Miriam Santos, the first Hispanic woman to be elected city treasurer of Chicago, described her struggles and gave advice to young Hispanics in front of a crowd in the Gallery of Memorial Union on Saturday.

“Latinos are sometimes not expected to succeed. There are so many barriers for us,” Santos said.

Santos said she has experienced several barriers of her own. She was raised in Gary, Ind., where her father was employed as a steel worker. Santos’ first language was Spanish, which led to problems in school.

She recalled spending hours in speech class, where the instructor tried in vain to correct Santos’ English.

“She didn’t understand that the problem was I couldn’t speak English,” Santos said.

Santos went on to become the first in her family to learn English. She often went to the doctor or elsewhere to translate.

Once, when she accompanied her family to court to pay a ticket, she said she learned how little respect Hispanics were given. On that trip, Santos said she saw how much respect the lawyers received, and she become determined to be a lawyer.

“I had never met someone who was Latino, educated and professional when I was growing up,” Santos said.

Santos worked factory jobs to pay for college, and also received student loans to help cover expenses. But, Santos said, she fears that by the time the next generation attends college, legislators will have done away with loans.

“I’m frightened for the next generation and what it will cost for them to go to school,” Santos said. “What are we going to do to ensure that the resources are there for everyone to get an education?”

Santos said she believes that Hispanics need to reshape the way America views them. One important way to do this is through exposure to Hispanic history, she said.

“Our history, current and past, has for so long been left out of the books,” Santos said. “Where are our folks? Our history is not taught. We have a very rich history of labor leaders that has been neglected.”

Hispanics need to work to keep their history alive, in school books as well as in Americans’ minds, she said.

“Unless we preserve our history, we’re not going to be reading about it,” Santos said. “Ultimately the challenge becomes ours. Voting is the only way that we send a message in this country.”

Although Hispanics compromise only about 8 percent of Chicago voters, Santos was reelected with 82 percent of the vote.