In the most emotionally charged passage of her address, Soto described joining middle and high school students who had formed a human chain around the Tucson Unified School District headquarters to protest HB 2281, the law intended to eliminate Ethnic Studies classes. The children tirelessly chanted these words — a simple, powerful demand for the right to see themselves reflected in the lessons they're taught, the lectures they hear, and the textbooks they read. As a professor who had committed her life to teaching, Soto said she was moved beyond words by the peaceful, beautiful protest. She stood with those children because Chicano studies was her own field, and because their education — like the graduates' education — mattered to her deeply.