Oscar Vazquez, whose life is portrayed in the book “Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream,” by Joshua Davis, will speak at WSU Vancouver on Feb. 22. “An Afternoon with Oscar Vazquez” runs from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. Feb. 22 in Dengerink Administration Building, Room 110. It is free and open to the public.
“Spare Parts” is a true story about four Mexican-American high school students living in Phoenix, Ariz., who overcome seemingly insurmountable odds while learning about building robots and surviving in the United States. In a prestigious competition, Vazquez’s robotics team upset a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their lives are also the subject of a documentary, “Underwater Dreams,” which will be shown at WSU Vancouver in April.
Vazquez will share his story of fitting in during high school as an undocumented student, returning to Mexico in order to enter the country legally and serving in the U.S. Army, including two tours in Afghanistan. He earned an engineering degree at Arizona State University and in 2016 was invited by President Obama to attend the State of the Union address as a guest of the White House. A prominent advocate for immigration reform, he has testified before Congress on immigration issues.
“An Afternoon with Oscar Vazquez” is one of several Common Reading Program events being held during the school year. “Spare Parts” is the book WSU Vancouver chose for its common reading this year and is used throughout academic disciplines in different ways. First-year WSU Vancouver students received the book free. For more information about the program, contact Suzanne Smith, smithsu@wsu.edu (link sends e-mail).
