Our EDJE* Fellows
*Education Dedicated to Justice & Equity
Born in El Salvador, Leydi came to the United States when she was 4 years old. Being a dreamer, growing up in an immigrant family sets me apart from others. An important class that I have taken at Dominican has been Women, Religion, and Sexuality. We discussed important Gender stereotyping that either we have witnessed or experienced in life on the first day we met. I was amazed by how transparent everyone was and has urged me to be transparent to learn new ideas even if it is a new environment I am in no matter what it might be.
Working with my community partner, Reading Buddies, has deeply impacted me. I love seeing the students I work with and the excitement on their faces each time I show up. This opportunity has changed my outlook on life and deepened my learning. I've become aware of the hardships students face and the lack of materials in their education system to help them succeed in life. This program has had a significant impact on the students who are participating in it and their test scores which continues to foster educational equity.
My desire to serve others is what inspired me to major in Social Justice. Growing up a Latina in the canal community I understand the struggles that minorities go through in many aspects such as economically and emotionally. I understand the fear that goes through the Latinx community when they see police officers and the amount of discrimination they go through without realizing it at times. I want to use the struggles that I have encountered in my life to help my community and many others. I strongly believe that my SJ Major will help me throughout my dream job which is to become a Police officer and later on become a Detective.
Through a combination of specific courses I am taking, as well as the world's current condition and circumstances, I have learned the valuable tools of critical consciousness and advocacy. I have come to understand much more about the racial, economic, and gender inequality that plagues our country and found a sense of civic responsibility to do my part in rectifying these injustices. I found great interest in learning about these issues in an academic setting and so decided to earn a minor in Community Action & Social Change.
Ryan Bergman
English & Social Justice MajorI took a SL course my very first semester at Dominican without fully understanding what it was - but the experience changed the entire trajectory of my education and career path.
When the BLM movement first began, I had no real background/knowledge to be able to be a true ally. I took it upon myself to get informed, to educate myself and those around me. I also participated in a few local rallies. This experience allowed me to understand how systemic racism was affecting the black community and other minorities. As I continue to learn about social justice movements, I want to continue showing ally-ship through self-education on the subject and speaking out. In addition, I would like to advocate for the inequalities that the Latinx community in the Canal face. The more I familiarize myself with the community, the more I am able to see the structural racism and segregation that exists in the Canal.
I took a class the summer before my first semester of college that focused on many topics that I felt were really important to me and my community. We talked about intersectionality, current policy issues occurring in the Latino community, what it means to be brown, it was all just very interesting to me. I then took two SL classes my first semester, not really knowing what they were about. Gradually, not instantly, I felt like I belonged. It took me a while to feel like this because I didn't think my Spanish was fluent enough to be able to help, but after a light push from one of my professors to help in a bilingual service-learning site, I did not regret my decision. I was able to meet many other Latino students on campus and be of help to many people in the Canal community.
I came into Dominican as a CASC minor because of the Reimagining Citizenship Program. As a young student fresh out of high school, there were a lot of things I didn’t know about. I knew that racism and poverty existed, but never explored any further. I wanted to make the effort to become a more informed person, and hopefully an advocate for both myself and for others.
Saul Valle
Social Justice Major
Latin American & Latino Studies Minor
I hope to use my collective research and experience to educate/ support my colleagues and students as a future mentor. Perpetual awareness and self-reflection are some of the skills that I’ve obtained as a Dominican student, which will be key in my career field.
If I was a policy maker I would restructure our justice system. I hear a lot of people say “our justice system is broken, we need to fix it”. However, it is not broken. The justice system is doing exactly what it was put in place to do, which is oppress black and brown bodies.