Lia Salaverry
UC Santa Cruz, Class of 2015 "Poverty can cripple, creating unbelievable hurdles for millions of people trying to survive and make ends meet. My personal challenges growing up have compelled me to excel in college, though I have been incredibly fortunate to receive substantial help in the process. I have learned the significant difference that a strong education can make to empower people and create upward social and economic mobility." |
Lia Azul Salaverry graduated from Palo Alto High School and earned her degree at UC Santa Cruz triple majoring in Philosophy, Sociology and Legal Studies. “Attending college at UC Santa Cruz changed my life, and were it not for The Pursuit of Excellence Scholarship, my experiences in college and future potentials would be drastically different. It is what enabled me to afford college, focus primarily on my academic pursuits during college and gave me the mentorship and support that has been key in my success so far. With its flexible approach, the POE Scholarship has been my support system through times of particular financial crisis and throughout the duration of my undergraduate years.
While at UC Santa Cruz, Lia won the Fanny Carruthers Award in Sociology, was President of the Legal Education Association for Diversity (LEAD), was a Student Fellow in the Everett Program, and held an internship at the Watsonville Law Center. Lia, who is interested in politics and social justice, worked as a Fundraising Manager for Prop I in San Francisco, and as an intern for Former Mayor and County Supervisor of Santa Cruz, Ryan Coonerty. Lia has also worked with the UC Student Association on Proposition 30, and interned for Congressman Jared Huffman, CA 2nd District in Washington, DC. Through the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington, DC think tank, Lia worked for bestselling author Barbara Ehrenreich on income inequality. Lia currently serves on the boards of VisionSF and the San Francisco Young Democrats and works as a Special Projects Consultant at a local non-profit, Mission Neighborhood Centers Inc. in San Francisco.
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