For many college seniors planning on entering the workforce immediately after graduation, the end of the school year feels a bit like sky diving. They have been training for this moment for years now, and many even have jobs lined up after graduation, but success is still uncertain and satisfaction is far from guaranteed.
But for Tufts senior Mauricio Artinano, who goes by Mau, this moment might not be as shocking as for most. Artinano's future plans can be traced back to his sophomore year when he began investing in the project he will commit to full-time upon graduating: the Central American peace process.
For the international relations major and native of Costa Rica, the issues that still plague Central America are much more personal than academic. But when Artinano met Timothy Phillips (LA '03), co-founder of the Project on Justice in Times of Transition and EPIIC resident scholar, while Phillips was a student, Artinano was able to transform his individual passion into a practical mission.
With Phillips' help, Artinano developed the plan for a research project by a team of Tufts students and a follow-up conference on the Central American peace process of 1978, also referred to as Esquipulas II. Artinano hoped that the conference would both bring together key players involved in the peace process to discuss how the lessons of Esquipulas could be applied beyond Central America, and renew the peace process in Central America today.
On Mar. 4-6 of this year, Artinano's hard work became a reality, culminating in the Central American Peace Process Conference in Toledo, Spain.
When asked about the overwhelmingly positive response to the conference, Artinano admitted that he was not shocked. "The need for the discussion that happened was so real and so important that I wasn't surprised that people went," he said. "That's why I wanted to do it in the first place: because I knew it would be worth going to."
His candid confidence about the conference's success, far from presumptuous, is actually quite disarming because of its honesty. It is Artinano's philosophy that one must do what one truly loves.
"If your idea is to change the world, save the world, you need to figure out what needs changing ... and when you find something, really go for it with all your heart," he said. "I think part of what sold the idea [for the conference] was that I was so passionate about it."
Displaying a real enthusiasm for his project, Artinano said excitedly, "It's really hard to explain to people what this conference really was. It was something
so incredible that it's almost impossible to find the right words to describe it. I mean, we were having lunch with groups of former guerrilla leaders and presidents as ifit were nothing."
But Artinano is not fazed by big names when it comes to talking seriously about the very real problems in Central America. One of the high points for Artinano was being able to address those present in the opening speech and challenge them to think about the realities of Central America. Artinano did not let the conference go by as a mere celebration of a dead document, but approached it as a "way of thinking about what still remains to be done."
Assistant Political Science Professor Consuelo Cruz, faculty advisor for the project and Artinano's academic advisor, said of his resolve, "I met Mau four years ago; he was boyish-looking and sweet. But I quickly realized that he was also seriously engaged with the region's political and socioeconomic challenges and that he was intellectually mature beyond his years."
Yet, driven and successful as he may be, Artinano has a truly humble character. One would expect that the attention that came with winning the Wendell Phillips award and being named to USA Today's College Academic All-Star First Team - both events that occurred in March and were covered by the Daily - would have made Artinano comfortable with the idea of being a role model to his fellow students.
On the contrary, Artinano appears bashful when asked about his success. "I just really like collaborating with people on things that I believe in and that they believe in," he shrugged.
Artinano credits much of his success to his teachers, including some as far back as elementary school. "Teaching is the most underappreciated job because it's really [teachers] who give everyone the chance to grow and make a difference," he said.
The admiration seems to be mutual. Cruz said that working with Artinano on the Central America project revealed "a great leader in the making who was, at a relatively tender age, already committed to peace-building through the power of knowledge and hope."
Scholars Program Coordinator Ify Mora first met Artinano as a fellow University College of Citizenship and Public Service scholar and later became his advisor for his scholars project. She described Artinano as "the kind of guy who you see doing the big things but still appreciating the little things ... he gets utmost fulfilment and happiness from touching others' lives."
There is no denying his results are often seen at a much larger scale. The Toledo conference has opened up the path of further dialogue and revision on the Esquipulas II accord. There is talk of a second conference in Vancouver and of the possibility of an Esquipulas III peace accord. And Artinano will be riding in the front for the entire journey, as he has been offered a job coordinating it right from his home in Costa Rica.
Although he had hoped for a break after college, Artinano does not hesitate to express sincere happiness at having the opportunity to continue on board.
"The really interesting thing [about this project] is that it won't be just some event where people went to talk. Concrete things are coming out of it," Artinano said.
