妮可Calande

创意写作硕士

“As a queer writer, I’ve often been concerned with voices on the margins. 回去 to school to get my MFA in creative writing was as much about being connected to diverse peer writers and artists as it was about finding my own voice. With my previous experiences in independent podcasting and book publishing, I’ve seen the potential to shift power and resources towards underrepresented voices and artists. 我希望能继续下去 passion through creating platforms that directly serve artists and community members in a variety of ways—always with accessibility and empowerment in mind. 今年, being involved with Reed Magazine and the CLA will allow me to get the leadership experience in community arts programming that I hope to implement on my own after 毕业.”

乔'Leysha棉花

城市规划硕士

“The impetus for my passion to make a difference is because some一个 before me had the courage to make a difference, so I could live a more fruitful life. 特别是, these people include my enslaved ancestors, civil right leaders, community activists, community members, and my parents and other family members. 做出改变是 not always easy, the best way to pay homage to our ancestors is to pay it forward to generations following us.”

米切尔·霍金斯

多发性硬化职业治疗

驾车 Le

教育顾问

“My greatest passion for making a difference in the world stems from my educational experience toward higher education. As a first-generation, low-income Vietnamese American man, I grew up in a single-parent household where I, as the eldest son, had the sole responsibility of taking care of my family while my mother, a Vietnamese immigrant, worked incredibly hard to make ends meet to put food on our table and keep a roof 在我们头顶上. Although I successfully became the first in my family to graduate from college, my journey toward achieving this goal was not easy due to my low socioeconomic background and not having the navigational assistance to steer me toward higher education. Through my own educational journey and my work as a Counselor Intern at West Valley College in EOPS, I realized that students like me are often challenged with attaining their educational 目标 due to various circumstances that make it difficult for them 这样做. In fact, achieving my educational 目标 of transferring to a 4-year university and earning a college degree was something that I initially thought was out of reach 对于像我这样的人.

As a future community college counselor, I am keenly determined to decrease these unequal, recurring rates by closing the achievement gap among first-generation, low-income college students from diverse backgrounds so that they can attain their educational 目标. I strive to use my education to provide opportunities for college students from underserved communities to help them achieve their dreams and aspirations through higher education, ultimately fueling my passion and drive to continue making a difference for humanity and in the world entirely.”

凯瑟琳·雷耶斯

Public Health and Recreation

“As a graduate student and public health worker, I am guided by my personal experiences as some一个 who was incarcerated as a young person. I am resourced by those who have paved the way for generations before me, fighting for the rights of Black, Indigenous, disabled, immigrants, women, trans people, and other oppressed groups. 我相信公众 health as a field has an important role and responsibility to support marginalized communities in our fight for dignity and liberation. Specifically, I believe that racial justice is central to public health and envision a world where public health is a leader in addressing structural racism through bold action such as divesting from carceral solutions and investing in community-centric efforts like housing and healthcare for every一个 and universal basic income.”

泰勒Zavala

社会工作硕士