Somos Coordinators
Somos Scholars
Somos Speakers and Presenters

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Jules Collado

Pronouns: she/they

Julianna is a rising senior at the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy. This summer she is interning with the Congress of Communities and coordinating the Somos summer program. On-campus, Julianna has been Lead Director and External Director of La Casa, a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Student Advisory Board, and employed by the Office of the First Year, Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs (MESA), and the Office of Academic and Multicultural Initiatives (OAMI).

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Esther Guerrero

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Currently, Esther is a senior at Wayne State University studying Public Health and is also minoring in Latin American Studies and Biological Sciences. This summer she is interning with Congress of Communities, a non-profit in Southwest Detroit. When she is not in Zoom meetings, Esther loves watching movies, listening to music, and going on adventures! She will be spending my summer with family in Mexico and will also be taking some classes. In the near future, Esther hopes to be able to attend school to receive her master's in Public Health.

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Tania Zaragoza

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Tania is currently a rising senior at the University of Michigan double majoring in Political Science and Sociology with a sub-plan in Law, Justice, and Social Change and Minoring in Latina/o Studies. On-campus, she is one of the undergraduate advisors for La Casa (University of Michigan's largest Latinx organization on campus). This summer she is one of the Somos coordinators where she has been helping support outreach. In addition, she participated in Chicago Kent Law School's PLUS Program, a three-week summer program for college students interested in the legal field. In the near future, she is planning on attending law school where she intends to focus on immigration law, and at some point in her future, she would like to work on immigration reform.

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Xamantha Palomino

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Xam will be going into my first year of college at Michigan State University majoring in Communications and also planning to minor in Latino studies. She has an internship as a communications intern with an organization called We The People MI. Xam is super excited to get started with the course because she is confident that she will be learning a lot of new things as well!

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Lesley Rivas

Pronouns: she/hers/ella

Lesley is a master's student at the University of Texas at Austin in the Education Leadership and Policy department. She currently serves as a Mentoring Site Coordinator for Project MALES (Mentoring to Achieve Latino Educational Success), a research-informed mentorship program that serves boys and young men of color with the intention of supporting them as they navigate the educational pipeline. She graduated from the University of Michigan in the spring of 2020 where she studied Latinx Studies and Spanish. While on campus, she was highly involved in multiple student organizations that centered on educational access, advocacy, and improving the campus climate for Latinx students. Born and raised in the northwest side of Chicago, Lesley remains deeply passionate about changing the educational opportunities for her community through her research, volunteerism, professional, and academic pursuits. For fun, she enjoys watching movies, walking, and dancing to banda, bachata, merengue and more!

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Xalma Palomino

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Xalma is a rising junior at the University of Michigan double majoring in Political Science & Latina/o Studies. She is currently the Lead Director of La Casa, the central Latinx student organization on U-M's campus, and serves on the Latina/o Studies Advisory Board. In addition to working on Somos this summer, Xalma is also interning at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute with House Representative Nydia Velazquez from New York's 7th Congressional District. After Xalma graduates from college, she plans to get a master's degree in public policy.

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Lindsey Matson

Pronouns: she/they

Lindsey is a Community Organizer with Somos' host organization, Congress of Communities, in southwest Detroit. Lindsey's background is in social work, and they are passionate about anti-racist and queer-centered community organizing and policy advocacy. In their free time, Lindsey enjoys attending wrestling shows, reading comic books, and listening to country music!

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Rebeca Yanes

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Rebeca is a rising senior studying Psychology and Spanish at the University of Michigan (U-M). However, her interests in the field of psychology lie in the research. She is particularly interested in community or social psychology. Rebeca hopes to pursue a Masters's program in community psychology or grassroots policy. While studying at the U-M, Rebeca splits her commitment to working as an undergraduate research assistant for the Language & Literacy Lab, led by Dr. Kovelman under the Department of Psychology, and to serving on the executive board for La Casa, the central Latinx student organization on campus. In her free time, Rebeca enjoys reading (mostly fantasy, sci-fi, and adventure with a little bit of romance) and, thanks to quarantine, now watches a borderline unhealthy amount of anime. She grew up watching movies with her dad and her mom and sisters, so she's watched a lot of movies and has relatively varied tastes.

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Arlyn Patiño

Pronouns: she/her/hers, or any

Arlyn is a a rising senior at Morton East High School. She is currently working as a waitress. During the school year, Arlyn takes pre-med track courses because she hopes to become a medical professional working with marginalized groups one day. Also 💅 :))

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Gabriella Esparza

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Gabriella is going into her Sophomore year at Allen Park High School. She does not know what college she is going to be attending yet, but her plans are to major in Child Psychology. This summer, Gabriella started learning to play golf and she plans on playing for her school when she returns for the upcoming school year. Gabriella's favorite thing to do is hang out with her family and friends!

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Perla Hernandez

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Perla is a band student and she plays trumpet. Perla has a dog named Oso. She also likes to read. Perla attends Plainfield East High School in Illinois.

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Lupita Delgado

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Lupita is born and raised in Chicago, IL. She is 14 years old, and she will be a freshman at Lane Tech College Prep High School when the next school year starts. During this summer, besides completing Somos, Lupita will be relaxing and reading as many books as possible. Other than that, she really has no plans. When Lupita grows up, she wants to be a lawyer or an airline pilot; she finds these two jobs very interesting.

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Regina Theresa Sotuyo Reyes

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Regina is a student at West Aurora High School She is a Blackhawk cheerleader and performs in the Blackhawk marching band. Regina is also a student at the ICE tumbling center.

Sofia Judith Cazares

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Sofia is studying at Berkley High School. She runs Cross Country and babysits throughout the summer. Sofia hopes to one day work in special education or psychology.

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Md Khalique

Pronouns: he/him/his

Throughout the summer, Md will be doing UPKEY Internship Program and participating in Horatio Alger Association Summer Courses. As for his major, Md will be studying Computer Science.

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Evelyn Hernandez

Pronouns: she/her/hers

An area Evelyn wants to study, is in the criminal justice field. She really wants to attend Michigan State University (MSU). For this summer, she does not have any plans. Mostly, during the summer, Evelyn will be working in a greenhouse.

Mauricio A. Vazquez

Pronouns: he/him/his

Mauricio will also be participating in an engineering program. He will be going to Muskegon high school for his sophomore year.

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Hannia Michelle Gonzalez

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Hannia will be going to Melvindale high school as a senior. This summer she is participating in Somos and EHRA Dearborn. In August, Hannia will be taking the SAT. During her senior year, she is going to look for a job. After high school, Hannia is planning on going to a University.

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Kasandra Negrete

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Kasandra Negrete is a rising senior at Cass Technical High School and she is interested in majoring in Political Science. Kasandra is currently visiting family and Mexico. In school, she is part of several organizations. Outside of school, Kasandra is part of Congress of Communities, 482Forward, and MiStudentsDream.

Elian Velasquez

Pronouns: he/him/his

Elian is 14 and he will be a freshman at Western international high school this upcoming year.

Amelie Vidrio

Pronouns: she/he/they

Amelie is currently entering their senior of high school at Orange County School of the Arts. For college, they plan to major in concert dance and hopefully join a company afterward. Their main goal in terms of my career is to become a well-known dancer and choreographer. As Amelie approaches college, they want to learn more about their Latinx heritage.

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Jeselen Sarahi Banda Garcia

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Jeselen is 19. She was born and raised in Aurora, IL. Jeselen is attending Waubonsee Community College and is in the Class of 2023. She is majoring in Psychology. Becoming is a School Counselor is her dream.

Consuela Barber-Lopez

A proud native Detroiter of proud Puerto Rican heritage, Consuela Barber-Lopez is a cultural warrior devoted to persevering not only Puerto Rican heritage but educating all in Latinx cultural and civic leadership. As Executive Director of AMANDLA, Consuela leads a solutionary based Metro Detroit Anti-Human Trafficking Counsel of diverse cultural grassroots organizations working together in improving our collective response to crimes against children/adults. The signature of her community identity revolves around advocating via the arts be it photography, film, dance, music, or organizing cultural festivals in Detroit. A true legacy leader, Consuela works tirelessly with Detroit’s youth and young adults in cultivating their leadership skills to ensure their rightful place as the new, now, and next homegrown leaders of Metro Detroit and Michigan.

Dr. Francisco Beltrán

Dr. Francisco Beltrán earned his PhD in History from UC Santa Barbara in 2019. He is a first-generation Mexican descent college graduate. He is a US historian who specializes in Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x history, race and ethnicity, immigration, and borderlands. Dr. Beltrán has taught courses on these topics at UC Santa Barbara, San Francisco State University, and currently at the University of Michigan - where he is an ACLS Emerging Voices Postdoctoral Research Fellow. His work looks at the different social and political forms of activism carried out by distinct Mexican ethnic groups in San Diego, California during the 1960s and 1970s.

Richard Nunn

Richard is the Academic Program Manager for Outreach at the Rackham Graduate School. His professional, personal, and academic interests focus on increasing access and building success models for underrepresented communities, especially for Latinx and undocumented/DACAmented communities. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Michigan, a Master’s degree in Higher Education Student Affairs from Eastern Michigan University, and also completed his doctoral coursework at the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at U-M. He has worked across multiple higher education institutions, mainly in the state of Michigan, in various formal and informal roles. Additionally, his scholarship and practice include a focus on culturally responsive mentoring and advising.

Rosie Castro

Ms. Castro was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. During her college career at Our Lady of the Lake College, she studied English and earned a teaching certificate. She was an organizer and an activist that founded the Young Democrats where she journeyed into civil rights activism. She went on to join the La Raza Unida and serve as the La Raza's Bexar County chairwoman. Additionally, Ms. Castro worked for the Mexican American Unity Council (MAUC) and the City of San Antonio. Later, she earned a master's degree from the University of Texas-San Antonio. Her legacy is far-reaching and inspired her sons, Joaquin and Julio Castro, as they ventured into public service. Throughout her life and through her platforms, Ms. Castro has avidly advocated for better education, voter registration, and political representation.

Mara Cecilia Ostfeld

Mara Cecilia Ostfeld is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and a faculty affiliate of the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. Her research broadly focuses on the relationship between race, media, and political attitudes. Her work has been published in journals that include Political Behavior, Political Psychology, and Political Communication, and been funded by places including the Institute for the Study of Citizens and Politics and the Russell Sage Foundation. She currently has a book project underway looking at the social and political factors that shape how we identify our skin color. During national elections, Mara also works as an analyst at NBC and Telemundo.