Democracy Camp

Rungsiri Upradit (she/her)

Rungsiri Upradit was born in Thailand and immigrated to the United States at the age of five. She is passionate about doing work that will uplift and empower the community in the areas of housing sustainability, the environment, and public health. She participated in the Public Policy & International Affairs (PPIA) Fellowship at the Goldman School of Public Policy, where she engaged in intensive coursework covering topics such as Inequality & Economics, Policy Analysis, Quantitative Methods, and Law. As a fellow, she had the...

Salvador Uribe is a non-traditional student obtaining his undergraduate degree as an older student at UC Berkeley. Salvador immigrated to the United States at a very young age, along with his two parents and older brother. For someone like Salvador and his background, a first-generation, low-income, transfer, re-entry, disabled student navigating higher education, the terrain is uneven, which places him at a disadvantage among many of his peers that grew up with the privileges of generational knowledge. Salvador is passionate about the law and will pursue a J.D. after...

Jovanni J. Vazquez Rangel (he/him)

Jovanni is dedicated to addressing the ongoing challenges of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and marginalized communities. At the age of eighteen, Jovanni found out that he was not a U.S. citizen; however, Jovanni was fortunate to qualify for the DACA program and is now protected from deportation. Through this experience, he became aware of the immigration issues and the profound impact on Dreamers. As a first-generation student attending UC Berkeley, Jovanni is dedicating his focus to legal studies with a...

Mia Alexa Verdin (she/they)

Mia Verdin is a third year undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, studying Urban Studies and Ethnic Studies. She was born and raised in the city of Santa Ana, California to immigrant parents from Mexico. As the first in her family to attend university, she is a proud first-generation student. She is passionate about exploring equity in housing, public transportation and education. In addition, she has led initiatives that promote civic engagement and education within her community; especially among other young people...