About Alexa
My background in activism is a huge part of who I am and I believe that considering my name—Alexa—means “defender of mankind,” I was truly destined to be an advocate for myself and others.
When I was about seven years old, I remember being infuriated by the fact that global warming had caused thousands of species to become endangered, and eventually extinct. Most importantly, the endangerment of polar bears due to global warming caused my mind to create a seemingly ingenious plan— make the people driving gas-guzzling cars feel bad about “being responsible” for the death of my favorite animal. Caught up in my righteous fury, I remember telling my father—in a serious tone and with a straight face—that I wanted to paint (in other words, vandalize) all the cars I deemed gas-guzzlers. The target of my fury, Hummers, would be met with pictures of the melting ice caps and subsequently, the unfortunate polar bears living on said icebergs. Though I look back on this memory and recognize the immaturity of it, I do see it as a part of my history of being very passionate about equality and justice. Hand in hand with my juvenile environmental “activism,” I remember preaching to all of my elementary school peers during recess about food activism, specifically organic food and pesticides. As early as third grade, I was holding quasi-informational seminars from atop my soapbox about the horrors of pesticides and high fructose corn syrup. Though I don’t believe I was really causing social change by lecturing at a group of 8-year-olds, these moments were truly the start of something for me—the beginning of a thread that would continue to weave its way throughout my life.
This thread can best be described as a passion to fight against injustice wherever I see it. During my freshman year of college, I was required to view a film that was supposed to educate the new students on sexual assault and sexual assault prevention. However, the film itself was riddled with sexism, victim-blaming, and even poked fun at sexual assault/survivors. Immediately upon returning home from viewing this film, I typed up and sent a multi-paragraph email, detailing how problematic the film was and how concerned I was overhearing my fellow students making fun of it after the fact, to one of the Deans at Santa Clara. I proceeded to meet with the Dean in person to discuss my concerns and followed up by sending that email to his boss. Though I was a bit intimidated in the beginning about confronting the administration about such a film during my first few months at SCU, my passion to do what was right won out.
This was certainly not the last time I met and worked with the administration because of the injustices I saw around me. I have been working on commuter issues at SCU since my first year. At Santa Clara, commuter students are an under-represented and oftentimes overlooked population of students. We receive little assistance from the administration, are overlooked for resource allocation, and generally are prioritized below on-campus students’ needs. I am surrounded by commuter students as that is the community I found myself within and I hear their frustrations—how they feel like they barely make the list of priorities. I heard from one commuter how losing access to our personal space (the Commuter Lounge) had left her without a place to store her items and relax in after commuting for over 2 hours to campus every morning, bright and early at 5 am. Those were the types of stories that stuck with me. How unjust institutions affect real, living humans has always been my motivator. So, I compiled together these concerns into personal notes on my computer, meeting notes for one-on-ones with administrators, and eventually, a letter to our university president. I went on to pursue an applied ethics fellowship that provides me with the opportunity to dig into this issue I am so passionate about: representation and resources for commuter students. Combined with the skills I have gained from my position as a student researcher, I have designed a survey of commuter students that will not only literally count them (as there is no data currently on the number or demographics of commuter students) but also provide commuters an opportunity to share their opinions on resources and on representation. I will also be digging into this topic more for my senior thesis; I will be examining how commuter status affects faculty-student relationships and that effect on student personal and professional development. I am incredibly passionate about this topic and will explain it in-depth to whoever unknowingly asks me a simple question about it. This type of work that moves toward more equity and solutions to unjust circumstances is what I have always been drawn to, ever since I was up on the playground persuading anyone who would listen that we needed to be more conscientious of the food we ate and its effect on the environment.
My attraction to social entrepreneurship is, at its core, deeply similar to my attraction to change and justice within these other instances. I do not pretend to know all the injustices that peoples are burdened by. I know from my privilege and my narrower perspective of the world that that is not possible. However, I am drawn to work that furthers social progress and equity in whatever forms possible.
My passion has always been with people—with those who are not heard, with those others refuse to hear. My passion is a compulsion toward justice, a shove forward in that direction that I cannot and will not ignore. I am the type of person to write out paragraphs long emails at 10 pm, to email and meet directly with someone in a position of authority exactly what I think of the injustice I see around me. At the end of the day, though, what I (and so many other fantastic folks) want are sustainable solutions to these injustices. And so, I want to play a part in making those sustainable solutions a reality.
When I was about seven years old, I remember being infuriated by the fact that global warming had caused thousands of species to become endangered, and eventually extinct. Most importantly, the endangerment of polar bears due to global warming caused my mind to create a seemingly ingenious plan— make the people driving gas-guzzling cars feel bad about “being responsible” for the death of my favorite animal. Caught up in my righteous fury, I remember telling my father—in a serious tone and with a straight face—that I wanted to paint (in other words, vandalize) all the cars I deemed gas-guzzlers. The target of my fury, Hummers, would be met with pictures of the melting ice caps and subsequently, the unfortunate polar bears living on said icebergs. Though I look back on this memory and recognize the immaturity of it, I do see it as a part of my history of being very passionate about equality and justice. Hand in hand with my juvenile environmental “activism,” I remember preaching to all of my elementary school peers during recess about food activism, specifically organic food and pesticides. As early as third grade, I was holding quasi-informational seminars from atop my soapbox about the horrors of pesticides and high fructose corn syrup. Though I don’t believe I was really causing social change by lecturing at a group of 8-year-olds, these moments were truly the start of something for me—the beginning of a thread that would continue to weave its way throughout my life.
This thread can best be described as a passion to fight against injustice wherever I see it. During my freshman year of college, I was required to view a film that was supposed to educate the new students on sexual assault and sexual assault prevention. However, the film itself was riddled with sexism, victim-blaming, and even poked fun at sexual assault/survivors. Immediately upon returning home from viewing this film, I typed up and sent a multi-paragraph email, detailing how problematic the film was and how concerned I was overhearing my fellow students making fun of it after the fact, to one of the Deans at Santa Clara. I proceeded to meet with the Dean in person to discuss my concerns and followed up by sending that email to his boss. Though I was a bit intimidated in the beginning about confronting the administration about such a film during my first few months at SCU, my passion to do what was right won out.
This was certainly not the last time I met and worked with the administration because of the injustices I saw around me. I have been working on commuter issues at SCU since my first year. At Santa Clara, commuter students are an under-represented and oftentimes overlooked population of students. We receive little assistance from the administration, are overlooked for resource allocation, and generally are prioritized below on-campus students’ needs. I am surrounded by commuter students as that is the community I found myself within and I hear their frustrations—how they feel like they barely make the list of priorities. I heard from one commuter how losing access to our personal space (the Commuter Lounge) had left her without a place to store her items and relax in after commuting for over 2 hours to campus every morning, bright and early at 5 am. Those were the types of stories that stuck with me. How unjust institutions affect real, living humans has always been my motivator. So, I compiled together these concerns into personal notes on my computer, meeting notes for one-on-ones with administrators, and eventually, a letter to our university president. I went on to pursue an applied ethics fellowship that provides me with the opportunity to dig into this issue I am so passionate about: representation and resources for commuter students. Combined with the skills I have gained from my position as a student researcher, I have designed a survey of commuter students that will not only literally count them (as there is no data currently on the number or demographics of commuter students) but also provide commuters an opportunity to share their opinions on resources and on representation. I will also be digging into this topic more for my senior thesis; I will be examining how commuter status affects faculty-student relationships and that effect on student personal and professional development. I am incredibly passionate about this topic and will explain it in-depth to whoever unknowingly asks me a simple question about it. This type of work that moves toward more equity and solutions to unjust circumstances is what I have always been drawn to, ever since I was up on the playground persuading anyone who would listen that we needed to be more conscientious of the food we ate and its effect on the environment.
My attraction to social entrepreneurship is, at its core, deeply similar to my attraction to change and justice within these other instances. I do not pretend to know all the injustices that peoples are burdened by. I know from my privilege and my narrower perspective of the world that that is not possible. However, I am drawn to work that furthers social progress and equity in whatever forms possible.
My passion has always been with people—with those who are not heard, with those others refuse to hear. My passion is a compulsion toward justice, a shove forward in that direction that I cannot and will not ignore. I am the type of person to write out paragraphs long emails at 10 pm, to email and meet directly with someone in a position of authority exactly what I think of the injustice I see around me. At the end of the day, though, what I (and so many other fantastic folks) want are sustainable solutions to these injustices. And so, I want to play a part in making those sustainable solutions a reality.