Enacting Spiritual Activism to Develop a Sense of Belonging: Latina Community College Students Choosing and Persisting in STEM

Abstract

Guided by the theoretical frameworks of sense of belonging and spiritual activism, this study examines the experiences of first-generation Latina community college students who navigated the choice to major in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and their experiences as they prepared to transfer to a 4-year college from two Hispanic-serving community colleges. Informed by semi-structured interviews with eight Latina students, the study found that participants chose to major in a specific STEM field only after they had explored other options. After choosing a STEM major, the participants experienced academic and interpersonal invalidations, which made them question whether they belonged in STEM. However, they had access to multiple institutional resources, including scholarship funds, a supportive peer group, and validating faculty, which supported healing from previous invalidations and contributed to their sense of belonging. As individuals who encountered both inequities and microaggressions, spiritual activism reinforced a sense of belonging in STEM for Latina students.