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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.
2007 Recipients (current as of Autumn 2008) LANICE AVERY (See 2008 entry, awarded a third scholarship) TIFFANY BROOKS, 23, graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in Criminal Justice. Growing up in the foster care system has created a special imperative for her to work toward affecting change in both the foster care and juvenile justice systems . Despite many abusive foster placements, one foster mother inspired her to be the first in her family to attend college. Without her inspiration, Tiffany believes that she, too, would have been another foster child that "went down the wrong track". She helped create a program for emancipated foster children on campus in addition to her many other mentoring activities. Currently, she is working part time for the San Francisco State University Police Department as a Crime Prevention Coordinator and taking classes to prepare for her LSAT exam. Tiffany hopes to attend UCLA law school and simultaneously major in Public Policy. With these joint degrees, she hopes to become an advocate for change in both the juvenile justice and the foster care system. TONIA BUI, 22, graduated from U.C., Berkeley with a double major in Gender and Women's Studies and Mass Communications. Her parents are Vietnamese immigrants among the boat people who sought political asylum in the United States. Their struggle has been the corner stone for Tonia's desire to pursue higher education and a career in public service. In particular, she has worked on programs to help prevent the sex-trafficking of women and female minors from Southeast Asia to the United States. She is the founder and chair of an organization that raises awareness of sex trafficking and assists survivors (S.T. O. P.). Tonia has also worked as a campus journalist, focusing on stories of public service. Currently, she is working as a field organizer for the Darcy Burner congressional campaign in Washington's 8th District. Following this year's elections, she will be applying for a Master's Degree in Public Policy. HONG CAO, 24, graduated with a degree in political science and entered the Master's Program in Public Administration at San Jose State University.
She is currently a part time employee of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, engaging in community outreach. Upon completion of her Master's degree, she plans to obtain a doctorate in International Relations. Hong was born in Vietnam, emigrating here in 1993 with her father. In 6th grade, following a serious injury to her mother, she took over the delivery route of the San Jose Mercury. Through college, she delivered the paper every day of the year between midnight and 6am. Despite her financial burden, as an undergraduate, she found the time to volunteer with a number of community organizations that offer help to the Vietnamese population. She has assisted in programs such as the AIDS walk and peer mentoring. Hong is also a recipient of a Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholarship, the first ever given to a student at San Jose State. This was her second New Leader Scholarship. VIRGINIA (Jenna) LEE, 24, graduated with a degree in Social Welfare at U.C., Berkeley. She was born in Macau, China and lived in Southeast Asia until she was fourteen. Virginia was home-schooled and self-educated until entering community college. At the age of fifteen, she came to the United States independently and became a volunteer at a center for street and homeless youth in Oregon. It was here that she developed her strong commitment to help those in great need, being inspired by the example of the couple that founded and ran Hearthstone Ministries. Subsequently, she volunteered for an organization in Morelia, Mexico and witnessed conditions of poverty that far exceeded those of the homeless with whom she had previously worked. These and subsequent work and life experiences have informed her desire to have a career in public service. Currently, she is working as a finance assistant for the campaign of congressman Dan Seals in the 10th Illinois District. CARLOS MACIAS, 26, graduated with a degree in Chicano Studies from U.C., Berkeley. He immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1992 with his parents and nine siblings. Carlos is the first to go to college in his family. Having made a previous unsuccessful attempt at carrying both a full-time academic load and a full time job, he returned to Berkeley, obtaining an outstanding academic record. As a re-entry student, knowing the support he lacked, Carlos has become a leader in creating access for others facing similar challenges. He is a co-founder of Transfer Collectiva at Berkeley and talks with high school students in East Oakland, describing his own challenges in the hope of encouraging their application to college. This summer, he attended the IRT Program in Massachusetts to help him prepare for entry into a doctoral program. While studying for graduate entry exams, he is working with hi-risk high school students at a health center in Hayward. FELICIA MOORE-JORDAN, 26, graduated from law school at U.C., Hastings. She received her B.S. in Political Science from U.C., Berkeley in 2004. Independent since age 18, Felicia has continued to engage in community outreach despite her enormous financial burdens. While an undergraduate, she devoted herself to fighting racism on campus. Following her graduation, she worked on the staff of Supervisor Keith Carson in Alameda, honing her experience in public interest law. Having a brother who is incarcerated and being adopted as a young child, have led to a profound commitment to social justice with particular emphasis on helping those in the criminal justice system successfully re-enter society. While at Hastings, she was the Director of Development for the Hastings Public Interest Law Foundation and on the Board of Hastings's Race and Poverty Law Journal. Felicia is a Program Associate on the staff of the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice. This was her fourth New Leader Scholarship. DANIEL PAREDES (See 2008 entry, awarded a second scholarship) MARTHA LORENA ROCHA, 21, is taking a double major in Sociology and Spanish, and will be completing her senior year at U.C., Berkeley. She, her parents and siblings, emigrated from Mexico in 2002, hoping to find greater job opportunities here. While her parents' work situation is an improvement over what it was in Mexico, they still have had limited opportunity for advancement and currently work as field hands in Watsonville. Martha's desire to be the first in her family with a college education was shaped by the example of her parents' moral integrity and courage. A second source of her ambition to teach and provide counseling to educationally disadvantaged students, has come from her volunteer work with the EOP and Migrant Program at UC, Berkeley. A McNair scholar, Martha is studying at Carlos III University in Madrid this fall. SAMORN SELIM (See 2008 entry, awarded a fourth scholarship) CHRISTYNA SERRANO (See 2008 entry, awarded a second scholarship) AREZO YAZD (See 2008 entry, awarded a fifth scholarship) |
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