I've known since high school that I wanted to be a part of something bigger than me and that had a meaningful impact on society.
Since then, I've had the privilege of getting involved with various community organizations at the forefront of social justice issues impacting the community. I started to advocate and lobby for the permanent closure of oil and gas extraction sites throughout Los Angeles communities, also known as urban oil drilling. Taking on activism from a young age has given me a profound sense of community belonging and it is the reason behind my activism. It's crucial to motivate youth and have them notice that their voice has a meaningful impact on the future of this country as they are the future generations.
Now that I'm a third-year student at Whittier College, majoring in Business Administration with a Marketing concentration, I'm exploring ways to help minorities such as myself by allocating resources and programs that empower the community. I've been able to choose courses on campus where I can apply the insight I have acquired throughout my activism to concepts I'm learning about in class. The Environmental Journalism class with Professor Donnelly allowed me to learn about the principles of journalism and has given me the ability to write professionally about the issue of urban oil drilling in Los Angeles. Thanks to Professor Donnelly, I was able to publish a written piece on the Red Canary website. Toxic Tours is another course I took with Professor Overmyer-Velazquez where I shared my line of activism with others and learned about environmental injustices occurring across the country similar to urban oil drilling in Los Angeles. At the same time, I’m taking business and marketing related courses because marketing skills are crucial to the success of a social justice movement.
I still carry out my activism by getting involved with the environmental justice movement in Los Angeles and posting about resources for the community on social media. Over the past few years I’ve practiced photography as a hobby and now my experience has allowed me to take photos for the climate justice movement and work on a documentary highlighting the voices of frontline activists. My first work-study job at Whittier College was at the Office of Equity and Inclusion, where I had the opportunity to work with other student activists on projects that engaged the overall campus community with the dialogue of social issues and promote awareness through advocacy. Having a diverse campus such as Whittier College, where people come from different ethnicities, backgrounds, and genders, allows people to gain insight from others on how they perceive different aspects of life or issues that directly impact a demographic. Overall, having this campus job allowed me to find a community of other activists who fight for social justice and advocacy.
From my first day on campus, I found a community of support and guidance from fellow Poets that has given me confidence to continue my work in activism.
