Local nonprofit displays local high school students’ illustrations highlighting Mexican identity, fight for social justice

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 A black ball gown decorated with yellow and white flowers depicted by a Righetti High School student was the one she dreamed of wearing at her quinceañera.

But when ICE agents swarmed her neighborhood, the first-year student and undocumented immigrant remained trapped, hiding in her house on the day that should’ve been all about her.

As one of seven children and the oldest of five sisters, the student, whose name was withheld to protect her identity, said she understood why her parents couldn’t afford to reschedule.

“ICE was around, and my parents were scared something was going to happen, so I didn’t have a party,” the student said. “We couldn’t even go out. They couldn’t take me to my basketball practice. It’s scary. I don’t want to leave everything behind and get arrested or treated badly because of my skin color.”

The dress was at the center of an illustration she displayed on May 30 for Nuestra Lotería, a public exhibition showcasing artwork made by students like her from Ernest Righetti and Santa Maria high schools, at the Santa Maria Fairpark. The exhibition was hosted by Corazón del Pueblo, a cultural and creative arts nonprofit.

As part of a project designed to teach them different communication methods, students chose social justice or cultural heritage-based topics, drew matching illustrations on 11-by-14-inch canvases, and then explained their projects to their peers via research essays, poems, or presentations. 

Students depicted suffering, separation, immigration, identity, tradition, the next generation, field workers, homelessness, voice, strength, and balance as part of their Nuestra Lotería illustrations. The reimagined traditional Mexican bingo board squares highlighted the modern issues they battle as students in today’s United States.

Community members were greeted with fresh tamales and a Danza Mexicana performance by Coatlicue Atlachinolli as they strolled through the maze of wheeled, black room dividers displaying 217 students’ pieces. Local musician Jose Rendón played the soothing sound of the saxophone with songs like Frank Sinatra’s My Way.

The girl in the black ball gown depicted by the first-year Righetti student is meant to be her at her dream quinceañera. The girl dons a charro hat matching her dress as two spotlights shine beside her. In front of her lies a scattered arrangement of flowers and traditional red, green, and white coconut candies representing the Mexican flag.

Another first-year Righetti student represented the underpaid with a drawing of two hands holding a ripped check with a strawberry field in the background. 

That student, whose name was withheld for anonymity, said she wanted to highlight the struggle of fieldworkers specifically. The red lunchbox below the torn check represents the ones her uncles take to lunch with them when they go to work in their fields every day. The check for $300.70 is made out to one of those uncles.

One Righetti sophomore used an all-gray scene to illustrate the violent reality of school shootings. 

“I know school shootings happen a lot in the world, but, since one hasn’t happened here, they aren’t really talked about in our community,” the sophomore said. “It’s not a worry that’s on my mind 24/7, but, sometimes, I’ll just be sitting in class and think, ‘What if somebody were to shoot up the school right now?’ It’s scary.”

In the illustration, a crying child clings to a desk leg at the center of a gray schoolhouse. Bright red blood drips from two windows, both lined with blue cross bars, while a big white clock hangs below an American flag waving in the wind atop the school.

The sophomore said she immigrated to the United States with her family when she was 6 years old. As an undocumented immigrant, she said she’s worried ICE agents will abduct and deport her at school or her parents at work.

“It’s frustrating—having to be like, ‘Should I worry about school? Am I even going to be in this country tomorrow? Should I even be looking into colleges in the U.S.,’” the sophomore said. “We’re all told, ‘You’re doing this to get into a good college,’ but am I going to be allowed to get into college?”

She sees her friends and family members experiencing the same reality. The sophomore said she doesn’t know anybody who’s immigrated to the U.S. and achieved the American dream.

“Why are we being told that we’re going to achieve all these things? When we get here, it’s just work,” she said. “Everybody has to work to have a nice life, but we’re working and not getting that.”

But, at the same time, the sophomore persists with a positive perspective. 

“There’s still a chance these things will end when the president’s term ends,” she said. “I’m trying to hold onto that flicker of hope that there is a possibility these people are not trying to get rid of me.”

Reach Staff Writer Reece Coren at rcoren@santamariasun.com.

This article appears in Jun 12-22, 2025.