Last fall, school administrators informed the Evanston Township High School District 202 Board of Education that about one in 10 Hispanic or Latine students reported feeling like they don’t belong at ETHS.

Then-student representative for the board Rachel Durango-Cohen said the statistic confirmed what she had long observed among her peers and prompted an urgent response.

“I did feel like sometimes my identity as someone who’s interested in STEM and my Latin identity couldn’t coexist,” Durango-Cohen said. “So I started to recognize that issues of belonging are more pressing — and might be why some students weren’t trying out these harder classes.”

Durango-Cohen was elected to serve as the student representative to the D202 board for the 2024-25 school year. 

She said leading ETHS’ junior chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers helped her support fellow Hispanic students in STEM. But after hearing the report, she shifted her focus toward creating new spaces for cultural connection.

Durango-Cohen began attending Black Brown + Breathing, a space for ETHS students “to gather, breathe, grieve, and celebrate in community.” The space was created after the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the following societal reaction in 2020, according to the district’s website.

While she found the space meaningful, Durango-Cohen said she felt ETHS needed more programming specifically for Hispanic or Latine students to complement existing events like the annual Latinx Student Summit, part of the school’s Social Consciousness Series. Summits are a “big deal” among ETHS students but often provide an opportunity to learn from guest speakers rather than connecting with peers, she added.

“This was the first year we’ve incorporated affinity circles in all of our student summits. That was a really big deal because it really promoted the idea, ‘There are people like you here — connect with them, create a community, because it’ll make you feel less isolated,’” she said.

Durango-Cohen said working with board members revealed “a completely different way of addressing problems” and showed her that schools can take concrete steps to combat challenges affecting both students and teachers.

Though she didn’t join the school’s Student Union, ETHS’ volunteer student government, until her senior year, Durango-Cohen said the organization’s annual voice forum revealed key student concerns. She used that feedback to help “nudge” board members toward responsive action.

At Durango-Cohen’s final board meeting last week, board member Pat Maunsell said her monthly reports offered a uniquely valuable window into the student experience.

“You ask questions that are really thoughtful, really useful to the conversation and that certainly represent you but also help us see through the lens of our students,” Maunsell said. “Really, that’s why we’re all here — because of you and the other 3,900 people you share this building with.”

Durango-Cohen said concerns raised during public comment at the meeting regarding pro-Palestinian activism among ETHS students and teachers “should be addressed by the student representative.” She added these concerns could be a good starting point for newly-elected student representative Eva Hansen’s work.

Durango-Cohen also touted the Student Union’s efforts to incorporate self-defense training into all physical education classes at ETHS and increase the accessibility and selection of menstrual products in the school’s restrooms.

Other board members praised Durango-Cohen’s personal qualities.

“I especially appreciate your ability to deliver challenging updates on difficult subjects without shying away from hard truths,” former board member Gretchen Livingston said. “That talent will serve you well as you make your way through college and the world that awaits you — especially in these times when even speaking the truth seems like a challenge.”

Durango-Cohen graduated from ETHS Sunday morning and plans to study applied math and sociology at Harvard University this fall.

Though she will no longer serve on the school board, Durango-Cohen said she plans to continue working tirelessly to make Hispanic students at ETHS feel more included.

“I actually plan on continuing my work with ETHS until I feel satisfied with the progress being made and until there’s an active Latine affinity space,” Durango-Cohen said. “The board gave me great insight into the impact I can have, and it’s pushed me to keep going.”

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