Spotlight

URGE Class of 2013

Amanda Reyes, University of Alabama

1. What did you study in college?

I did an interdisciplinary studies major at the University of Alabama for my undergraduate degree, and I just completed an Master of Arts degree in Women’s Studies from Alabama.

2. What did you enjoy the most about your experience as a student activist?

I enjoyed meeting and talking with other students about issues that were important to us. It’s rare that you get to be in a space specifically dedicated to young organizers.

3. How did URGE impact your experience in college?

URGE gave me the support and resources that I needed in order to become a successful organizer and reproductive justice advocate.

4. Where are you heading next?

I will be starting in the History of Consciousness doctoral program at the University of California Santa Cruz in the fall.

5. What’s one piece of advice you would leave behind for future student activists?

Mentorship is the key to building a lasting student organization. Actively recruit younger students to the group and encourage them to take on leadership roles.

 

Brittany Craig, Oberlin College

1. What did you study in college?

I am a double major in history (concentration in 20th century social movements) and gender, sexuality and feminist studies and a politics minor. Since my second year, I’ve also been conducting a self-designed research project, which I think truly represents what I’ve studied and learned here, through a research fellowship for under-resourced college students. My project is titled “Access and Activism: Reproductive Health at Oberlin College, 1960-1980.”

2. What did you enjoy the most about your experience as a student activist?

I love all of the transferable skills, personal growth and enrichment, and even the research opportunities that grew out of my student activism. I also loved the community that I found in activism and the support systems that activists provide each other. One of my most favorite individual experiences as a student activist was organizing an annual fundraiser at Oberlin called Work it for Women, which this past year, featured the all-women’s hip-hop dance group on campus and two queer-identified and female-assigned DJs playing non-misogynist music. Work it for Women raises money for Preterm Abortion Clinic in Cleveland, which has a financial aid fund for low-income women who need help to pay for their abortions or other care. As the turnout and profits grew each year (we raised $200 more in profits each year, topping off at about $1700 my senior year) I became more confident in my ability to make a difference. In an increasingly hostile environment for women’s reproductive health and freedoms, it was also such a positive experience to watch people get really excited about the event and afterward feel like they did something and had fun raising money to help low-income women afford reproductive health services. To watch all of my efforts culminate into just three hours was inspiring and convinced me that I wanted–maybe even needed–to do activism for the rest of my life.

3. How did URGE impact your experience in college?

As a working-class student who worked several jobs at a time to pay my way through college, I couldn’t afford traveling to conferences and paying for registration fees. URGE flew me to Chicago and paid for my hotel and fed me vegan food for three days and also provided a really intersectional training that kept class in mind in ways that a lot of other activist trainings don’t. Being a part of a URGE chapter at Oberlin was also completely life changing, even from the first meeting. Despite being raised in a very conservative, anti-choice, abstinence-only family/area/school, I knew I was pro-choice when I started googling stuff about sexism my senior year of high school, but I would probably not have gotten involved in reproductive health activism if it hadn’t been for our URGE chapter. Once I got involved, I started organizing Work it for Women, meeting other activists, learning so much more about reproductive freedoms, and when I later applied for my research fellowship, I made my project about activism. Oddly, that made me a history major. URGE made me a history major. How weird is that? I wasn’t exaggerating when I said it changed my life.

4. Where are you heading next?

Next year, I will be working with the Schuler Scholar Program, which is a college access program for highly motivated, under-resourced high school students in the Chicagoland area who want to attend a highly selective college. I will serve as a Scholar Coach at Maine East High School in Park Ridge, IL. As a Scholar Coach, I will be doing reading tutoring, college counseling, and mentorship with a caseload of students.

5. What’s once piece of advice you would leave behind for future student activists?

Don’t let your activism end when you leave a meeting or event. Use social justice language. Don’t make fun of different vernaculars or correct people’s grammar. Embrace people in your community who are great activists but came from families that don’t share the same views rather than stereotyping them. Make your groups and its meetings and activities financially accessible and continue that in your friend groups. Don’t assume everyone can afford to go out to eat once a week. Part of being a great social justice advocate is being inclusive, and that has to happen 24/7, not just in a meeting of a URGE chapter.

 

Carmen Rodi, Colorado College

1. What did you study in college?

Major in Sociology, double minor in Feminist & Gender Studies and Political Science

2. What did you enjoy the most about your experience as a student activist?

Meeting lots of people I wouldn’t have met otherwise!

3. How did URGE impact your experience in college?

I got some great ideas and advice from the staff and other activists through conference calls and webinars

4. Where are you heading next?

Hopefully working on my state representative’s campaign for congress

5. What one piece of advice would you leave behind for future student activists?

Get out of your comfort zone!

 

Chantalle Hanschu, Kansas State

1. What did you study in college?

At Kansas State University, I majored in Political Science and Women’s Studies, with a minor in Communications Studies.

2. What did you enjoy the most about your experience as a student activist?

I enjoyed meeting other young people interested in reproductive justice issues. Sometimes the political struggle in Kansas seems so uphill, so having a group of energetic, dedicated people to keep you going is crucial.

3. How did URGE impact your experience in college?

I was so excited to get in contact with URGE because they helped make activism ACTUALLY happen. I had of course spent much time studying social injustices, but I had limited involvement with on the ground activist work. A few awesome K-State student activists and I were able to lobby our Kansas legislators directly. It was great to advocate for reproductive justice right there in the Representatives’ offices. URGE was the reason I learned to apply a feminist intersectional theory, which I had learned in class, directly to activism.

4. Where are you heading next?

I will soon be moving with my significant other and fellow URGE member, Jacob, to Denver, where I plan to join AmeriCorps for one year. We will then head to Boston, where I have been accepted and plan on attending Brandeis University in the fall of 2014 to pursue a joint Master’s in Public Policy and Master’s in Women’s and Gender Studies.

5. What one piece of advice would you leave behind for future student activists?

Join and get involved in URGE as soon as you hear about it. So I guess that’s now. I only started doing campus organizing my last semester, and I wish I would have had more time to devote to promoting URGE on K-State’s campus.

 

Jessica Schwartz, Florida State University

1. What did you study in college?

International Affairs and Women’s Studies

2. What did you enjoy the most about your experience as a student activist?

Learning the tools for organizing, understanding theory, and connecting with other activists.

3. How did URGE impact your experience in college?

They helped give me tools for organizing.

4. Where are you heading next?

After finishing my lease in Tallahassee, I will be moving back home to Tampa to work and save up money for whatever I decide to do next.

5. What’s one piece of advice you would leave behind for future student activists?

COMMUNICATION IS KEY.

 

JT Hammons, University of Kansas

1. What did you study in college?

I studied Philosophy and African Studies. I got a Bachelor’s of Arts degree. I also took Arabic language classes.

2. What did you enjoy the most about your experience as a student activist?

I enjoyed so many things. I think the absolute best experience was all of the knowledge I gained from being surrounded by individuals who were just as committed to their activism, feminism, and beliefs. That knowledge helped make me into a better leader and organizer, as well as a better person and feminist.

3. How did URGE impact your experience in college?

URGE impacted my experience in college greatly. It connected me with so many other reproductive justice activists from across the country, and as a result I have even more great friends and colleagues. The mentor and leadership skills of the URGE staff educated me and gave me the tools to become a better leader, compassionate ally, and efficient organizer. The professional skills obtained from URGE are just as applicable in other aspects outside of activism too. On a personal level, URGE is staffed full of terrific role models. Andrew Jenkins has especially been my role model as a student activist. He’s someone who I admire and look up to, and with the knowledge I have obtained from his example and advice, I feel ever more confident in making my own path through the movement.

4. Where are you heading next?

I am heading off to Buffalo, NY to begin law school at SUNY University at Buffalo Law School. I have many plans at the moment, and I’m excited to use my legal education to further them. UB Law has a great clinic called the Women, Children, and Social Justice Clinic that I plan on becoming involved in after my first year. I earned a research fellowship too, and I am hoping to use that opportunity to research reproductive justice-related fields.

5. What’s one piece of advice you would leave behind for future student activists?

Student activism isn’t easy. When has doing the right thing ever been easy though? Activism takes a commitment. It is more than liking and sharing social media posts, and the sense of satisfaction gained from outreaching to real people and challenging the status quo in the public sphere is immense. It is time consuming, but the ability to successfully balance your school work/extracurricular activities/part-time job and your activism will become an invaluable life-skill. Whatever you pursue after you graduate, the ability to balance 100 things at once will make you an outstanding candidate whether you continue your activism further or go into other professional fields. If you

 

Sarah Bernstein, Oberlin College

1. What did you study in college?

I pursued a double major in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies and Theater

2. What did you enjoy the most about your experience as a student activist?

My work as a student activist encouraged me to connect to communities outside of my college. Being at Oberlin was incredible, but it’s also a very insular community. My work with reproductive justice connected me to organizations and individuals in the Cleveland area as well as activists across the United States.

3. How did URGE impact your experience in college?

I hadn’t felt confident in my abilities to advocate for political issues before participating in URGE. URGE gave me the skill set, the knowledge, and the leadership positions to help me become a better advocate, activist, and ally.

4. Where are you heading next?

I’m going to be working with The Young Women’s Project in DC to help develop and train young people for a peer-to-peer sex education program in the DC Public Schools. After the summer, I’m moving to Chicago and will hopefully be doing more work with sex-education and youth health justice.

5. What’s one piece of advice you would leave behind for future student activists?

Take on leadership positions as soon as you can. Trust yourself to figure it out as you go. Mess things up a little and ask questions. You’ll learn quickly. It’ll be great!

 

 

Zoe Bartlett, Emporia State

1. What did you study in college?

I studied Rehabilitation Services Education.

2. What did you enjoy the most about your experience as a student activist?

I enjoyed standing up for myself and my rights, educating people on how they too could make a difference and working to change legislation or elect people who shared my views.

3. How did URGE impact your experience in college?

URGE gave me many tools and resources to help in the fight for equality and reproductive justice. They made it possible to get my voice heard where otherwise I could have been lost in the crowd. I also met some amazing people including networking contacts I hope to use for many years onward.

4. Where are you heading next?

In the fall I will continue my education with Graduate School for a master’s in Family Therapy.

5. What’s one piece of advice you would leave behind for future student activists?

Never give up. Even when the fight seems to be a lost cause you are still creating ripples. People are noticing and one day that will create the change you are working for.