Aneth Flores Gonzalez
Aneth is originally from Jalisco, Mexico, where she grew up and completed her basic studies. She moved to San Ysidro at the age of 17 and studied at Southwestern College, where she graduated with associate degrees in Criminal Justice and Dance in the Spring of 2017. Aneth is a dedicated student and active community member majoring in Legal Studies. Her long-term plans are to attend law school and become an attorney.
Jessie Gross
Jessie is a junior majoring in EECS. At LACC, Jessie volunteered as a STEM tutor at the Office of Special Services. There, he was inspired by the assistive technology for blind and hearing-impaired students, but realized that those tools have not yet reached their potential because some students using them still struggled academically. His mission is to develop improved assistive technology that will meet the needs of people with disabilities.
Clarissa Marquez
Clarissa is a transfer from East Los Angeles, intending to major in Legal Studies and minor in Public Policy. Previously, she interned for various political action organizations such as the American Federation of Teachers, the ACLU, and the Student Senate, and served as the president of the Political Science Club at ELAC. She aims to continue her scholarship on militarization and the incarceration of people of color.
Shakiba Mashayekhi
Shakiba is a junior double-majoring in Global Studies and Philosophy. As an Iranian-born immigrant who moved to the United States at the age of nine, her interests lie in human rights, particularly in the Middle East. Shakiba's experiences in Iran and her passion for philosophy, poetry, and the human narrative have driven her to pursue a law degree in international law after completing her undergraduate studies.
Pablo Paredes
Pablo is a seasoned community organizer and co-founder of active youth leadership and development groups, including: B.A.Y.-Peace (Better Alternatives for Youth) and the 67 Sueños collective. He hopes to combine a degree in ethnic studies with his background in community and youth organizing to become a capable educator and advocate for building transformative educational models that can support the growth of low-income youth of color.
Forrest Ponsot
Forrest is majoring in Philosophy. At his previous college, Forrest started a philosophy club that had one simple goal: bring to light and converse about unique and underrepresented voices in philosophy. He started a sub-committee to raise awareness on the issue of human trafficking. He's currently interested in our contemporary ethical evaluations of human trafficking and how public policy can reflect our ethical conclusions.
LaLa Speights
LaLA is a student parent and a Linguistics major from El Camino College in Torrance, CA. She would like to center her research around English-based creoles in the U.S. and the Caribbean. As a voter advocacy activist, she spent many years working against voter suppression and disenfranchisement in majority-minority areas in Florida. She also volunteered for LGBTQ+ causes such as overturning Florida's prohibition on gay adoption and same-sex marriage.
Fernando Vallejo-Galindo
Fernando studies Sociology and is a member of the Underground Scholars Initiative at Cal. He was born in a rural village in Oaxaca, Mexico. Due to the continuum of adverse experience as an undocumented student growing up with a single mother, his research will focus on the incarceration of undocumented youth and the relationship between the school-to-prison pipeline and deportation. He will continue to advocate for these youth and policies that improve their lives.
Angela Vo
Angela is an English major planning to attend medical school in the near future. As a young girl, she lost both her parents to lung cancer, so she understands the importance of medicine and the necessity of health care in underprivileged communities. To give back to the communities that raised her, Angela is a prominent member of the West Coast Sports Medicine Foundation, which provides free medical care to at-risk youth. Angela hopes that one day, all children will be able to get the medical attention they need.
Victor Hugo Zendejas Lopez
Victor transferred from Chabot College and is majoring in mechanical engineering. This past summer, Victor conducted research at the Sustainable Plasma Gasification Lab at UC Merced, where he studied the effects of the application of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma on the breakdown of Tars during the biomass gasification process. Victor is interested in researching sustainable technologies and alternative sources of energy, and hopes to earn his PhD in mechanical engineering.