What is the most inter­est­ing thing you have done or are plan­ning to do to explore or gain expe­ri­ence in your career field?

Next year, I am plan­ning to study abroad in Spain and Cos­ta Rica, which will help me devel­op my lan­guage skills and bring me one step clos­er to my goal of being flu­ent in Span­ish. I will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to intern in the human rights field while in Cos­ta Rica.

How are you shar­ing your time and/​or tal­ents with oth­ers now? How do you hope to do so in the future?

I vol­un­teer at the food bank and House of Hope in Water­loo. I also coor­di­nat­ed the annu­al Bright Schol­ars’ give­back event this year at UNI. We col­lect­ed dona­tions to pro­vide a low-income Water­loo fam­i­ly of five with Christ­mas presents. In the future, I hope to use my Span­ish skills and pol­i­cy knowl­edge to con­nect immi­grants and refugees with resources to help them tran­si­tion to life in the Unit­ed States.

What has been your biggest accom­plish­ment so far?

My biggest accom­plish­ment has been qual­i­fy­ing to par­tic­i­pate in nation­als for Nation­al Foren­sic Asso­ci­a­tion Lin­coln Dou­glas Debate.

What is your favorite class and why?

My favorite class so far has been Span­ish Graph­ic Nov­els. This class is such a refresh­ing take on lit­er­a­ture because it re-eval­u­ates what we con­sid­er ​“high cul­ture.” Many peo­ple think graph­ic nov­els are for chil­dren, but some­times they cov­er real­ly deep themes. I think graph­ic nov­els can be bet­ter than tra­di­tion­al nov­els because the pic­tures enhance the expe­ri­ence and add anoth­er lev­el of depth.

Where do you see your­self in five years? 10 years?

In five years, I hope to have grad­u­at­ed with my MA in Latin Amer­i­can stud­ies and a cer­tifi­cate in human rights. In 10 years, I would like to be work­ing for a non-gov­ern­men­tal orga­ni­za­tion that con­nects refugees and immi­grants with resources. I’m also open to the idea of work­ing abroad.