President's Office

Foothill College Student Poet Laureate

With support from the President’s Foothill Experience Fund, Foothill College begins what it hopes to be a longstanding annual tradition: to name a Student Poet Laureate, an individual who will be an advocate for student voice, fostering an understanding of and appreciation for the critical role of poetic expression in creating a sense of belonging and justice.

Meet Marvin Hernandez Flores

We are pleased to introduce Marvin Hernandez Flores as our inaugural Student Poet Laureate, 2025-26. Watch Marvin's poetry reading and address during Foothill's 2025 commencement ceremony.

 

Marvin was selected for this role for his demonstrated passion for poetic expression; his understanding of the relationship between language and social justice; and his commitment to fostering student voices.

Apart from being a poet, Marvin considers himself to be a teaching artist and community organizer. In 2024, he won the Youth Speaks Bay Area Slam and had the honor of representing the Bay Area at the Brave New Voices National Youth Poetry Slam in Washington, D.C. As a first-generation student, his work is rooted in the Chicano condition and its ties to migration and the broader undocumented struggle.

Marvin reflects, “For me, writing has always been a political responsibility, and with that comes stories of my family and community that are typically never spoken of. Especially in light of the current administration and the systemic targeting of our communities, poetry has become one of the many tools of resistance we now have.”

Outside of campus, Marvin leads poetry workshops in local schools and community spaces to teach that very truth, focusing much of his energy to underserved and underrepresented youth throughout the South Bay.

Marvin is also the president of Los Jaguares, a student-led organization at Foothill College committed to political education, advocacy, and holistic community care. Through culturally grounded programming and activism, we support the spiritual, physical, and mental well-being of Latino students and the broader community we’re part of.

Winter Convocation:
The Power of Poetry in Community

with Foothill Poet Laureate Marvin Hernandez

Tuesday, January 27 
Appreciation Hall

When poetry is placed within a community, it does more than reinforce that community, it empowers us to take agency over our lives. It pushes us to listen and absorb in a world filled with so much noise.
~ Marvin Flores Hernandez

Please join us for a special campus event to be community with each other and with poetry—during a time when poetic expression matters more than ever.

• 12:15 p.m. Join us in Smithwick courtyard for light refreshments
• 1–2 p.m. Opening remarks and poetry performance by Foothill Student Poet Laureate Marvin Hernandez, joined by special guest musicians

Pictured: Marvin Hernandez Flores welcomes American labor leader and feminist activist Dolores Huerta to Foothill in October 2025, during which he performed a poetry reading.