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We encourage New Leader Scholarship recipients to maintain contact with fellow recipients, mentors and board members. Click on any recipient or scroll down to see all bios.
2008 Recipients (current as of Autumn 2008) LANICE AVERY, 25, is in her senior year at San Francisco State University and jointly majoring in Black Studies and Psychology. The first in her family to attend college, she has a deep commitment to help marginalized youth continue their education. Lanice has worked for many years with various HIV/AIDS organizations, helping the transgender community obtain access to social services. Having experienced first hand the impact of discrimination based both on race and sexual orientation, she has devoted her energy to assisting oppressed groups with help in housing, employment and advanced education. She has been invited to join a select number of honor students who are being helped with research training and application to doctoral programs. This is her third New Leader Scholarship. ELAINE BARTOLOME, 21, is a single mother entering her senior year in nursing at San Francisco State University. Arriving from the Philippines at age seven, not speaking English, and sharing a one-bedroom apartment with her four siblings, mother and uncle, has given her great compassion for others in similar positions. Her three year old son, A.J., a major source of inspiration to her, is partially responsible for her determination to become a nurse who works with underserved populations. Elaine has been active in many organizations, on and off campus, that offer help to young mothers, pregnant teens and the homeless. She hopes to earn a Master's Degree in Nursing and a Doctorate in Ethics which will help her advocate for communities in need. DERICK BROWN, 29, is entering his senior year at U.C., Berkeley and majoring in Rhetoric and Political Science. Growing up in a crime-ridden neighborhood, and being all too familiar with "what a gunshot sounded like", he became the first in his family to attend college. Working for the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco for six years, and providing mentorship for underprivileged youth, led to his own decision to apply to college. While at City College, and as a single father, he served as student trustee on the Community College Board and chaired the Associate Students' Executive Board that oversees ten city college campuses. He has interned for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who appointed him to the Youth Advisory Council of San Francisco. Derick plans to go to law school in preparation for community service. SHARYN HALL, 38, a senior at U.C., Berkeley, is majoring in both Psychology and Sociology. As a single mother, Sharyn and her son were homeless and living out of a car when she applied to Berkeley, and he, to Berkeley City College. On campus, she has been a leader in several student programs, including Fly to Berkeley, that seek to recruit, welcome. and acculturate new students from underserved populations. Sharyn has researched, produced, and been on the air with Clear Channel Radio. As a McNair Scholar, her research focuses on the cultural roots of stigma and prejudice. Both a J.D. Degree, as well as a Ph.D., are options that Sharyn is considering in order to help her provide more effective public policy responses to racism. YESENIA OCAMPO, 20, is in her senior year at U.C., Berkeley, and a Sociology Major. Recently, she has returned to her initial passion and plans to become a nurse practitioner. Her parents migrated seasonally as farm workers between Mexico and the United States, living in labor camps in the Central Valley. This exposed her early on to issues of social injustice and has led to her commitment to become an "activist". Overcoming many barriers and stereotypes, she enrolled in Bakersfield City College (the first in her family to do so), and transferred to U.C., Berkeley after excelling there. Yesenia has worked in Migrant Head Start as a teacher's aide and as a team leader in the Jumpstart program, teaching literacy and social skills to preschoolers. In her community, she has worked for the Dolores Huerta Foundation, helped low-income pregnant women and collected food for the disadvantaged in her rural community. As a pediatric nurse practitioner, she hopes to serve communities like the one in which she was raised, combining her practical skills in nursing along with the insights acquired through her studies in Sociology. RULETTE MAPP, 37, a senior in Art History at U.C., Berkeley, is a single mother with three children, who was emancipated from foster care at 18, and learned to face the world alone. After odd jobs and an initially unsuccessful try at college, Rue opened a small game store in 2003, divorced, raising her children as a single parent, and simultaneously holding another job. Following her transfer to U.C.B. from a community college, she has dedicated herself to recruiting and training under-represented minorities and non-traditional older students and student parents to Berkeley. She has been awarded numerous honors, including the Celia J. Peeler Award, the Philanthropic Education Organization Award and IDEAL Scholar designation. She plans to obtain an M.B.A. and help implement corporate community service programs. DANIEL PAREDES, 22, is in his senior year at U.C., Berkeley, majoring in Political Science and Sociology with a minor in Urban Planning. "Surrounded by gangs, drugs, and poverty" he made mistakes that almost cost him his future. He describes his high school years as turbulent and crisis-filled, leading to suspension and ultimately to school expulsion. An older brother and sister, along with a high school teacher, taught him how to "work within the system". Epitomizing this progression, Daniel first became a mentee of the Academic Achievement Program, then a peer mentor, and finally a Student Program Coordinator. While working 20 hours per week, he also interned at Berkeley's Center for Race and Gender as well as volunteering for the Big Brother/Big sister Program on campus. He credits both parents, immigrants from Mexico, with teaching him the value of hard work. Daniel plans to earn a Master's Degree in Urban Planning. This is his second New Leader Scholarship. SAMORN SELIM, 25, a graduate of U.C., Berkeley, is entering her third year of law school at U.C., Berkeley. Her family and older siblings immigrated to the United States from Laos due to political and economic oppression. Prior to her acceptance to law school at Berkeley, she volunteered extensively at Hospice and the San Joaquin County Superior Court Family Law Center and simultaneously developed a program to teach life skills to high school students. Samorn was awarded several scholarships for her outstanding academic performance while also coordinating the Berkeley Law Foundation Phoenix Fellowship. She worked for a summer at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C. on consumer rights issues and this past year, she served as a law clerk extern for a federal court judge in San Francisco. As a graduate student instructor, she continues to teach an undergraduate law class. This is her fourth New Leader Scholarship. CHRISTYNA SERRANO, 32, received her B.A. from U.C., Berkeley in Sociology and Social Welfare. Though born in the United States, she lived in Puerto Rico until age 11, when she and her parents returned here permanently. At age twenty, she was awarded a full athletic scholarship to U.C., Berkeley. As she puts it, her emphasis was on athletics and not academics, which resulted in poor grades and dismissal. After a seven year hiatus, she successfully applied for re-entry. As a single parent and woman of color from an impoverished background, she is dedicated to helping others like herself. Christyna has received numerous scholarships, awards and research grants for her work on educational policy. Her research focus is on providing opportunity to low income student parents at community colleges who have the potential to attend a four year college. She has served on several university-wide committees, including the Chancellor's Advisory Committee for Dependent Care and has been a student member of a university academic senate committee on "The Status of Women and Ethnic Minorities in Higher Education". Along with her acceptance to the doctoral program in Education at U.C., Berkeley, she has been awarded the prestigious Chancellor's Fellowship for Graduate Study. This is her second New Leader Scholarship. SARAH THIBAULT, 27, graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in Anthropology and is currently in the first year of a Master's Program in the School of Social Welfare at U.C., Berkeley. Raised by a single parent, in a working class family, she experienced deep economic and political hardships. She left her home school at an early age was offered the opportunity to continue her education and years later through Project Rebound, a program designed to assist those who have been incarcerated. While a student at SFSU, she worked at two jobs and as a volunteer for the San Francisco Needle Exchange Program. Her own experience of being marginalized and in a position of need has shaped her motivation to work with homeless youth in outreach programs. Knowing what it is like to be "hungry, tired, cold and trying to navigate social services" has led to her desire for a career in social work. This is Sarah's second New Leader Scholarship. AREZO YAZD, 25, is completing her final year of law school at U.C., Berkeley. She is a graduate of U.C., Berkeley, with majors in Political Science and Middle East Studies. Born in Iran, imprisoned with her mother as a baby, she emigrated here with her family in 1984, when forcefully expelled due to her mother's Kurdish ancestry and political activism. Arezo is the first woman in her family to attend college and as a Kurd Muslim woman she is deeply involved in a number of organizations which help recent immigrants. She has volunteered for Survivors International, the East Bay Sanctuary and has worked with the Kurdish Youth Forum. She served as a Communications Fellow for the U.S. Women without Borders Campaign under the Women's Funding Network. Her role was to build public support for women that were the victims of sex trafficking and who were seeking asylum under the Gender Asylum and Recovery Project. She is the executive editor of the Berkeley Journal of International Law and editor in chief of the Middle East and Islamic Law Journal in addition to serving simultaneously on a number of student boards. Currently, she is an extern for the Senate Judiciary Committee, working on the staff of Senator Feingold. This is Arezo's fifth New Leader Scholarship Award. |
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