My parents are first-generation, Kenyan immigrants; my mother emigrated to the U.S at 17 and my father at 19. Alongside the movement of Kenyan immigration in the 90s, they built careers specifically in healthcare. My father attended Worcester State University, paying his way through, while my mother initially attended a two-year community college, but due to issues with her immigration status, she had to put her education on hold but has since returned to school. I am the second generation in my family to attend university, and my chance for an education in this country began with them. Through sacrifice, my parents worked themselves into the middle class, affording my siblings and I with those opportunities. I was enrolled at Westfield State University as a college freshman pursuing Political Science in the fall semester. Driven by a deep passion for social sciences and community engagement, my interest in politics and policy stems from personal experience—my parents are Kenyan immigrants, and the immigration process demonstrated to me at a young age how personal politics and policy are to our lives. Through bravery, I led by the example of attending college from high school as the first generation in my family. At Westfield State, I continued my commitment to public service and began working at the Northampton office of State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa. In the classroom I learned the importance of municipal government; and working in this area has allowed me to deepen my understanding of legislative work, community outreach, and the policymaking process. Due to the costs of school, I had to withdraw during the second semester and I am now working to enroll in community college to receive my degree. While the route to my degree changed, through my own personal service, I continue the pursuit of my education. These values have been themes throughout my educational journey, but have allowed me to envision how I use it. My relationship to education holds an understanding of its privilege and I intend to pursue the use of my education to interpret the law. I intend to learn and address the language of law to help those who face the disadvantages of it. The impact of language; it quite literally plays into how we deal with human nature and the structure of society. We utilize the law to protect, defend, and stand impartial in a civil or criminal sense. For my own community, we have utilized the law in interpretations that are detrimental This influence that language of the law maintains; the way the words articulate in the text showcases how well individuals are protected, or better yet, put others at an immediate disadvantage. I want to interpret the law because I’ve seen the impact of language within my own family. The language towards immigrants in this country has my mother still working to receive citizenship, after multiple decades and thousands of dollars given to this country. I want to advocate with this language because I’ve learned how without proper advocacy, individuals cannot navigate the structural barriers that will remain for as long as we have to deal with them. Dissecting the law is a career that came through my interests in literature and history. I realized how the impact of language throughout literature conveys themes - messages that are reflective of people or society. Within history, language drives the progression of societal change - the language reflective of the access or denial of certain privileges. The law is an honor to interpret because of what it reflects for the underprivileged in this country- and it would be an honor to work towards understanding it to enact great help for others. For our community, the immigration crisis impacts families that leave their supports at home from across the diaspora - only to find struggles in navigating the "supposed access to freedom" in this country. On a federal level, the dominating party and lobbying groups in support have remained against these reforms - encouraging this backlog and lack of access for our immigrants. That said on a state level, working with within a state level to assist the issues of immigration has posed as the easiest way of personal reform towards this system. For me, it means supporting immigrants in states that do not have supportive state policy. It means advocacy within state government to improve policy to better the policy in place. I intend to drive change in this way; and through the sacrifice of my parents, the bravery of my educational choices, and service, I will pursue it.

My parents are first-generation, Kenyan immigrants; my mother emigrated to the U.S at 17 and my father at 19. Alongside the movement of Kenyan immigration in the 90s, they built careers specifically in healthcare. My father attended Worcester State University, paying his way through, while my mother initially attended a two-year community college, but due to issues with her immigration status, she had to put her education on hold but has since returned to school. I am the second generation in my family to attend university, and my chance for an education in this country began with them. The belief that education is a powerful privilege to have in my culture motivated my parents to work themselves into the middle class, affording my siblings and I with those opportunities. I was enrolled at Westfield State University as a college freshman pursuing Political Science in the fall semester. Driven by a deep passion for social sciences and community engagement, my interest in politics and policy stems from personal experience—my parents are Kenyan immigrants, and the immigration process demonstrated to me at a young age how personal politics and policy are to our lives. My education allowed me to explore this aspect of my life; and eventually motivated me to pursue this career. At Westfield State, I continued my commitment to public service and began working at the Northampton office of State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa. In the classroom I learned the importance of municipal government; and working in this area has allowed me to deepen my understanding of legislative work, community outreach, and the policymaking process. Due to the costs of school, I had to withdraw during the second semester and I am now working to enroll in community college to receive my degree. However, my pursuit given my education has remained. My relationship to education holds an understanding of its privilege and I intend to pursue the use of my education to interpret the law. The impact of language; it quite literally plays into how we deal with human nature and the structure of society. We utilize the law to protect, defend, and stand impartial in a civil or criminal sense. This influence that language of the law maintains; the way the words articulate in the text showcases how well individuals are protected, or better yet, put others at an immediate disadvantage. I want to interpret the law because I’ve seen the impact of language within my own family. The language towards immigrants in this country has my mother still working to receive citizenship, after multiple decades and thousands of dollars given to this country. I want to advocate with this language because I’ve learned how without proper advocacy, individuals cannot navigate the structural barriers that will remain for as long as we have to deal with them. Dissecting the law is a career that came through my interests in literature and history. I realized how the impact of language throughout literature conveys themes - messages that are reflective of people or society. Within history, language drives the progression of societal change - the language reflective of the access or denial of certain privileges. The law is an honor to interpret because of what it reflects for the underprivileged in this country- and it would be an honor to work towards understanding it to enact great help for others. Through my education, I want to make my impact through the pursuit of this career - and my education has guided me towards this purpose.

My parents are first-generation, Kenyan immigrants; my mother emigrated to the U.S at 17 and my father at 19. Alongside the movement of Kenyan immigration in the 90s, they built careers specifically in healthcare. My father attended Worcester State University, paying his way through, while my mother initially attended a two-year community college, but due to issues with her immigration status, she had to put her education on hold but has since returned to school. I am the second generation in my family to attend university, and my chance for an education in this country began with them. The belief that education is a powerful privilege to have in my culture motivated my parents to work themselves into the middle class, affording my siblings and I with those opportunities. I was enrolled at Westfield State University as a college freshman pursuing Political Science in the fall semester. Driven by a deep passion for social sciences and community engagement, my interest in politics and policy stems from personal experience—my parents are Kenyan immigrants, and the immigration process demonstrated to me at a young age how personal politics and policy are to our lives. My education allowed me to explore this aspect of my life; and eventually motivated me to pursue this career. In high school, I led a Diversity and Inclusion Group, and we did initiatives that intend to strengthen JEDI values in our community. We connected with middle schools in our district to strengthen Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) values through after-school seminars. I also worked politically as a member of the JEDI E-Board for the Massachusetts High School Democrats, a sub-organization of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, where I collaborated with other high school students across Massachusetts to hold a lobby day, connecting with state politicians regarding youth civic engagement policy. At Westfield State, I continued my commitment to public service and began working at the Northampton office of State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa. In the classroom, I learned the importance of municipal government; and working in this area has allowed me to deepen my understanding of legislative work, community outreach, and the policymaking process. However, as I continued to pursue my education, I’ve come to understand that, despite my parents' hard work, their efforts were often constrained by an unspoken privilege that simply couldn't be earned. Navigating this system, affording tuition, managing the debt, those accessing opportunities could not be earned privileges. Through every step of this process, it is evident that without the proper tools to navigate higher education, without that understanding, the privilege to even attend college remains challenging. Due to the costs of school, I had to withdraw during the second semester, and I am now working to enroll in community college to receive my degree. However, my pursuit for my education has remained. I intend to pursue the use of my education to interpret the law. The impact of language; it quite literally plays into how we deal with human nature and the structure of society. We utilize the law to protect, defend, and stand impartial in a civil or criminal sense. I realized how the impact of language throughout literature conveys themes - messages that are reflective of people or society. Within history, language drives the progression of societal change - the language reflective of the access or denial of certain privileges. The law is an honor to interpret because of what it reflects for the underprivileged in this country- and it would be an honor to work towards understanding it to enact great help for others.

As a child, my books allowed me to find a passion for language. The influence of language framed themes in my books and I learned to connect that influence in my own life; on the individuals around me, within my home, community, and country. I never knew how I would apply language to help others, but advocacy began as a start. As I got older, I provided kids within my community outlets of advocacy. I felt that my voice was amplified through my own language and throughout high school, I created spaces for students to utilize their voice - discussing cultural barriers that students face and tackling discriminatory rhetoric. I organized an open mic night in which kids from several schools including mine used language to express their identities. I also worked politically as a member of the JEDI E-Board for the Massachusetts High School Democrats, a sub-organization of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, where I collaborated with other high school students across Massachusetts to hold a lobby day, connecting with state politicians regarding youth civic engagement policy. I continued my path at Westfield State University as a college freshman pursuing Political Science in this fall semester. Due to the costs of school, I had to withdraw during the second semester and now I am working to enroll in community college and transfer to university. That said, my education allowed me to explore this aspect of my life; and eventually motivated me to pursue this career. At Westfield State, I continued my commitment to public service and began working at the Northampton office of State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa. This opportunity allowed me to see how language within legislative and constituent work influenced community outreach, and the policymaking process. The impact of language; as a child, it framed the dynamics between my beloved characters. As I got older, I learned how language framed institutions within society. The way the words articulate in the text shows how well the language is able to protect individuals, or better yet, put others at an immediate disadvantage. Through the influence of language, I found that I wanted to interpret the law. I want to advocate with this language because I’ve learned how without proper advocacy, individuals cannot navigate the structural barriers that will remain for as long as we have to deal with them. I realized how the impact of language throughout literature conveys themes - messages that are reflective of people or society. Within our country, language drives the progression of societal change - the language reflective of the access or denial of certain privileges. allowed me to seek this career and continue this path. My books pushed me to step into this career path - and through my education, I will learn to interpret this language to help those in my community.