Rutgers-Camden’s HombRes Initiative Means Something Special to Brandon Quiles
Participants in the Rutgers University-Camden HombRes Initiative. Photo courtesy of Brandon Quiles
BY CLYDE HUGHES | AC JosepH Media
CAMDEN – Rutgers University-Camden’s Brandon Quiles said it was out of a “deeply personal sense of duty” that led him to take part and mentor in the institution’s HombRes Initiative, meant to embrace Hispanic male students on campus.
This month, Quiles, assistant director of student support Services at Rutgers-Camden, described working with the students in the initiative an “honor.” HombRes worked with first generation and low-income Latino students to combat barriers they face once they arrive on campus.
The initiative’s members, which primarily came from the Camden area, participated in activities designed to break down possible barriers to help them success while they pursued their degree.
“Institutional data and my own lived experience highlighted that a lack of sense of belonging, limited family support, financial stressors, and societal and cultural pressures around masculinity all negatively impacted Latino persistence,” Quiles said in a LinkedIn post.
“I started the HombRes retention initiative out of a deeply personal sense of duty and care for both my Latinx community and my father’s legacy as a leader and paternal figure in our community.”
Quiles said HombRes offered the students practical skill building workshops on budgeting, cooking, public speaking, dressing professionally, and managing mental health via self-regulation.
It also offered sociocultural programs such as Latin dance lessons, academic study nights, and a student vs. staff basketball tournament to enhanced community, academic motivation, and sense of belonging.
HombRes’s civic engagement projects included feeding the hungry, cleaning up a community greenhouse and preparing community gardens to help plant food for city locals, and creating care packets for those in need.
It also included a trip to Puerto Rico where they participated in workshops and shared their testimonies with high school students to encourage college boundness, and painted buildings affected by natural disasters.
The also created the Escaleras Summit, a professional development conference with keynotes, faculty and student led workshops, and alumni career panels put on by the Latino community at Rutgers Camden.
“There is so much more work to be done, and I know there are still a ton of obstacles in the way for my scholars, but I’m so immensely proud of them,” Quiles said. “They are performing better academically and more committed to finishing their degree.
“Without your support, our scholars would not have been able to develop this brotherhood of accountability, nor would they have access to the academic and professional resources and cultural exposures needed to thrive. I am so deeply grateful for your trust in allowing me to bring HombRes to life,” Quiles said.
Quiles is currently pursuing his doctorate degree in education from George Mason University. He already has a bachelor’s in finance and master’s in education. He said he has a passion for access and equity support services and social justice education within higher education.
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