WINTER

CLASSES:

HONORS 221: DNA & Evolution
JSIS 324: Human Rights in Latin America
JSIS 345: Women in International Economic Development
JSIS 499: Undergrad research

EXTRACURRICULARS:

Phi Alpha Delta Professional Development Committee
Research Assistant
UAA Peer Adviser
JSIS/POL S/GWSS/LSJ Writing Center Tutor
Volunteer with La Resistencia

La Resistencia

In Winter, I took JSIS 324: Human Rights in Latin America with Professor Angelina Godoy, a class that had been recommended to me since my first week of college. This class lived up to my expectations, and it was especially interesting to take this course the quarter that Trump took office. I chose to join the ‘practicum’ track for this course, which meant working with local organization La Resistencia, an undocumented-led group that worked with folks detained in the Northwest Detention Center. I was in the “Expose the Profiteers” group, where we researched and wrote a report on the fixed-based operator Signature Aviation and their hidden involvement in the deportation chain. As depicted in this photo, we visited Boeing Field and Signature Aviation’s office, both integral mechanisms that facilitate the deportation of people out of Seattle every day. This practicum and involvement with La Resistencia showed me the ways in which deportation functions in our own community, and also connected me to tangible ways to help out folks that are vulnerable to deportation.

Interviews

Though I loved working at UAA and the Writing Center, I had this sense that I should be spending my time doing something more related to my intended career in law. However, I quickly learned it was near impossible to land a job at a law firm without a connection. I applied to countless legal assistant/paralegal positions on Handshake, and received countless rejections. However, in February, I received my first positive response. I was asked to interview at an employment law firm in Issaquah. On Valentine’s Day, I dragged my friend to Issaquah where I interviewed at a coffee shop with the lawyer. I felt great about it, he had studied International Studies in undergraduate and we spent an hour forgetting it was an interview and talking about our personal lives. And…… I never heard back from him (I like to think he’s just taking a really long time to congratulate me on getting the position). Though ultimately I did not get the job, it felt like an accomplishment just to land a law firm interview for the first time.

Packing up

This quarter, I braced for impact. I had applied and been accepted to study abroad in Rome spring quarter, which was amazing. But it meant that in winter, every great moment in Seattle was a reminder that I would be packing up and moving in a matter of weeks. I mulled over whether it was the right decision, when it felt like everything was going so great in Seattle, was it idiotic to leave the country? I was lucky to be embarking on this journey with one of my best friends (who I also studied abroad with in Peru), so I felt comforted knowing that she was experiencing all the same anxieties I was. We texted constantly coordinating what we were packing, restaurants we should visit while abroad, etc.