Who are you?

My name is Magdalena Aguayo and I am a retired Pediatric Physician Assistant. I worked for over 25 years serving the Latino/Hispanic community in central Denver at Sandos Westside Health Center, a Denver Health Clinic.

What cultural impact have you had in your community?

In my position as a Pediatric PA, there was daily opportunity to teach maintenance of cultural identities brought forward from families from all areas of Latin America, including those tracing their ancestors to the start of the Spanish conquest. I directed and coordinated a Pre-School Literacy Program most of my career at Westside, and encouraged all parents and children to aspire to higher education and become bilingual, along with caring for their physical well-being. In addition, when my husband, Jose Aguayo, had the dream of creating Museo de las Americas – a museum dedicated to Latin American Art and History, I worked with him to accomplish that. I feel that I continue to have an impact in the community by always being willing to speak on a variety of issues to all audiences. In this way the community can see a person of color speak on health, history, education and other real-world issues.

What are you looking forward to the most about the future of LCAC?

It is most exciting to be able to participate in the creation of an entity that will bring together the history and cultural identities of our Latino Community under one roof to educate all who are interested. I expect the LCAC will be the center of activity for the expression of this most important issue of education.

Why is it vital for LCAC to exist?

The world is quickly losing the ability to educate others in aspects of cultures that are a part of our world. Specifically, our Latino/Hispanic children and grandchildren are not aware of the contributions made by their families or community. The plan for LCAC is to make learning about past and present Latino expressions engaging and fulfilling. In this way, we can help to build a more complete world view.