A majority of students at Long Beach State identify as Latinx. Despite there being a large population of Latinx students, very few become student-athletes and continue to play their sport at the collegiate level.

When it comes to representation of Latinx athletes, hockey is among the sports that have a lack of Latinx players. This is in part due to the sport being dominated by Canadian and European players.

For 30 years, Operation Jump Start has been helping first-generation students from high school to university graduate. 

He has achieved what few people in his country have achieved. O’Ward is only one of seven Mexican drivers in history who have raced in the Indianapolis 500. He is currently the only Mexican driver on the grid and is one of four Latin American drivers, alongside Brazilians Pietro Fittipaldi, Hélio Castroneves, and Argentinian Augustíne Canapino.

Read one of our stories for a personal insight on how the pandemic affected local businesses amongst the hispanic community, here.