Ninety years after his great-grandparents immigrated to Des Moines, Rob Barron `02 has made history in the city they chose, becoming the first Latino elected to the city council.
He said that although the title is an achievement, “what’s more important is that person be successful, and that they encourage the community at large to see the value of a diverse body of elected officials.”
Growing up with a librarian mother and a police officer father, Barron, who earned 61 percent of the vote in the Nov. 4 election to secure Des Moines’ Ward 1 council seat, said he learned to care about the world’s issues around the family dinner table.
After high school, he attended Grinnell College, where he said he had the best four years of his life.
A political science major, he said his advisor, Professor Barbara Trish, left a lasting mark on him.
He also played baseball at Grinnell under Coach Tim Hollibaugh, whose time coaching him remains one of his favorite memories, Barron said. He said Hollibaugh even sent him a text congratulating him after last week’s election.
After Grinnell College, Barron worked for former U.S. Senator Tom Harkin for 13 years.
“I loved every minute of it,” he said. “I felt like I was making the world a better place. I felt welcomed into it.”
In 2013, Barron was elected to the Des Moines School Board, becoming the first Latino to serve on that board. He was then re-elected to the role for a second term. “I have been hooked ever since,” he said.
Over the years, Barron said he’s seen a hopeful and dramatic rise in Latino representation.
In 2013, only eight of Iowa’s 7,000 elected officials were Latino.
After last week’s elections, he said that number will likely exceed 40.
In many ways, Barron said his path in public service traces back to the community he first found at Grinnell.
“It’s just that that family feeling of Grinnell never really leaves you,” he said. “I am just so grateful to be part of that.”
An active student on campus, Barron was part of the Student Organization of Latines (SOL) during his college years and even became its president.
“I fell in love with Latino students on campus and really just made a family out of all these Latina and Latino students from all over the world,” he said.
One of his most vivid memories in the organization, he said, was a jalapeño-eating contest that happened once. “Only one year because afterwards, the College said, ‘No, you’re never doing that again,’” he said.
If he had to give advice to his college self, he said, “Take your time, don’t rush.”
“There’s going to be moments when you feel underwater, socially or academically. Take a breath,” Barron said. “Especially when you’re young, when you’re confronted with a challenge, it can feel overwhelming and so try and see the `forest for the trees.”
