Democracy Camp

Katie DaQuino

Class of 2023
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento
2023 Jo Freeman Women in Politics Fellow
2022 Democracy Camp in Berkeley

Katie DaQuino is a fourth year student studying Political Science, with minors in Public Policy and Interdisciplinary Human Rights Studies. She is the president of Cal Habitat for Humanity, a community service club that aims to give students opportunities to volunteer in the local community. The club is focused on affordable housing and during her time as president she has worked to expand the advocacy branch of the club. Katie is also an editor for the Undergraduate Public Policy Review Journal, where she published an article about housing policies in California.

She also is...

Aisha Elbgal

Class of 2025
2022 Democracy Camp in Berkeley

Aisha Elbgal is a first-generation Muslim Yemeni-American with an intended major in Social Welfare. She was born and raised in Oakland, California where she has witnessed a plethora of issues engulf her beloved city coupled with the lack of action at the hands of those in power. This sparked a passion in Aisha from a young age when she gave a speech at her middle school about the early rise of gentrification and displacement in what was once a beautiful and diverse Oakland. She is now working to address issues such as educational inequity, public health and safety, homelessness...

Jasmine Esquivel

Class of 2024
2022 Democracy Camp in Berkeley

Hello, my name is Jasmine Esquivel. I am a first-generation low-income student here at Cal. I am a sophomore majoring in Social Welfare and intending to minor in Ethnic Studies, and I am part of the EOP and DSP program. On campus, I am currently a NavCal mentor where I help other underrepresented and marginalized students on campus access mental health services, basic needs services, access to scholarships, interview preparation, G-suite organizational skills, and more. I am also working as a BUILD tutor through the Public Service Center where I am empowering youth through reading...

Daisy Flores

Class of 2023
2023 Democracy Camp in DC
Daisy Flores (she/her) is a first-generation, system-impacted Chicana student from Compton, California, pursuing her Bachelor's degree in Ethnic Studies with a minor in Race and the Law at UC Berkeley. Experiencing the incarceration and deportation of her family and loved ones has prompted Daisy to actively combat white supremacy and the structural racism of our crimmigration system—the simultaneous enforcement of immigration law and criminal law—to advocate for those who have been impacted by all carceral systems through holistic legal, humanitarian, and educational support in various...

Paloma Foster

Class of 2025
2024 Democracy Camp in DC

Paloma Foster (she/her/ella)

Paloma Foster (she/her/ella) is a first-generation, Mexican-American, non-traditional student. She is formerly incarcerated, a former foster youth and a transfer student parent from Los Angeles, CA. From her early experiences with foster care and probation to finally becoming a ward of the court and emancipating on her 18th birthday, she knew she wanted to help fix the less than perfect system. Paloma is majoring in political science and is pursuing a minor in public policy. She will also complete the summer minor, race and the law through the...

Socorro Galindo

Class of 2021
2020 Democracy Camp

Gélser Zavala Garcia

Class of 2023
2022 Democracy Camp in DC
Gélser Zavala is an East Oakland born and raised Central American-American native, the child of war refugees from El Salvador's U.S. funded civil war, who transferred from Laney College with an AA in Paralegal and Social Studies now studying Legal Studies. Through a tumultuous upbringing living in a working class family, and attending under-resourced and underfunded public school system, Gélser has witnessed and experienced how public policy and other forms of leadership has been inadequate for communities needing to be empowered and assisted for upward economic status and thrive...

Stacy Giu

Class of 2025
2025 Democracy Camp in DC

Stacy Giu (she/her)

Stacy is a first-generation college student and a senior studying Social Welfare and Public Policy. As a child of Vietnamese refugees, Stacy has dedicated her academic and professional pursuits to advancing children's rights and improving systems of governance that impact marginalized communities. She is a Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Fellow at Princeton University and recognized with the Theodore Cohn Award for her work as an undergraduate research assistant in children's rights and public policy. Stacy is a published writer for the Public...

Amber Griffin-Royal

Class of 2024
2023 Democracy Camp in DC

Amber Griffin-Royal (she/her) is a low-income, disabled, Oakland native, fourth-year re-entry transfer majoring in African American Studies. Her time at Cal has been invaluable as she's been supported academically and creatively to pursue her interests in research, femtorship, and DJing. Some of the work she's done on campus includes being an Undergraduate Research Advocate Intern at the Library of Environmental Design, an intern at NavCal, femtoring newly accepted transfer students, a Program Coordinator for Experience Berkeley Transfer assisting community college students of color...

Alexia Guerra

Class of 2025
2023 Democracy Camp in DC

Born and raised by a mixed-status family in Los Angeles, California, Alexia Guerra is the proud daughter of Guatemalan immigrants and is the first in her family to attend college. She is a second-year double majoring in Political Science/Ethnic Studies with an intended minor in Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Alexia’s on-campus involvement is centered on fighting toward social, political, and economic self-determination, liberation, and empowerment of marginalized communities. Alexia co-leads Central Americans for Empowerment (CAFE) serving Central...