Star-Telegram Staff Writer FORT WORTH - Juan Hernandez brokered meetings with Mexican and U.S. leaders to promote immigration rights. On Monday, he faced a tougher crowd in some ways: 1,036 middle school students. Hernandez, a Fort Worth native and the first Mexican-American to serve in the Mexican Cabinet, challenged students at Hillwood Middle School in north Fort Worth to dig deeply into their immigrant roots for direction. "Be proud of it," he told the animated audience. "Find out what you have flowing through your blood." Educators said the visit was aimed at fostering acceptance of cultural differences. "It's important to honor diversity. That's what makes us stronger," Principal Jim Joros said. Personal ties to Mexico and the United States fueled Hernandez's desire to promote immigrant rights, he said. That endeavor allowed him to take part in U.S.-Mexico talks on immigration reform and to help make Mexican history when Vicente Fox won the presidency. "Mexico, we only had one party for 71 years. That's longer than communism lasted," said Hernandez, who lives in Fort Worth and promotes financial planning in Hispanic communities. He used his experience to explain the struggles some face in bridging cultures, from dealing with discrimination to explaining why he was a lighter-haired Hispanic. Hernandez explained that his mother is American and his father Mexican, so he had to balance two cultures growing up. That was a theme 13-year-old Grace Jones understood. The native of England said she felt out of place when she first came to Watauga. "It was different. It was kind of a scary," she said, with a hint of a twang that sounded more Texas than Manchester, England. Hernandez urged students to use their talents and respect the often-unnoticed labor of immigrants who work in the United States. "We need to give them the dignity they deserve," Hernandez said. Lizzie Vincent, 15, an eighth-grader, said Hernandez's message was cool because it teaches kids to accept all people. "I think everybody's equal," she said. Another eighth-grader, Morgan Canty, 13, said that even though times have changed, prejudice and racism still exist. She said the lecture drove home the point that "it doesn't matter your color or your race. You can do anything you want to."