st pain, cough, or trouble breathing. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are or plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding. for more information about side effects talk to your doctor. thanks, mom. be in your moment. ask your doctor about ibrance. a pfizer product. damian trujillo: hello, and welcome to "comunidad del valle." i'm damian trujillo, and today we're celebrating the mexica new year on your "comunidad del valle." [music] [music]

damian: we begin today with changes to the college financial aid application process. sonia ramos joins us now, she's with calsoap, and sergio diaz luna is with the east side union high school district in san jose. welcome to the show. sonia ramos: thank you for having us. damian: tell us first of all, sonia, about the calsoap. tell us what you all do with calsoap. sonia: so, calsoap is the california student opportunity and access program. we are a state funded program through the california student aid commission, which is our state agency which administers all state financial aid to our students here in california. and so, calsoap serves regions across the state focusing on increasing the college going rates and access to financial aid for low income and first gen students.

and our san jose calsoap program works here in san jose specifically supporting students in east side union high school district. damian: and we'll get into the-- these changes first, but you gave me a startling statistic, sergio, before we went on the air. tell us about the drop in students applying for financial aid. sergio diaz luna: yeah, well, you know, sonia ramos shares-- shared data from the national college attainment network that really year over year, what we're seeing is last year we had about 43.3%--43.4% of students completing the fafsa at this point of the year. today, we have 26.4%, and i think for us at the district level, out here at east union high school district, we haven't even been able to see how many students are completing the fafsa, because typically around this time we would have access to a portal where we can look into and see who's completed it, who needs additional outreach so that we can connect them with our counselors and our counseling team. and right now, we're still just waiting for that information to

be released, but really trying to be accessible and available for our families to make sure that they know we're here as a resource. damian: yeah, i noticed that we got your name incorrectly there. it should say sergio diaz, but we'll get that corrected in our next segment. but talk about these changes, sonia. have they become complicated or is that something that you were learning as you go? sonia: well, the changes were all prompted by our federal legislation and leaders, department of education, a few years back through the fafsa simplification act. and the overarching goal was to update the fafsa, which has not been updated in 40 years, so that it makes the process a lot simpler and easier for students and families to complete. and so, the biggest changes are overall the goal is to include and be able to provide more financial aid to a larger pool

of students in--throughout our country, and also in terms of the application itself, reducing the number of questions on the application from 108 to less than 40 applications--i'm sorry, sorry, less than 40 questions. and also utilizing the irs tax return portal, which would actually be able to be accessed through the application. and in the back end of the students and parents application actually enter this tax information directly into the application for students and families, because that was the part of the application that really took the longest is manually entering in all of the tax information for the student, but mostly the parent. and so, this is really the overarching goal of this simplification act, and right now what is--ultimately

happened is when this application was released in late december, which is off the timeline, it was delayed this year because of these changes, and the department of education making those technical changes and, you know, utilizing a new technology or working with older technologies and trying to simplify this application, the application opened and we discovered that there were a lot of glitches that did not allow students and parents to access the application. one of the other changes for our students and parents, specifically for our mixed status families, which typically have a parent who does not have a social security number, the requirement for the application and to enter the application is that every student and every parent, regardless of whether or not they have a social security number, for the parent contributor must create a studentaid.gov account. and so, with that, that also included some additional

verification needed and steps that these students--or sorry, that the parents who are non ssn contributors to the financial aid application would have to go through to verify their identity. and so, those are the pieces that are currently not working on the application, and so it's greatly impacting disproportionately our mixed status families, specifically, our students who have parents without a social security number who are currently unable to create their studentaid.gov account, which is needed to access the application. and if they are, they're unable to access the application and complete their portion. so, that is the, unfortunately, the biggest change and most frustrating part of this process as it is right now, and definitely that was not expected with the changes that were designed to make this process simpler.

damian: well, then in our next segment, let's talk about what the options maybe those families might have if we can. but if you want more information, we're gonna show you a couple of websites. first one is for calsoap, there is the website on the screen also for the east side union high school district. we'll be back and talk more about the situation with the financial aid process when we continue, stay with us. ♪♪♪

damian: we're talking about student financial aid here on "comunidad del valle," sonia ramos is with calsoap san jose, and with us also is sergio diaz luna with the east side union high school district. talk about the brightness, the intelligence of your students, sergio, because you have a lot of bright students who go to a lot of big colleges, and a lot of success stories coming out of east side. sergio: yeah, absolutely. i mean, we have every year, we have a total enrollment of about 21,000 students, about 1/4 of those are our senior class, and every year they're looking forward to the next steps of

their college application process. you know, we have the privilege of having a partnership with the spartan--through the spartan east side promise with san jose state university that provides a pathway to guaranteed admission for qualifying students, and so many of our students take advantage of that. right now we had about 1,900 students apply this year to that spartan east side promise, so we're hopeful to see how many students enroll as a result. i think one of the things that is also helpful is that those students are receiving one-on-one support at their school site for this financial aid process, because even though there's a little bit of challenges with the new forms and with the new process to apply to financial aid, sonia ramos, her team over at calsoap, and the california student aid commission have really provided resources to provide one-to-one workshops at each one of our school sites to help families through this process. so, anytime they're having challenges, whether it's be--

whether it be, you know, they're in a mixed status household or they're not getting the right confirmation number from one of their web portals, they can attend one of those workshops and receive the support they need to really make it into the college process. you know, there's a story of one student i'm thinking of specifically right now, a student out of independence that's a senior this year that was playing soccer, and with her, you know, academic success, she's going to be going off to ucla to play on their division one soccer team. and her family was also asking about financial aid as we were talking about that process, and, you know, this--the new forms are one thing that are on people's minds, even as the students are planning their next steps. damian: isn't that something? and i told a student at hartnell college just recently that finances should never be your obstacle for either you-- whether you go to college or not, and it's just so sad that

this is the situation. so, sonia, what options do these families have that there don't seem to be any answers for them right now? sonia: so, the department of education, this is an issue that has been--is well known by all of our congressional leaders and department of education, state leaders, and they are pushing, you know, and adding pressure to the department of education to resolve this--these issues as soon as possible. they have communicated with educators across the country that that process and those solutions for these issues that they currently are experiencing will be resolved sometime in mid march. what we know is going to happen is that the processing of financial aid applications, which means the applications are sent from the department of education to the colleges and universities, was delayed, but will begin in march and mid

march around the 15th of march. and so, colleges and universities will now have that information from those applications that have been submitted to begin processing students's applications and determining their eligibility for financial aid. for our non-ssn contributors, our parents, that those issues are also currently being worked on by the department of education. it is a high priority. additional resources have been given to the department of education to begin, you know, to prioritize these issues and these solutions. and so, we are hoping within the next week or so we will hear from them and and receive those solutions, those temporary-- those permanent fixes. we have some temporary fixes right now that are considered workarounds that the department of education has provided, and so if students and families are having issues, we really want to encourage them to attend a cash for college, reach out to our

calsoap program, and you can follow us on instagram, but really working with someone to guide them through those temporary solutions so that they can at least get to a point where, you know, they've done everything that they can and we're now working--waiting on that permanent solution. damian: i can just imagine the panic on these families, and it can be the, you know, the difference between going to college or not going to college. so, hopefully they're extending deadlines and whatnot. oh, any final thoughts, sergio, before we let you go here on the show? sergio: yeah, i mean, i think you said it best, and our superintendent always repeats this, that students should know that a college education is within their reach. and with the college application process involves fafsa, there is financial support available, and that's one thing that students should know. because, you know, some of the research is showing that students who are in that lowest quintile of income distribution, you know, that's the parents who are making an income of about $30,000 or less each year, are about 10% less likely to even

apply for fafsa, and that's really one of those things where students in that category should be applying. they're going to receive it at a higher rate than others. and we're really advocating for them to do that process and, you know, financial aid's available, our one-on-one workshops are available thanks to sonia's team at calsoap, and we're here to support. if anyone has any questions, whether it's at east side or any other school district, i definitely encourage you to just speak with a counselor. they'll point you in the right direction. damian: all right, well, thank you for your advocacy. and again, hopefully this all gets ironed out soon and we get these applications going forward. thank you all so much for being on the show. sonia: thank you. damian: thank you, and again, if you want more information, we're gonna show you a couple of websites. one is for calsoap, where you can find out more about what's happening there. and there's a website also for the east side union high school district. up next here on "comunidad del valle," celebrating the mexica new year. stay with us.

damian: we're celebrating the mexica new year here on

"comunidad del valle." quetzalli is a dancer with calpulli tonalehqueh. she joins us now here on the show. welcome to the show, quetzalli. quetzalli: thank you. damian: thank you for being here. tell us about, first of all, about your name and your--the origin of your name, quetzalli. quetzalli: sure, i'm quetzalli, and it means precious in nahuatl, which is one of the languages spoken from our ancestors in mexico. damian: and your dad is the one who named you, or is kind of a combination of mom and dad? quetzalli: yeah, my dad, he's always been involved in danza since he came to the states, and so he really connected with it, and so he named me quetzalli. damian: all right, well, there's a big celebration happening this coming weekend at emma prusch park in san jose. is this celebration the largest in the nation, the largest mexica new year celebration? quetzalli: yes, it is. damian: tell us about that. quetzalli: yeah, it's a beautiful celebration where we come together as an indigenous community to share space and to celebrate the new era of our year. damian: and we have some images that we'd like that you shared

with us. actually, this is from the festival last year. talk about the convening of these different tribes from different nations. maybe some that, that i definitely haven't heard before, maybe some that you haven't heard before. but the importance of this convening and getting together with these different nations. quetzalli: yeah, we have people visiting and coming in to share space from arizona to peru, from canada, all over, just to come together and share space and just to take up space and show that we're still here and we're still honoring our ancestors and our culture and our practices. damian: i know in one of the interviews, mitlapilli, the leader of calpulli tonalehqueh. i mentioned that, you know what, in this country we celebrate the chinese new year. in fact, we just did that a couple of weeks ago here in the bay area. why can't we do that for the mexica new year? so, that's what you're doing. tell us about that. quetzalli: yeah, this is a celebration that is very ancestral, comes from way back.

even there's still pueblitos out in mexico that still celebrate it. but yeah, it's about taking up space and reclaiming our roots. and it's important to recognize that we have that within us. damian: how important is it to-- you mentioned reclaiming our roots, but not forgetting where your blood goes back to or what your origins are, you are? we're all salt of the earth, basically. quetzalli: yeah, it's important to remember that, because being indigenous means being connected to the earth. and so, we honor those elements, those different directions, and that's part of our culture and our practices. damian: and calpulli tonalehqueh been instrumental in a lot of celebrations across the bay area. talk about your group. i went to college with mitlapilli, so i've known him for many, many decades, and he's always been a man--a spiritual man when it comes to something like this. talk about calpulli tonalehqueh. quetzalli: calpulli tonalehqueh is a beautiful space to learn

and to reconnect and to be in community, to just learn about the different ways to honor and connect with our culture. it's--to me, it's been a gateway for learning in my journey of spirituality. yeah, not only am i there with my family, my dad, and my partner, but it's beautiful to connect with everyone around there. damian: and i don't know much about danza azteca other than i love it. i love watching it, i love experiencing it. but is it for you who participates in something like this, is there sort of an internal cleansing that you feel either after one dance or maybe after this weekend full of festivities? quetzalli: definitely. dance and the space, it's a place of healing, not only with the smoke from the copal, but also the different elements, like the plants, the drums, the rhythm. it's all about being in harmony, so that's part of the offering

that you give as a dancer is your energy. so, that's part of the cleansing as well. damian: yeah, and you mentioned the harmony, and the video that we're looking at, we see the different nations, dancing at the same time. that--is it something that you just click, it clicks with everyone and you know the motions and the steps? or is just it's something that just happens because you're there in the moment? quetzalli: over time, you start to learn and recognize the different patterns so that you know when you're about to spin and do different motions. but when you're in the circle there at the ceremony, it's so harmonious. it's just, it's like intuition. it's beautiful. damian: yeah, the power of the circle, you can't underestimate that. well, again, this año nuevo mexica, mexica new year celebration is taking place from march 17--15 through 17 at emma prusch park in san jose. there is a website for more information, aztecadancers.com.

this is also put on--our media sponsors are nbc. [music]

damian: and we're back with quetzalli here on "comunidad del valle," she's with calpulli tonalehqueh. so, what can we expect this coming weekend, quetzalli? what kind of festivities? what can--what kind of images can we expect? quetzalli: there's a lot going on at mexica new year. there will be art, music, live painting, of course, the dance, the ceremony, and food as well. so, there'll be a lot going on that weekend. damian: and a lot of artesanías, a lot of things to buy, right, a lot of good mementos. quetzalli: yeah, lots of vendors, from clothing to jewelry to instruments, there's a lot of beautiful art there. damian: now, some of us might show up at 11 a.m. to enjoy the festivities, but are there some folks within the

festival who get up at the crack of dawn to welcome the sun that next day? quetzalli: that's right, yeah. on saturday it's part of our ceremony. we start the new year by--with the sunrise, and we offer a prayer, and it's actually a communal prayer where folks from all over can come and offer a little prayer, a little tobacco to the fire and for the dance. damian: what's it like when you see the chavalitos, the children, who are also enthralled and interested and watching and learning at the same time? quetzalli: it's really beautiful, because i was once that little kid who was inspired and in awe, so it's really, really amazing to see the cycle continuing. damian: and talk about the importance of the four winds or paying homage to the four directions. quetzalli: yeah, that's crucial to our dance, and as indigenous people, that's part of our medicine is acknowledging, appreciating, and respecting all of the elements, all of the

winds, all of the directions. each direction has medicine and intention. damian: what do you want folks to go home with at the end of the festivities? what do you want them to keep with them and remember? quetzalli: i would hope that they feel inspired and connected and maybe searching for their roots and to stay connected with the community as well, maybe becoming dancers themselves, if they're interested. damian: you sound like you're in a zen, like, you're so relaxed and so comfortable with what you're doing. is that attributed to partly to the spirituality of the danza? quetzalli: definitely, i have definitely felt, like, a growth since i started my spiritual journey. yeah, just feeling connected with myself and my ancestry really brings me peace. damian: all right, well, quetzalli, thank you so much for bringing these festivities to "comunidad del valle," and good luck on celebrating mexica new year. quetzalli: thank you. damian: thank you, quetzalli with calpulli tonalehqueh. again, mexica new year, a celebration is happening this

coming weekend, march 15 to 17 at emma prusch park in san jose put on or sponsored also by nbc bay area and telemundo 48. you can log on to aztecadancers.com and find out the entire roster of festivities there for mexica new year. well, if you want to get a hold of us here on "comunidad del valle," you can follow me on instagram. my handle is @newsdamiantrujillo. and there is also the email address for any show ideas you might have. and we thank you for sharing a part of your sunday with us on the show. we'll see you back here again next week, we're gonna leave you with the images of last year's festivities of mexica new year. we'll see you next week. [music] [music] [music] [music]

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[music] male: in the morning, yeah, we had some wawkis which means, like, you know, brother, you know what i mean? homie, you know what i mean? the wawkis, they're from tahuantin--.

right now on access hollywood, we celebrate the oscars with some fun moments from the past. then, our salute continues with cillian and robert's oppenheimer chemistry and emma stone's journey to bring poor things to the big screen. plus, we are with first-time oscar nominee sterling k. brown, our 13 going on 30 rewind with oscar nominee mark