Cal-in-Sacramento

Molly is a fourth-year student majoring in Sociology with a concentration in research methods and minoring in Journalism. Throughout her adolescent years, Molly felt confined by the close-mindedness of those in power in her hometown, and she created a goal to institute substantial societal change so that future generations would have the opportunity to feel heard and to express themselves freely. In her time at UC Berkeley, Molly has participated in two research apprenticeships with the Sociology and Political Science departments, in which she has studied the impacts of COVID-19 on...

Jade Jaimes Chavez (She/Her/Ella) is a first-generation UC Berkeley student double-majoring in ethnic studies and data science and proudly represents her Mexican-American heritage. Raised in an immigrant, farm-working family from Orange Cove, California, Jade has witnessed firsthand the challenges of violence, poverty, and oppression that affect her family and the broader rural community in their struggle for equitable access to education, healthcare, and essential quality-of-life resources. As the first in her family to attend a 4-year university, Jade actively engages in public service...

Swasti Johri is passionate about tackling housing insecurity and houselessness in the Bay Area and beyond. Having worked with Hamilton Families and Small House Inc., she is an ardent supporter of combining the housing first approach with multi-faceted, research-based solutions to the symptoms and causes underlying poverty. She centers her work around sustainability and environmental justice; she is a firm believer in indigenous remediation techniques and carries an appreciation for time and human-tested practices into her work.

Born and raised in the East Bay Area, Tristan Keene is the result of numerous public sector efforts to better her community, state, and country. AB 19 allowed her to attend community college for two years tuition-free, providing an inclusive and accessible educational setting that prepared her for the rigorous academic environment of UC Berkeley. The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 lightened the financial burden of being an independent college student by providing her and other students with grocery money every month. The Middle Income Student Assistance Act of 1978, which created the...