Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Bringing good vibrations to the West Coast

We are happy to introduce ourselves as the Feminist Majority Foundation's second wave of West Coast office interns. We come from a diverse range of backgrounds and locations, but are excited to unite around a common goal!

The 9 of us joined forces with the 7 interns who started two weeks ago, this Monday. We're just awaiting the arrival of 2 more interns and our feminist team will be complete!

Though we officially started Monday, many of us attended the Green-Pink Reproductive Health and Rights and the Environment conference that occurred over the weekend. The conference was an excellent opportunity for us to see the collaborative efforts of the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, and the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Being here is less abstract that putting into practice what we have learned in the classrooms. Some of our projects include helping to create and support feminist organizations on college campuses, researching legislation in regards to violence against women, and promoting reproductive health and rights both domestically and worldwide, through the Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics and the Global Reproductive Rights and Health Campaign.

We'll also be dedicating a lot of time to the National Clinic Access Project and to updating materials on www.feministcampus.org to better serve you!

We hope to make an impact on the campaigns that the FMF and the Choices Campus Leadership Program are promoting. We are excited for this opportunity to make a positive difference int he well-being of women on both a local and international level.

Lily Armstrong will soon be attending 9th grade at Polytechnic School. She wants to major in political science or poetry.

Chelsea Heaps is going into her senior year at Milken Community High School. She wants to major in political science and believes the french fries at Islands are the best fries in America.

Sarah Godoy is a 5th year student at UC Riverside majoring in political science and women's studies and trying to start a feminist club at her school. She loves Disneyland and would live there if she could.

Michelle Cooper is a student at Santa Monica College majoring in Art History. She is a member of the Feminist Alliance at her school and loves the color lavender.

Mary Kwan is a rising senior at Smith College majoring in economics. She built her first snowman during her first year of college and named it Avalanche.

Teresa De Anda has just graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a bachelor of science in Health Science. She will now take on the challenge of learning to play the guitar, although she thinks it will take her 10 years.

Ana Chamberlain just returned from a semester abroad in Chile. She is going into her senior year at Occidental College as a major in Diplomacy and World Affairs and Spanish. She is an addict of 21 Chioces Frozen Yogurt in Old Town Pasadena.

Kimberly Young will be a senior at UCLA. As a political science major and Labor and Workplace Studies minor, she spends her free time playing for the Ultimate Frisbee team and working as a Resident Assistant.

Rama Laxmi Shah just finished her Associate's Degree with an International Relations focus at Santa Monica College and will be transferring to Santa Diego State University. She is originally from Nepal and wants to work for women's empowerment worldwide.

Stay tuned for more from the West Coast Campus Interns!

3 comments:

jacsun said...

Hurrah to the amazing west coast intern class! You guys rock!

Kim said...

Yay, thanks so much, we are definitely very excited.

Jenna said...

Yay!