Student Panelists
We are excited to host student panelists from institutions across the Bay Area! Panelists will discuss the role of activism and justice in their lives and work.
Melinda Hernandez
Melinda is a poet and rapper born and raised on Chicago’s west side. Throughout high school, Melinda competed in Louder than a Bomb, the largest youth poetry festival in the world, where she became an Indy and Team finalist in 2017. For the summers of 2016 and 2017, Melinda was offered an apprenticeship role at Young Chicago Authors, where she was mentored by Jamila Woods and Kevin Coval. As a college freshman, she became a CUPSI 2018 finalist, placing second out of over 70 teams with Stanford’s all-rookie team. Melinda the spoken word poet has since evolved into Linda Sol the emcee. Though her career as an emcee has only begun, Linda Sol has opened for well-known artists such as Dreezy, 2 Chainz, Ella Mai, and A.Chal. Her raps are inspired by her love for Chicago, her family’s resilience, and her overall understanding of self care, self love, and self preservation. After her first year of college, she was granted a Community Arts Fellowship and interned at Young Chicago Authors, closely shadowing Jamila Woods as a teaching assistant. Currently, Linda Sol is in the process of creating songs to release to the world in the spring and summer months. |
Araceli Garcia
Araceli Garcia is a junior from San Antonio, Texas, majoring in Chicanx/Latinx Studies and minoring in Education. As a first year student, she became heavily involved in Stanford Sanctuary Now, organizing for the university to better support undocumented students and officially declare Sanctuary Campus status. This year, as an Ethnic Theme Associate for Casa Zapata, she has advocated for equitable pay for ETAs in recognition of their racialized, and often feminized, labor. As a firm believer in activism as a form of public service, she began to work with RAICES in her hometown, as a Karnes Pro Bono Project Intern, aiding in providing direct legal assistance to women and children seeking asylum within Karnes family detention center. Her passion for immigration reform and dedication to activism stems from a deep commitment to those who are most vulnerable in her community. |
Nazia Chandiwalla
Nazia Chandiwalla is a third year student at Santa Clara University School of Law. During her time at SCU Law, Nazia has focused on International Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law. At SCU Law, Nazia was a part of the International Human Rights Clinic, where she submitted a thematic request to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and was granted a thematic hearing on "Lack of accountability for police killings of minorities and other vulnerable populations in the United States." At the clinic, Nazia also worked on developing an online database that provides a list of international human rights standards that complement U.S. immigration laws. Additionally, she has interned at international organizations, including Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers in London, and International Committee of the Red Cross in D.C. Recently, at Tahirih Justice Center, Nazia has focused on immigration and human rights laws by helping female survivors of gender-based violence gain legal status in the Untied States. Currently, Nazia is interning at Human Rights Watch in San Francisco. Her research is focused on the rights of immigrant victims of crime in the United States and women's rights during environmental disasters. |
Davis Leonard
Davis Leonard is a senior at Stanford majoring in Theater and Performance Studies and minoring in Political Science. Her honors thesis and performance practice stake the claim that “actors have real bodies all the time”, and interrogate the effects of enacting scripts drawn from a violent and oppressive “real” and theatrical culture on actors’ gendered embodiment in their daily lives. On the politics side, she has interned for organizations such as the Democratic National Committee and Center for American Progress, and worked on campaigns including Hillary for America, Gavin Newsom’s gubernatorial campaign, and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s FL-26 congressional race. She hopes to pursue a career that somehow straddles feminist performance-making and progressive digital politics. |