you were at a soccer match moments after a decisive goal.
But open your eyes and you would find a different kind of celebration. Cheered on feverishly by FC Tucson players and staff, 39 students from the Chicanos Por La Causa Community High Schools held their graduation ceremony Friday evening at Tucson International Airport.
Students, dressed in caps and gowns, walked downstairs from the main floor of the airport to the baggage claim area. As they walked, those in attendance chanted to the rhythm of a drumbeat — “En-ri-que! En-ri-que!” “Car-los! Car-los!” — and waved congratulatory signs. FC Tucson’s video crew filmed it all.
“It was so surprising that they showed up,” graduate Emmanuel Lopez said. “I had no idea about it, and it’s really cool how excited they are.”
A non-profit charter-holder for Envision High School and Toltecalli High School, CPLC Community Schools serve Latino youth. Some come from underprivileged backgrounds, and many have had to overcome several life obstacles just to reach this point.
Lopez said Friday was “very emotional for me because I didn’t think I was going to graduate.”
“I was short on classes, but the school and my family helped me push through it,” he said. “It was a really special day.”
FC Tucson’s involvement in the graduation ceremony was just the first of many planned events in the newly announced partnership between the club and CPLC. FC Tucson president Amanda Powers said soccer “unites and connects communities,” and she wants her club to be a part of that outreach.
“If we are expecting the community to come out and support us at games,” Powers said, “then we need to also be one of the faces of the community and go out to support them.”
FC Tucson president Amanda Powers said, “If we are expecting the community to come out and support us at games, then we need to also be one of the faces of the community and go out to support them.”
Powers moved to Tucson in January to become the team’s president following a stint as Chief Operating Officer for New Mexico United. In accepting the role, Powers hoped to build a team that has a positive impact on and off the field.
“We know these players aren’t going to play their whole careers at FC Tucson. But while they are here, we need to create a culture where these guys are known in the community and develop as young professional athletes,” Powers said.
The 2020 USL League One season was suspended in the wake of the coronavirus, but there’s renewed hope that FC Tucson will play sometime soon. The league’s board of governors voted Friday on a return-to-play framework, with games tentatively scheduled to start July 18. Even with the season on hold, Powers and her staff have worked to ensure ways that FC Tucson is seen as leading by example. In May, the team sponsored an American Red Cross blood drive.
Showing their support at a graduation ceremony stirred up emotions for FC Tucson’s players. In a video played at the ceremony, FC Tucson players documented their own struggles in the classroom.
“I talked about how I am a first-generation student like many of them are,” Gio Magaña-Rivera said. “Going through high school, I didn’t have many resources. Both my parents are from Mexico and didn’t graduate, so I know how hard it is.”
Teammate Shak Adams added, “For me, my school didn’t do the best at preparing me for college level stuff. I was focused on soccer and not school, but I wanted to graduate for my mom. So I learned that if I tried just as hard at school as I did at soccer, I could graduate high school and college. Luckily I’ve been able to do both.”
Despite the unorthodox nature of the graduation ceremony at Tucson airport’s baggage claim area, the message could not have been more clear.
“At the end of the day, these kids have to applaud themselves for doing something that not everyone is able to accomplish,” Adams said. “You have to have the mental strength to push through anything that comes at you like the virus, or grades, or other stuff and they showed that.”
