Andrea Guerra is a fourth-year student majoring in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies with a Spanish minor. Andrea writes: “Being a CRES major has defined the internships I have chosen to do during my undergraduate experience. During my summers I took roles in multiple local schools and organizations in my hometown [the San Jose region]. In those spaces I was advocating and mentoring first-generation, low-income students of color who are in the similar positions as my younger self. The experiences I have had within the CRES department have been empowering for my own identity and have supported the career goals I am striving for. I came into UC Merced as Undecided but after taking the very first CRES 001 course I found a field I was passionate about that was most related to social justice and history. Since then, I am learning about how to take part in tackling local to global issues. I am currently pursuing admission to graduate school for an International Relations Master’s program.”
