In the spring of 1999, Yolanda Bisbee received a phone call that would carry her career in a different direction.
At the time, Bisbee was the coordinator for the University of Idaho’s Upward Bound program, a nation-wide initiative that helps high school students from low-income families receive a higher education. She worked with Isabel Bond to write grants that guided disadvantaged students throughout the college application and admission processes.
“They called me, as coordinator of Upward Bound and said, ‘Do you accept the CAMP grant?’ and I looked at Isabel and I said, “They want to know if we accept the CAMP grant,” Bisbee said. “We had been writing so many grants, we didn’t know which one it was. She said, ‘Yes, accept it.'”
Bisbee didn’t know it at the time, but Bond had written her into the grant as the potential director of the program.
While Bisbee was thrilled to receive the grant, she said she didn’t feel prepared to establish the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) on campus. The federally funded grant dictated that the program would consist of a cohort of 35 students from seasonal and migrant farmworker backgrounds.
In the fall semester of 1999 Bisbee, equipped with a small staff and a temporary office space, brought 11 students from seasonal and migrant farm-working families to Moscow.
David Betts | Blot Magazine
Members of UNITY stand outside of the Idaho Commons.
Although Bisbee is now the executive director of tribal relations at UI, she served as the CAMP director for 16 years. In that time, she said she’s only seen the program grow, as well as the Latino community on campus.
While CAMP has served students of a variety of ethnicities, Bisbee said the program has primarily prompted an increase in Latin American students.
“In 1999, when we were funded, the Latino population was about 2 percent and we’re fast approaching 8 to 9 percent now,” Bisbee said. “I attribute that to being able to get a cohort of 35 students. Ninety-eight percent of the seasonal farmworker population in Idaho is Latino, so when you target that population, your program is going to look Latino.”
Beyond the increase in Latin American students on campus, Evelina Arevalos, the current CAMP director, said Bisbee established the legacy of a community that primarily welcomes first generation students from a unique background.
“With Yolanda’s leadership, I think she started something great — I know she started something great,” Arevalos said. “A lot of students called her ‘Big Mama,’ and that’s what a lot of us needed —someone rooting for you or when you messed up to have someone say, ‘Hey, you need to do better’ or ‘Why did this happen?'”
The program includes what Arevalos calls “intrusive advising.” CAMP students are required to complete weekly study hours and check in with the program adviser. They are also required to live on campus their first year and maintain curfews.
As CAMP has grown, Arevalos said the program has built a reputation among farm-working populations throughout Idaho.
“The unity has been there since the beginning, because that’s what they built into the program,” Arevalos said. “That has continued over the years. The major difference we see is in the recruitment area. A lot of legacies are coming over, they know about CAMP by word of mouth and by relatives who were involved.”
Gabriela Franco, a junior accounting major, learned about CAMP through her older sisters.
“I had two sisters, and they were a part of the program,” Franco said. “I had heard (CAMP) was strict sometimes, but they really liked it. They really made it seem like a family.”
Bisbee said CAMP’s impact on campus is an example of how a little do-it-yourself growth can create a community.
“We started creating that community with this group of students,” Bisbee said. “They started creating their own organizations, bringing to campus their own culture and customs.”
Franco, among other former CAMP students, did just that. After leaving CAMP, she went on to become the chair of UNITY, an umbrella organization composed of 13 multicultural student associations and organizations on campus, and the president of ALPFA, the Association of Latino Professionals of America.
UNITY is composed of Greek, social and professional organizations, many of which were started by former CAMP students, like the Organizacion de Estudiantes Latino Americanos (OELA), Sigma Lambda Beta and the College Assistance Migrant Program Organization of Students (CAMPOS).
UI Junior Luis Aleman said the latter organization, CAMPOS, stemmed from the desire to maintain the sense of community students found through CAMP, which technically only serves first-year students.
“Our main purpose is to build this bond between current CAMPers and former CAMPers,” Aleman said. “Our goal is to foster that sense of family and have that unity amongst each other — letting them know that there is someone else here because we know how hard it was coming here and not knowing anybody.”
When Aleman first joined CAMPOS, there were about 10 members. After that, many members graduated, and the president left campus to study abroad, which left the group temporarily inactive.
Although CAMPOS disbanded for one year, Aleman said an increased interest in re-building that community prompted him to work toward bringing more current and former CAMP members together.
“Last year’s CAMPers had heard there was this organization called CAMPOS that did all these things and they were like, ‘We want to start it,'” Aleman said. “Little by little it became a thing, and right now we have plenty of members.”
Cydnie Gray | Blot Magazine
Aleman now serves as the co-chair for CAMPOS, where former CAMP students reach out to first-years, serve as mentors and hold social events. CAMPOS members are no longer officially a part of CAMP, but Aleman said they’re still members at heart.
“Even though we are known as the former CAMPers, we’re still CAMPers no matter what,” Aleman said.
Jorge Hernandez, a member of Sigma Lambda Beta and OELA, said the organizations created by campers have helped bring Latin American culture to campus.
“Some of those organizations that CAMP helped create or are involved in have a large emphasis on our cultural background,” Hernandez said.
Both Hernandez and Aleman said they never thought they’d attend UI, let alone become so involved on campus. Growing up, neither thought college was an option.
“I was still kind of amazed that I came here to college. College wasn’t really that feasible for me,” Aleman said. “Both of my parents are farmworkers, and they were always working — we couldn’t afford it basically, and so I was excited that because of CAMP I was able to dig myself out of the hole I felt that I was in.”
Now, many former CAMP students are encouraging more Latino students to apply and enroll at UI through organizations like OELA, which hosts informational workshops for incoming and current students.
“We want to focus on the retention of Latino students on campus as well as getting the information out to high schoolers,” Hernandez said.
OELA also hosts an event which welcomes Latino high school students across the State of Idaho, where they can be helped through the application process and financial aid forms necessary to attend college.
“A lot of the students who come to our main event did get accepted,” Hernandez said. “I think the emphasis on getting the information out there is really important. In high school, I didn’t know about a lot of opportunities out there.”
Before organizations like OELA, there was only CAMP. Franco said she appreciates the program because of the resources she was provided with as a first-year student.
“I felt like having them there helped me a lot more than students not a part of CAMP who don’t have access to the OMA,” Franco said. “They didn’t know who to use as a resource. So that’s something I really appreciate CAMP for.”
CAMP can only admit 35 students. Applicants who are not admitted to the program are directed to the Office of Multicultural Affairs and are considered eligible to become Diversity Scholars.
Aleman said he’s grateful that he was able to participate in the program — for both the academic support and the community environment that encouraged him to become more involved on campus in later years.
“I took pride in the fact that I was chosen for this program,” Aleman said. “They walked me through my first year, whether it be through tutoring or the support and also the first-year CAMPers, we had each other.”