My career as a Social Justice major has prepared me to properly communicate about and explore the injustices of our society through a personal, academic, and professional lens. Because of my previous experience of being a member of a Social Justice Touring Theatre Company at my high school, I already knew I wanted to continue this education and work through my college career. While many schools do not have a Social Justice degree, Hamline stuck out when I first began applying for schools. When I entered Hamline as a First Year, my first professor was the previous head of the Social Justice program and I had an upperclassman mentor who was graduating with this degree as well. For these reasons, it was easy to follow this path and felt like the right path to follow. 

 

My Social Justice major provided me the opportunities to learn about an array of social justice topics, such as rape culture, the Civil Rights Movement, religion and justice, and sexuality, gender, and the law. Through these different class concentrations, I developed skills to listen and give space to the voices of marginalized groups of people and I also learned how to show up as an ally. I believe this is one of the most important things anyone who studies Social Justice could learn. Being able to understand your identities and understand the privileges you hold in a space is a very important factor in understanding justice and the ways these conversations happen. In high school, I learned about Social Justice and social change through art-making. Since studying Social Justice in a higher education setting, I have learned about it through texts, research, and film. Incorporating the two ways I have learned about this topic has been essential as I have completed work through my Art for Social Change concentration.

 

I have been able to hold several different Social Justice internship positions throughout my college experience. My first one was in South Africa serving as a summer camp helper with a program called Africa Jam. Africa Jam is a program that serves youth by having after school programming. These programs include dance classes, singing classes, after school help, and religious experiences. This program has a Minnesota based partnership where I have been a part of the community that continues to develop relationships with the youth and program directors in Cape Town. This is not just a one-time, relationship-building experience. Through this experience, I was able to teach dance, establish relationships with young people, and be a part of a community that strives to bring out the light in each of these youth.

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I also interned at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota in St. Paul. While I held more of a Developmental role, I was able to better understand the system of nonprofit immigration work and learn about resources for immigrants and refugees and how to distribute this information. Through this work, I enhanced my writing and editing skills by writing weekly “thank you” letters to donors and editing grants that fund the non-profit. I also expanded my vocabulary when it comes to speaking about immigration, especially through the identity as an ally. 

 

My Social Justice degree also allowed me the opportunity to do a study away program in the Twin Cities for a semester. This program was HECUA’s Art for Social Change where I took a class that taught us about socially engaged art, world artists and how they made social change, and how to create our own socially engaged art that brings social change. Along with this class, I was able to go back to my high school, Washburn High School, and intern in their Social Justice Touring Theatre Program where I once was a student. I was able to cultivate my expertise in working with youth by having the opportunity in the classroom to teach and engage the students on a daily basis. Consistently being in conversation with young people about social injustices they face every day is an opportunity not many people get. For this, I am grateful that I have succeeded in building relationships and giving young people a space to speak their truth and their stories.

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Moving forward in my Social Justice career outside of Hamline, I hope to gain more experience in the political field. Joining campaigns or working for local government officials is work I look forward to engaging in. I also would love to continue youth activism work because our young people are the hope and change we need. While I understand there will be several challenges I will face after I graduate, I know this degree has prepared me to take on these challenges by staying true to my beliefs and knowing how to properly vocalize about what I see to be unjust.