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A.S.: So, this is A.S. and I'm here with L.A. on April 12, 2023 at the Eisenhower Library ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: for the First Generation FLI College Student Oral Histories. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: We wanted to start these interviews by acknowledging the impact of COVID-19 on the Hopkins community. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: The questions in the interview were actually written before the coronavirus pandemic, and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: therefore didn't directly ask how the consequences of the public health crisis changed the experiences ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: of our students. But we thought it was necessary to begin our interview with a couple of questions ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: related to the pandemic in order to recognize the particularly challenging experiences ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: and changes that these students faced. So, I'll start with just a question about how you feel ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: the coronavirus pandemic impacted your undergraduate experience and what challenges or changes ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: that it caused for you personally. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: Yeah, so, I just felt like I had – like, my college experience ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: had a break in it where I wasn't progressing. I didn't really feel like I was able to effectively ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: learn at home. I personally suffered with my mental health a bit – you know, like being ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: inside all the home. You know, all of us experienced some form of, like, sadness and, like, you know, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: not being able to be motivated to do the work that we're supposed to be doing. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: So that's how it impacted me personally. I was not tuned into what was going on at school ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: really, especially once my – since the fall of 2020, so a lot of my time actually during then ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: was going towards community organizing. So I was doing probably, 20 to 30 hours a week at that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: and very minimal schoolwork. I took a couple of classes pass/fail that semester. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: Yeah, I mean, and I think I came back and I was still in a funk once we even got back on campus ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: for a little while. So I came back spring of 2021, and I was – I still was not feeling great. Like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: usually I take five classes; I took four classes that semester, even though I was on campus. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: I still got – I got a little bit more social connection in being able to reconnect with ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: friends, which was good for me. But yeah, I feel like I grew in some ways and I learned ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: more about myself, but I also went through a really hard time, like, mentally, I think. I think ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: the only thing that I really – that really kept me pushing was, the community work that I was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: involved with and, like, the people that I met through that and the strength of – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: I don't know, we just built, like, a really strong community within our organizing network. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: That still exists today. So that, I think would be the highlight, but everything else ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: I feel like was not very good. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Is that something – just to ask a quick follow-up for the community ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: organizing component of, you know, like, your lifestyle here at Hopkins. Is that something ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: that continued during the pandemic? Were you guys still, like, trying to organize or doing things ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: virtually or things like that? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: Yeah, so we were virtual all of the pandemic except for the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: like, we had community services. But, like, our meetings together – we didn't meet each other ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: face to face until, like – all of us still have not met each other face to face. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Wow. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: But it is ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: something that's still continuing today. Right now we're trying to take the next step in the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: organization in hiring a part-time staff member. So it's going be – hopefully if we can secure ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: grant funding, it'll be one of our organizers that's been with us since 2020. So they'll ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: be taking up the position. We have a fiscal sponsor so everything in that regard ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: is arranged. We just – now we're looking to find, like, funding so that we can fund their salary and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: fund some insurance and benefits. Yeah, but I've continued being a – I'm still – like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: I'm the one who, like, coordinated the fiscal sponsor so I'm still very involved ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: with the organization. I'm just, not doing as much on-the-ground stuff. There are other people there that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: are doing on-the-ground stuff. It's definitely not as much as we were doing during COVID, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: but we're still – we're trying – especially with this push right now to hire someone ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: to do part-time work, we're hoping to really increase our involvement back in the community ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: again. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Great. Yeah, I think that really changed the shape of a lot of the organizations that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: we participate in, is just the need – the necessity to be safer and meet virtually. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: So just to move back a little back in time. I wanted to provide sort of like the context for, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: you know, setting you up at Hopkins and then sort of then the pandemic happening. Could you tell ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: me a little bit about where you were born and more about your family, if you want to share? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: Yeah. So, I was actually born in the state of Maryland. I was born in Lothian, so it's in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: Anne Arundel County, right, like, on the cusp of Prince George’s County, so not too far from here, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: about maybe like 45 minutes south of Baltimore. And I lived there about eight years. My mom, my dad, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: my younger sister, so it's really just been us. Both of my parents are from Morocco originally, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: so they both grew up in Morocco for – well, now it's actually not most of their lives, both of them, now ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: they've had most of their lives in the US. But they grew up in Morocco so that's, like – that's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: their homeland, that's where they define as, like, where they're from. And just growing up we would ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: go back every other years, every two years, so I'm very close with my family in Morocco, especially ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: my mom's side of the family, I just really love going back. My dad, he has worked in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: construction since 1995, 1996, something like that. So he – right now he's like a manager so he works, like – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: actually I get to see him pretty often because he, like, works all over the DMV area, so sometimes ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: he's near Baltimore, so sometimes he stops by. But he works as a manager at, like, different construction ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: sites, making sure that trucks are arriving on time, and that's what he's been going for the last, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: 15 years or 10 years or – I don't know, he doesn't talk about his job very much. But my mom has been a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: substitute teacher for the last 14 years in Manassas City Public Schools. So, she just, like, works – she ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: doesn't work too, too much, it's just like to have, like, extra money, especially, like, for my sister and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: I so we can, – especially in high school, be able to do stuff that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: was fun. But we moved to Virginia in 2009 after the housing crisis. And we've been there ever since, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: my family’s still there. Yeah, and then I went to school in Virginia up until high school, and now I'm ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: here at Hopkins. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Yeah. Did your parents – can you tell me a little bit about their, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: educations leading up to – I guess they probably were educated in Morocco and then came over, or ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: did they do any, like, educational things here once they got to the states? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: Yeah, so my dad actually ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: only has a middle school education, and my mom finished high school and she did, like – my mom was – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: she worked in a factory but, like, she – so she was a sewer for a long time, so, like – but she was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: learning on the side, like, how to create clothing. So, some of the, like, pieces that I have ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: today, they used to be hers that she created. Like, she has a leather jacket that she had given me. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: So she was just, like, really crafty, really creative. She has lost – like, sometimes I tell ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: her to, like, make me stuff but, she's forgotten a lot of it because it's been, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: 22 years now since she’s– 23 years since she's made anything. But she still like, hems my pants and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: things like that. So, that was the extent of both of their educations, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: yeah. My dad actually still has, like – sometimes he has, like, trouble reading a little bit, so, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: my mom is the one who will help him sometimes, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Yeah, that makes sense. So what – could you talk a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: little bit more about, like, where you grew up and if you want to elaborate and kind of talk about, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: like, your high school experience, I think you could do that, too. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: Yeah, so in Maryland, I have minimal memories. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: I grew up in Lothian, Maryland, actually in a mobile home neighborhood. So my parents owned the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: home. They had been there a couple years before I was born, I think, or, like, right when I was born. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: I don’t remember too, too much. We were the only non-white or non- Black family in the neighborhood. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Interesting. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: Yeah, which is very interesting. My mom at the time did not wear a hijab. So my family ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: is Muslim. But now she does, but at the time she didn't, so we weren't identifiably Muslim. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: But most of our neighbors were white but, like, very, very welcoming. We were really close ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: with a lot of folks, like, very – like, if my parents needed a babysitter, like, my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: neighbors would babysit us. Yeah, so, like, very, very good relationships. That’s the extent of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: what I remember in Maryland. Moving to where my family lives now in Manassas in Virginia, it’s ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: very diverse, very, very diverse. Actually, most of my city – it's like 60 to 70 percent Latino ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: actually. And my neighborhood itself is, like – less than half of the neighborhood is white, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: I would say. But it’s still like a – it's more of a – it's like a small town. Like, Manassas ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: is more of a small town, suburb of the DC metro area. So, like, it's very – it's still very suburby-like. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: And we were also really close with our neighbors. I had a good childhood. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: I have a younger sister, she's three years younger than I am. Some of my closest ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: friends actually live in the neighborhood so, like, we grew up, like, biking to each other's houses. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: And, you know we all – like in middle school when, like I feel like in middle ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: school, that's where a lot of, classes diverge for people, so, advanced classes and “ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: regular classes,” quote, unquote. Like, a lot of my friends and I, we took the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: more advanced classes, so we became closer through our courses. I went in middle school – so my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: neighborhood is, like, very interesting where it's, like – it was zoned – for middle school it was zoned ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: to an affluent middle school, but for high school it's zoned to a low-income school. And our ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: neighborhood is – we have, like, a mix of townhomes and single homes, so we're like a mix ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:11:01.880 - 00:11:11.880

L.A.: of various socioeconomics – so I live in a townhome. But for middle school, it was not very, very white, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: but pretty white because we were, like, mixed. We were very mixed. It was mostly more affluent students, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: not like crazy affluent but, like, more than us. So that was an interesting experience, and I think ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: that's when I started to really realize – my mom had just started to wear hijab, like, two years ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: before, and I started to realize my Muslim identity, becoming more aware of it, and I was very proud ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: of it, I think for, like, the beginning part of middle school, and then in the middle I wasn't. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: I was, like, a little bit more self-conscious about it, and then my final year I was very proud of it again. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: And then when I transitioned into high school, my high school was very diverse. It was ten ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: percent white students – excuse me. Most folks similar – similar socioeconomic backgrounds to me, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: some folks, you know, like – I had a lot of friends who were undocumented or who had family ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: who were undocumented, so definitely different social circumstances there as well. But just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: very – like I had said, my town is majority Latino. We were about 10 percent Black or ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: 15 percent Black, something like that. Again, not that many Muslim students, so I didn't grow up with a lot of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: other Muslim folks. Yeah, I don't know if you any follow-ups? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Yeah, I think ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: it's really interesting, the diversity of your high school. So – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: and maybe, like, how that impacted you then when you got here at Hopkins, but that might be a question ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: further down. I guess I'm kind of curious, too, about what your parents thought about, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: like, you going to school and sort of like what their thoughts were on education, if they were ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: really, like, adamant that you had to finish high school and go to college. Like, did they ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: add any pressures to you in those regards? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: Yeah, so I always loved to learn, and my mom, like, she ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:13:09.900 - 00:13:15.180

L.A.: really fostered that when I was younger. And we would read together and she would, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: like, always take me to the library. So that was the big thing. She was always taking us, my sister ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: and I to the library, and, like, she was really close with the librarians there and, like, they were really ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:13:23.220 - 00:13:27.720

L.A.: good friends and we would go to the different events. So, I grew up loving to read ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:13:27.720 - 00:13:33.420

L.A.: because of that. I was just, like – I was devouring books all the time. So she really ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: fostered that when I was younger, and she, like – my parents, like, they were – I feel like my mom ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:13:39.660 - 00:13:44.180

L.A.: especially and my dad, he didn't really necessarily understand education, but he knew that that was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:13:44.180 - 00:13:50.180

L.A.: the path. Like, that – you need to be educated. You need to be aware of the world, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: you know? Like – so my parents, like, until I was, like, 13, I think I never watched Disney ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:13:57.260 - 00:14:01.080

L.A.: Channel or Nickelodeon. My parents were very strict. Like, they limited the TV that we watched ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:01.080 - 00:14:08.600

L.A.: and I only watched PBS Kids – only – yeah. So that was, like – they really fostered my love for ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:08.600 - 00:14:12.900

L.A.: learning I think when I was younger. And then once I got to middle school, I just, like – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:12.900 - 00:14:22.720

L.A.: I just loved to succeed. When we lived in Maryland, I was placed in – I have a lot ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:22.720 - 00:14:26.440

L.A.: of problems with the gifted program and, like, the organization at school. But, you know, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:27.220 - 00:14:32.240

L.A.: that program did help foster my, like, critical thinking, my analysis, you know, as a student. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:32.240 - 00:14:35.960

L.A.: Unfortunately that's not available to everyone, to be able to have that opportunity, but I was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:35.960 - 00:14:41.900

L.A.: able to get the opportunity. My teachers would tell my mom that I really like – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:42.380 - 00:14:46.760

L.A.: like, in their, like, evaluations, that I really – like in the classroom, that I loved to learn and I loved to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:46.760 - 00:14:52.380

L.A.: ask questions and that I was just very – present. And, like, that was noticed, and that's what put me ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:52.380 - 00:15:00.600

L.A.: into the gifted program. And then when I came – when we came to Virginia – so I went to, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: like – like the same thing how I said earlier about, like, how I went to an affluent middle school. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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L.A.: Elementary school I went to, like, low-income elementary schools in the Manassas – like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:08.440 - 00:15:14.440

L.A.: Manassas side of town and not the other side of town. But there, they didn't – there wasn't ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:14.440 - 00:15:19.000

L.A.: attention that was put on me to, like, put me into the gifted program or, like, to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:19.000 - 00:15:24.260

L.A.: help me get into an advanced class, and there wasn't as much homework. So my mom, like – I think ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:24.260 - 00:15:31.420

L.A.: that's a really big signifier for her, on how much she valued our education that, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:31.420 - 00:15:36.860

L.A.: she was really upset with, like, the way that the school, like – like, she didn’t feel like the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:36.860 - 00:15:40.400

L.A.: school was well-preparing us, or like me especially, because my sister I think was in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:40.400 - 00:15:45.980

L.A.: kindergarten. So, like, even though it was a hassle for them, they moved my sister and I to the schools ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:45.980 - 00:15:51.840

L.A.: on the other side of town because of that. Like, she didn't feel like I was going be able ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:51.840 - 00:15:57.040

L.A.: to, like, really succeed or, like, be nourished. And there was a bit of racism in the classroom, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:57.040 - 00:16:04.420

L.A.: too, from the teacher. So, we ended up moving elementary schools for a couple of years to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:04.420 - 00:16:10.900

L.A.: the other side of town. My mom was big on advocating for us, because she wanted to make ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:10.900 - 00:16:16.020

L.A.: sure that we had a good education and that we were well- prepared. So – I feel like after elementary ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:16.020 - 00:16:21.040

L.A.: school they had already, like, fostered everything that they could have. And for me, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:21.040 - 00:16:25.280

L.A.: I just, like, wanted to get good grades and I wanted to succeed and I wanted to learn everything that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:25.280 - 00:16:33.420

L.A.: I could, and that continued into high school. Yeah, and my mom, like, I think in, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:33.420 - 00:16:38.040

L.A.: some moments in middle school, like, also had to especially because of the difference ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:38.040 - 00:16:42.860

L.A.: there, my mom had to advocate for me, like getting into a language class. They originally ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:42.860 - 00:16:46.660

L.A.: didn't put me into a language class, right, like, things like that, like, my mom still advocated for me. But ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:46.660 - 00:16:52.140

L.A.: once I got into high school, I was able to advocate for myself and I really, like – it's because my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:52.140 - 00:16:57.400

L.A.: parents really – they helped foster, I don't know, like the fact that you're not going be ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:57.400 - 00:17:00.960

L.A.: given everything that other people are going be given for stuff, so you need to fight for yourself. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:00.960 - 00:17:05.800

L.A.: And second off, learning – like, it's not just important for your success, like, in the material ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:05.800 - 00:17:11.340

L.A.: world but, like, learning is also a very important part of religion, too. Like my mom, there's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:11.340 - 00:17:16.680

L.A.: a surah, which is like a section of the Quran, and it starts with Iqra [in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:16.680 - 00:17:22.040

L.A.: Arabic "‫أﻗﺮأ‬ ] which means read, so it's like knowledge is really emphasized and especially in my parents' ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:22.040 - 00:17:26.660

L.A.: point of view through the religion. So that – yeah, that was a bit long, but…. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:26.660 - 00:17:28.260

A.S.: No, I think ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:28.260 - 00:17:37.860

A.S.: that's really – I don't know, like, illuminating in your experience. I'm also kind of curious ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:37.860 - 00:17:45.720

A.S.: about, like, your high school experience in general, thinking about things that you started ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:45.720 - 00:17:51.700

A.S.: doing then. So like if you did sports or joined any clubs and things that maybe sort of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:51.860 - 00:17:57.600

A.S.: inspired then your time at Hopkins, I would love for you to talk about those. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:57.600 - 00:17:58.760

L.A.: Yeah, so, we didn't have ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:58.760 - 00:18:03.620

L.A.: a broad range of after-school activities. We did have sports, so I joined field hockey and I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:03.620 - 00:18:10.740

L.A.: stayed with it until I was a senior. I was part of Key Club which was pretty big. That was one of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:10.740 - 00:18:15.040

L.A.: the clubs that was pretty big at our school, and it's, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:15.040 - 00:18:19.740

L.A.: an arm of Circle K, which is like the university branch, but it's like a volunteer ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:19.740 - 00:18:25.100

L.A.: organization. So, I was doing a lot of service. What else was I involved with ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:26.680 - 00:18:27.520

L.A.: in high school? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:27.520 - 00:18:31.960

A.S.: It's funny to think back, like, the throwback of high school. Did you play any ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:31.960 - 00:18:34.540

A.S.: instruments or anything like that, music or singing? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:34.540 - 00:18:40.880

L.A.: No, but I was in art classes. I was in art classes. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:40.880 - 00:18:47.060

L.A.: We didn;t have anything after school related to art, though, but I really loved art. Even, like, in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:47.060 - 00:18:50.960

L.A.: middle school I took art classes. I played an instrument in middle school but, like, that was – I feel like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:50.960 - 00:18:55.670

L.A.: everyone did. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:55.670 - 00:18:55.720

A.S.: Yeah. [Laughter] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:55.720 - 00:19:05.080

L.A.: I think I was part of, like, a math club. I was big actually in STEM. That was where ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:05.080 - 00:19:09.300

L.A.: I succeeded a lot, and I thought I was going be going into engineering actually coming into college. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:11.260 - 00:19:16.780

L.A.: Yeah, I do remember other things that I wasn't, like – I wasn't – they weren't necessarily clubs. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:16.780 - 00:19:24.960

L.A.: I was part of student government for two years, and I was doing some, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:25.580 - 00:19:32.360

L.A.: especially my sophomore year, I started doing advocacy work, just like locally, just in our ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:32.360 - 00:19:41.380

L.A.: public schools. And it was in relation to the Syrian crisis, the refugee crisis and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:41.380 - 00:19:45.540

L.A.: just everything that was going on in Syria at the time and just like raising awareness on ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:45.540 - 00:19:52.800

L.A.: that, collecting donations for folks. And then junior and senior year, I was always, like – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:54.360 - 00:20:00.640

L.A.: from my freshman year of high school, like, really – my friends and I, we all recognized – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:00.640 - 00:20:05.640

L.A.: like, that's when we started to become aware that, like, we are not being given the same as other ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:05.640 - 00:20:12.640

L.A.: schools. Having people I knew from middle school call my school “ghetto,” or “oh, have people ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:12.640 - 00:20:17.480

L.A.: been killed there,” “I hear there are gangs there,” it's like, yo, these are people at the end of the day. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:17.480 - 00:20:24.300

L.A.: Like, even if – like, even if there is maybe, like – like, gun violence was not an issue to that extent at ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:24.300 - 00:20:29.200

L.A.: our school, like, at all. But even if there is violence sometimes, right, these are people at the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:29.200 - 00:20:37.900

L.A.: end of the day, right? Like, yeah. But that was something I became very aware of my freshman ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:37.900 - 00:20:42.140

L.A.: year, and we spoke out a bit here and there. But my junior and senior year that really ramped up for ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:42.140 - 00:20:48.060

L.A.: me, and that's why I was in student government. So, I was doing a lot of advocacy work on the basis ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:48.060 - 00:20:53.000

L.A.: of, like, our school needing more resources and needing more acknowledgement from ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:53.000 - 00:20:57.920

L.A.: our county because our county was very highly segregated, like I said. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:57.920 - 00:21:04.500

L.A.: One side of the town and the other side of the town, it was very different. But that really ramped up ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:04.500 - 00:21:08.360

L.A.: my junior and senior year, so I was doing a lot of stuff like that. I was doing a lot ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:08.360 - 00:21:13.840

L.A.: of fundraising for, like, student events. You know, like, my mindset was if we can't get funding for – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:13.840 - 00:21:19.600

L.A.: our school was falling apart – like, we had a ceiling tile fall on one of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:19.600 - 00:21:20.140

L.A.: my friends one day. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:20.140 - 00:21:21.500

A.S.: Oh my gosh. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:21.500 - 00:21:26.440

L.A.: Yeah, like, it was not – but you know, my mindset for the fundraising ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:26.440 - 00:21:31.500

L.A.: was, okay, if we can't fundraise right now for, like, the infrastructure of our school, we can at least ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:31.500 - 00:21:34.920

L.A.: fundraise for fun activities so that people can, like, feel like they're involved, you know, because ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:34.920 - 00:21:38.420

L.A.: that's an important part of people's success, like, feeling like they're part of the community. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:38.420 - 00:21:43.160

L.A.: So that was a big part of what I was doing, and then, like, the advocacy work at the county level. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:44.740 - 00:21:52.300

L.A.: So then my senior year we had like a boundary battle, so that was a big thing ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:52.300 - 00:21:59.100

L.A.: that I was a part of and, like, really led the organizing in that. And that actually ended ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:59.100 - 00:22:04.940

L.A.: up changing a lot for our school. We got a multimillion-dollar deal after our graduation ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:04.940 - 00:22:09.400

L.A.: because of the organizing that we did. Our school didn't have windows, and they just put windows in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:09.400 - 00:22:12.900

L.A.: this last summer, so, like, that funding is still – like, we're still seeing the impacts. They have a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:12.900 - 00:22:19.100

L.A.: lot more programs, because we have a – like, most of our students don't go to college. Yeah, it's like – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:20.360 - 00:22:22.710

L.A.: I don't know, I think maybe, like, 70 to 80 percent don't go to college, I don't think. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:22.710 - 00:22:26.740

A.S.: Wow. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:26.740 - 00:22:27.400

L.A.: But we have ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:27.400 - 00:22:32.660

L.A.: a lot more vocational programming now, which is really great. But that – like, a lot of that is ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:32.660 - 00:22:38.860

L.A.: because of me and my friends and my peers, like, we came together and we were ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:39.360 - 00:22:43.440

L.A.: like, “We're not standing for this anymore and, like, the people that are going ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:43.440 - 00:22:48.280

L.A.: here for the next couple of years, they need better.” So, that's – I feel like that's – I can't remember ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:48.280 - 00:22:52.360

L.A.: anything – I feel like those were, like, really significant moments. I can't ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:52.460 - 00:22:57.060

L.A.: remember being involved with other stuff. We didn't have very much, to be honest with you, like, after-school ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:57.060 - 00:23:01.180

L.A.: programming. I think we had, like, a model UN for like a year ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:02.060 - 00:23:05.100

L.A.: that I tried doing but then, like, it didn't end up working out. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:06.160 - 00:23:10.720

A.S.: It sounds like you guys just kind of advocated for yourselves and created the things that you ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:10.720 - 00:23:16.800

A.S.: needed at the time. That's really incredible and those students are – that will go to your school ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:16.800 - 00:23:24.340

A.S.: will now really benefit from those changes. Can you tell me about, like, deciding to go to Hopkins ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:24.340 - 00:23:28.600

A.S.: and maybe like your college application process, kind of thinking through what ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:28.600 - 00:23:29.900

A.S.: that experience was like? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:29.900 - 00:23:36.360

L.A.: Yeah. So, I learned about college through one of my friends from ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:36.360 - 00:23:40.740

L.A.: high school, my former friends from high school. We were really close then. I don't – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:40.740 - 00:23:45.940

L.A.: she's not nearby anymore – but she had two older siblings that both went to college. Her ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:45.940 - 00:23:49.320

L.A.: parents didn't go to college, but she knew a lot because of her older siblings, and they both went ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:49.320 - 00:23:54.880

L.A.: to UVA. So, I got to – like, just because her and I were so close and, like – I got to learn a lot about ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:54.880 - 00:24:02.760

L.A.: college through her, actually, which was really – it was really helpful. I remember we did like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:02.760 - 00:24:09.100

L.A.: a college test at school, I knew nothing. And I just put my interests in and, like, the college ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:09.100 - 00:24:16.160

L.A.: test put out Radford University for me. It's a school in Virginia and I was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:16.160 - 00:24:21.680

L.A.: like, “Oh, yeah, like, that test” – like, I remember telling her mom, "Oh, yeah, like, I got on ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:21.680 - 00:24:25.800

L.A.: the test thing that I should go to Radford University, so I think I'll go there." And her mom was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:25.800 - 00:24:31.300

L.A.: like, “that's a party school.” That is not, like – like, the fact that that test – like, no, that's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:31.300 - 00:24:35.680

L.A.: not" – like, not to hate on party schools, but she's like, “To your intellectual caliber, like, that's not – and, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:35.680 - 00:24:41.380

L.A.: like, how hard you've worked, like, you can go somewhere much better.” So, I got to learn a lot ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:41.380 - 00:24:48.720

L.A.: about college from the people around me. So, like, I think by, like – I didn't really have, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:48.720 - 00:24:55.740

L.A.: Ivy Leagues on my radar or, like, top schools too much on my radar. So I was, like, really – I was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:55.740 - 00:25:00.320

L.A.: expecting to go to the University of Virginia. I was like, “It's a great public school. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:00.320 - 00:25:03.900

L.A.: I'll probably get in. I have great grades. I'm active in the community.” ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:07.960 - 00:25:12.280

L.A.: That was just, like, my expectation. I was like, “You know? Yeah.” And then I think ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:13.420 - 00:25:19.280

L.A.: in the summer I started researching. Like, my junior year and in the summer, that's when I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:19.280 - 00:25:25.340

L.A.: was like, “I think can try to, like, aim higher, too. Like, let me try and aim for schools.” So at first ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:25.340 - 00:25:34.540

L.A.: I was looking at schools in engineering, so I looked at Columbia, I looked at ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:34.540 - 00:25:41.460

L.A.: Hopkins for engineering. And then towards the end of my junior year I felt like I wanted to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:41.460 - 00:25:46.240

L.A.: do something more in, like, political science or international studies, so I switched my focus, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:47.020 - 00:25:54.000

L.A.: and I decided to apply as an IS major to different schools. So actually I visited Hopkins ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:54.000 - 00:25:58.520

L.A.: over the summer and my friends came with me, and we just drove to Baltimore and we just did a day here. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:58.520 - 00:26:05.880

L.A.: And we walked around and, yeah, I mean, I liked it. It was the one school that I really got to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:05.880 - 00:26:14.440

L.A.: visit and, like, really see. But for me, like, going into the summer, I was like, “Okay, let me ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:14.440 - 00:26:18.020

L.A.: at least keep the engineering on the table, so let me apply to schools that also have engineering, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:18.020 - 00:26:22.380

L.A.: like, strong engineering, but I'll also apply to schools that don't have strong engineering just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:22.380 - 00:26:25.400

L.A.: in case.” So I applied to, like – I don't know, would it be helpful to say – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:25.400 - 00:26:26.100

A.S.: Yeah, of course. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:26.100 - 00:26:27.360

L.A.: But I applied to Hopkins, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:28.000 - 00:26:33.820

L.A.: I applied to Georgetown, I applied to Columbia University, so – I applied to American, GW, and then ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:33.820 - 00:26:41.740

L.A.: I applied to state schools, so UVA, William & Mary, and George Mason University. I think ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:41.740 - 00:26:51.060

L.A.: those were my schools – and NYU. Yes, I wanted to be close to home, too. I mean, I remember ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:51.060 - 00:26:55.600

L.A.: I applied to the HOME program at Hopkins and I was really excited, and then I didn't get accepted. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:55.600 - 00:26:58.520

L.A.: And then from then on I was like, “I'm not going get into Hopkins. It's fine. I'm just going ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:58.520 - 00:27:02.900

L.A.: forget that I applied there. Whatever.” So, like, Hopkins, which is, like, very – I was like, “It's fine. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:02.900 - 00:27:07.000

L.A.: No”" I had my eyes set on Columbia. I remember I was so – I was like – I wanted to be in New York. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:07.000 - 00:27:14.840

L.A.: I was like, “Oh, my God, Columbia University, it's so cool there,” whatever. Did all my applications, so my top ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:14.840 - 00:27:18.440

L.A.: schools were Columbia, Georgetown, and then Hopkins would have been up there, but I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:18.440 - 00:27:27.460

L.A.: just, like, was not thinking about it. Come March, I'm actually on a bus to Baltimore for Key Club. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:27.460 - 00:27:33.480

L.A.: We would have conferences, like, every year, and it's like a big thing and, like, the school ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:33.480 - 00:27:35.090

L.A.: would pay for it and, like, we got to stay in the hotel downtown, everything. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:35.090 - 00:27:36.720

A.S.: Nice. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:36.720 - 00:27:38.320

L.A.: Yeah, I'm on the bus to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:38.320 - 00:27:43.280

L.A.: Baltimore. I didn't tell anybody that the Hopkins decision was coming out. I was like, “I'm just not” – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:43.280 - 00:27:46.140

L.A.: because I just accepted it. I was like, “I'm not going to get accepted and, like, I just don't want to make a fuss.” ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:46.620 - 00:27:52.240

L.A.: I open it up – like, I'm really quiet, opened it up, and I – I don't think I've ever been more excited, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:52.240 - 00:27:56.860

L.A.: genuinely, genuinely never been – because I was so surprised. I feel like if I was, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:56.860 - 00:28:03.720

L.A.: thinking about it, I wouldn't have been, like, so, “Ahh!” you know? Like, I just, like – I just expected a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:03.720 - 00:28:08.160

L.A.: no, and then it said congratulations and it had a little confetti. And I just remember I got ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:08.160 - 00:28:12.160

L.A.: up on the bus and I started screaming. And I was friends with the – like, a lot of the people ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:12.160 - 00:28:15.660

L.A.: that I was going to the conference with. I just started hugging everybody. I started hugging my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:15.660 - 00:28:23.580

L.A.: teachers, like our – whatever, like the – not guidance, what – the people that – whatever, the teachers ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:23.580 - 00:28:28.680

L.A.: that were on the trip. Yeah, yeah, I was hugging everyone, so excited. I just like couldn't believe ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:28.680 - 00:28:35.160

L.A.: it. Like, I was like, “What? What is going on?” And then I checked the financial aid and I was like, “What?! ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:36.100 - 00:28:41.280

L.A.: No way!” Yeah, I remember I called my dad and he was like – he was like – he ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:41.280 - 00:28:46.480

L.A.: doesn't know Johns Hopkins. He was like, “All right, but the money.” Like that's all he said. He ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:46.480 - 00:28:50.680

L.A.: was like, “Okay, how much is it?” That's what he asked, because my dad was very much – he wanted me to go ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:50.680 - 00:28:57.000

L.A.: to community college, so he was really pushing on that. So any, like – anything about, like, private ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:57.000 - 00:29:02.840

L.A.: or public universities, he was like,” But what about the money?” right? But – yeah, then I also got ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:02.840 - 00:29:10.020

L.A.: accepted into Georgetown, so my final decision came down to Hopkins and Georgetown. I came to SOHOP and I loved ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:10.020 - 00:29:13.960

L.A.: Hopkins. I found the people here really humble. Just like I feel like people here are pretty down to earth, like, not ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:13.960 - 00:29:19.300

L.A.: flashy, like – just, like, kind. Like, the people that I met here were just, like, very kind, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:19.800 - 00:29:24.720

L.A.: just like motivated people. And it just felt like – I just really enjoyed it and I loved the campus. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:25.140 - 00:29:29.600

L.A.: I fell in love with the FFC food, you know? It was like – because I was like, “Oh, my God, buffet every ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:29.600 - 00:29:39.820

L.A.: day? Wow.” Different opinions now, but – yeah. And then I went to the overnight at Georgetown ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:40.280 - 00:29:46.100

L.A.: and it just – like, it just felt like I didn't fit, but it wasn't just that, I just felt like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:47.440 - 00:29:51.740

L.A.: Hopkins was a school that could offer so many resources and I saw that from my weekend, like my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:51.740 - 00:29:56.940

L.A.: SOHOP weekend. Like, I saw – like, I got to hear about the funding that, like, Hopkins offers for students ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:56.940 - 00:30:03.020

L.A.: and, like, the programming and just like the connections. And I didn't see that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:03.020 - 00:30:07.600

L.A.: at Georgetown, like, at all, like, I just felt like there weren't resources to support ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:07.600 - 00:30:14.560

L.A.: students as much, and I was like – I feel like this school, even if it isn't, like, the top caliber ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:14.560 - 00:30:20.280

L.A.: undergrad for my degree, it's still, like, very – it's still a very good program, and I just feel like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:20.280 - 00:30:25.180

L.A.: I'm going get a lot more support here. And that I think is, like, the most important thing, because ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:25.180 - 00:30:28.780

L.A.: it doesn't matter if you have the name. If you can't get support from your faculty, from other ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:28.780 - 00:30:33.840

L.A.: students, from programs and resources, then I feel like – especially for me coming in as first-gen ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:33.900 - 00:30:37.120

L.A.: student. I feel like I really needed that and I wouldn't have gotten that at the other school. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:37.120 - 00:30:43.140

L.A.: Also the financial aid here – so much better. Like, I would have paid double going to Georgetown than ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:43.920 - 00:30:50.460

L.A.: if I had gone here. And I just – I loved Hopkins. Like, I really – like the only thing that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:50.460 - 00:30:55.720

L.A.: was like keeping Georgetown in the running was their program and, like, I was in the School ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:55.720 - 00:30:59.120

L.A.: of Foreign Service – that's what I got accepted into and, like, the caliber of that. Like, that was only – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:59.120 - 00:31:05.780

L.A.: those were the two – and I'm so glad I chose to came here. But yeah, that's how I decided and, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:05.780 - 00:31:08.740

L.A.: like, I just – I really loved it. I was so excited, and I couldn't believe it for weeks. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:08.740 - 00:31:10.240

A.S.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:10.800 - 00:31:15.420

A.S.: So obviously your dad's worried about money, which makes a lot of sense. Dads are usually worried ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:15.420 - 00:31:20.800

A.S.: about money. But did your parents, like, react in any other ways? Like, what was your mom's reaction ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:20.800 - 00:31:24.380

A.S.: when you told her you were admitted and that's where you wanted to go? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:24.380 - 00:31:24.840

L.A.: So, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:24.840 - 00:31:30.740

L.A.: like I had said, my mom was very hands-off for me in high school, so she, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:30.740 - 00:31:35.340

L.A.: she didn't really expect – she just expected me to continue my education. So, for her going to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:35.340 - 00:31:41.120

L.A.: community college, for me she would've been just as excited. Like, she has no – she doesn't care, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:41.120 - 00:31:45.120

L.A.: she has no knowledge about it. She said, “I see how hard you work and, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:45.120 - 00:31:50.860

L.A.: you're going – continuing your education.” So, everything that I was doing was coming out of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:50.860 - 00:31:57.860

L.A.: my own, like – my own drive. Like, it was – and, like, my own, like – through – I'm just someone who really ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:57.860 - 00:32:02.120

L.A.: goes out there and tries to, like, get as much information and as much support as I can. And, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:02.120 - 00:32:06.100

L.A.: like, through that I learned that, like, going to a private institution that's going fund me in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:06.100 - 00:32:11.380

L.A.: this way is going support me like no other. But my mom – like, I was like, “Oh, this is a big deal.” And ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:11.380 - 00:32:15.400

L.A.: she's like, “Oh, I'm excited for you!” And she saw the money and she was said, “Oh, my God, like, the fact ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:15.400 - 00:32:20.940

L.A.: that this is the price tag of the school and they're going support you” – so, just very ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:20.940 - 00:32:25.700

L.A.: excited, just like happy, like, happy that I'm happy. That's more so what her excitement came from. My dad ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:25.700 - 00:32:30.980

L.A.: was just not convinced. He wanted me to continue my education and for him, he was like, “ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:30.980 - 00:32:34.600

L.A.: What's wrong with NOVA? Everybody in the community goes to NOVA. Like, you can continue your education ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:34.600 - 00:32:38.780

L.A.: there. You live at home. You save money.” Whatever. For him, he thought that the financial aid that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:38.780 - 00:32:40.870

L.A.: they were offering me was, a scam for the first year, and then the second year they would, like – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:40.870 - 00:32:42.960

A.S.: Oh, that it ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:43.460 - 00:32:43.900

A.S.: wouldn't be there. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:43.900 - 00:32:47.140

L.A.: Or that, like, they were going charge me everything after I finished college. So ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:47.140 - 00:32:54.220

L.A.: that's what he thought, and he wasn't understanding. Well, now he understands, but they – I mean, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:54.220 - 00:32:58.100

L.A.: they were just like – they would've been happy with whatever I chose to do. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:58.100 - 00:32:59.080

A.S.: Were they glad that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:59.080 - 00:33:01.540

A.S.: you were going be relatively close to home? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:01.540 - 00:33:03.420

L.A.: They were also glad about that, yes. They were happy ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:03.420 - 00:33:08.260

L.A.: about that. It was hard – I know it was like – even just, it's still – it's not far but, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:08.260 - 00:33:09.800

L.A.: I don't get to see them very often, but – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:09.800 - 00:33:10.720

A.S.: It's far enough, right? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:10.720 - 00:33:12.120

L.A.: It's far enough, yeah, but, like – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:12.120 - 00:33:15.860

L.A.: so that was a harder transition for me and also for them, too, but…. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:15.860 - 00:33:17.180

A.S.: Yeah. Do you want ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:17.180 - 00:33:22.240

A.S.: to talk about that, like what the move to, like, Baltimore was like for you and kind of the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:22.240 - 00:33:26.660

A.S.: first semester that you spent here? What was that experience like? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:26.660 - 00:33:29.880

L.A.: Yeah. I – it was so – there ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:29.880 - 00:33:34.680

L.A.: were so many adjustments which were so scary, and in a lot of ways I was uncomfortable, especially ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:34.680 - 00:33:40.060

L.A.: being away from my family, also adjusting to – even though the people here are wonderful, amazing, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:40.060 - 00:33:43.880

L.A.: just adjusting to that here. Like I said, I have a lot of friends ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:43.880 - 00:33:48.440

L.A.: that didn't go to college. So it's just very different, just very different people, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:49.400 - 00:33:56.640

L.A.: and adjusting to that was hard. But I had, like – it was definitely hard but I wasn't ever ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:56.640 - 00:34:02.180

L.A.: like, "I hate it here." I was always, like – I was learning something new every day. I was going – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:02.180 - 00:34:05.540

L.A.: and that's a big thing I really wanted to do freshman year, is that I didn't get really involved ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:05.540 - 00:34:10.980

L.A.: with organizations. I just like – I just wanted to explore. I just wanted to take everything in. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:12.060 - 00:34:15.740

L.A.: So, the fact that I was able to go to different events and, like, learn about ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:15.740 - 00:34:21.300

L.A.: different things and just, like – what else did I do freshman year? I just, like, got to – I just got to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:21.300 - 00:34:25.220

L.A.: explore so much and meet so many different people from different backgrounds and, like – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:25.660 - 00:34:28.440

L.A.: that are, like, interested in different things and pursuing different things. I don't ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:28.440 - 00:34:33.180

L.A.: know. That was just, like – that was just so incredible to me, and it still is to me today. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:33.180 - 00:34:33.820

A.S.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:33.820 - 00:34:34.980

L.A.: Yeah, so ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:34.980 - 00:34:38.520

L.A.: it was definitely not the easiest thing, especially my first year. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:39.220 - 00:34:45.440

A.S.: Did you meet any other, like, FLI first-gen students when you started or do any sort of, like, orientations ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:45.440 - 00:34:46.440

A.S.: and events with them? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:46.440 - 00:34:52.540

L.A.: Yeah, so I did preorientation with the CSC, the pre – not pre, the Hopkins ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:52.540 - 00:34:57.420

L.A.: Corps, and I met actually most of my friends through that, that I'm still friends with ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:57.420 - 00:35:02.740

L.A.: today, and a couple of us were FLI. Who's FLI in that? Yeah, a couple of us were FLI. There was a good ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:02.740 - 00:35:11.500

L.A.: amount of us who were FLI. So, I met quite a few FLI students, and I also just, I feel like – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:15.800 - 00:35:18.900

L.A.: there's a certain cultural element that – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:19.540 - 00:35:24.040

L.A.: if I see the way someone acts a little bit maybe and, like, they're a person of color, I can maybe be ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:24.040 - 00:35:27.860

L.A.: like, "Are you FLI?" And they're like, "Yeah, I'm FLI." It's like, "Hey!" You know, so I feel like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:30.160 - 00:35:35.040

L.A.: culturally there's kind of like a recognition that, like, even though maybe I wasn't ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:35.040 - 00:35:39.060

L.A.: in spaces with those people that through maybe going to events I was able to, like, connect ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:39.060 - 00:35:45.440

L.A.: with FLI students that was. I didn't have too much FLI connection, which I feel like would've ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:45.440 - 00:35:49.760

L.A.: been nice. I think there's a lot more programming set up for that now ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:50.540 - 00:35:56.160

L.A.: than there was my freshman year for FLI students to meet each other. I know ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:56.160 - 00:36:00.540

L.A.: there's Hop-In, which I just wasn't here over the summer, but otherwise I probably would've done ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:00.540 - 00:36:02.660

L.A.: that program and probably would've met a lot more FLI students. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:02.660 - 00:36:08.980

A.S.: Yeah. Did you, like – I guess, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:08.980 - 00:36:14.060

A.S.: you know, I like to also, like, ask students about the – this might – we might've already ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:14.060 - 00:36:19.680

A.S.: answered this with a cultural thing. But, like, did you notice a lot of differences in socioeconomic ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:19.680 - 00:36:24.140

A.S.: status, like, with other students? Was that something that was, like, apparent to you when you got here? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:24.140 - 00:36:30.260

A.S.: Because I'm always curious about, there's the Hopkins students that are here that clearly, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:30.260 - 00:36:35.520

A.S.: can pay for their Hopkins education or, their parents can or whoever can, and then there's the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:35.520 - 00:36:40.660

A.S.: students that are on financial aid. And I've seen, like, funny Tik-Tok videos where it's like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:40.660 - 00:36:45.700

A.S.: people ask students around campus if they know where the financial aid office is, and then some ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:45.700 - 00:36:50.420

A.S.: of them have no idea. And so I just wonder if that was, like, part of your experience, to kind of see ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:50.420 - 00:36:53.540

A.S.: that and see those – feel those differences at all. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:53.540 - 00:36:56.880

L.A.: Yeah. I feel like it's – compared to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:57.440 - 00:37:05.120

L.A.: other schools, it's a lot less visible here. But, like, there is still some ways. I remember ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:05.120 - 00:37:08.140

L.A.: one thing I noticed freshman year was the Canada Goose coats. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:08.140 - 00:37:09.200

A.S.: Oh, interesting. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:09.200 - 00:37:10.240

L.A.: Yeah, yeah. So, there's this – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:10.240 - 00:37:14.900

L.A.: I just noticed that everyone – like, not everyone, but a lot of people had these, like, big coats with this logo I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:14.900 - 00:37:19.100

L.A.: had never seen before. And I remember, like, asking. I was like, "What are those coats?" And ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:19.100 - 00:37:24.100

L.A.: then someone was like, "Oh, that's Canada Goose." And I was like, "Oh, yeah, dude. That's, like, crazy money." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:24.100 - 00:37:27.180

L.A.: And I was, like, "What?" And I remember looking it up and it was like $3,000.00 a coat and I was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:27.180 - 00:37:33.800

L.A.: like, "Oh, my God!" So that was something, like – that was one way I kind of noticed it. I think in some of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:33.800 - 00:37:40.880

L.A.: my classes, especially, like, as an IS student, there aren't that many FLI IS students. I think ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:40.880 - 00:37:47.820

L.A.: in my year there's like, three or four, there's very few of us. But I just notice a lot of people knew ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:47.820 - 00:37:54.200

L.A.: a lot about world politics or, like, had experiences that they could draw their comments back to in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:54.200 - 00:37:59.360

L.A.: class and they were freshman. And that's where I noticed the difference. And I was like, " ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:59.360 - 00:38:03.480

L.A.: Okay, well, these people have obviously been able to get internships or, like, have parents that are ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:03.480 - 00:38:07.820

L.A.: more familiar in the field and that have been able to provide them with knowledge about what ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:07.820 - 00:38:15.100

L.A.: we're learning about." And that made me feel like I was behind a bit, so I did – I struggled with a bit ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:15.100 - 00:38:25.060

L.A.: of – especially in my classes sometimes, with that, like, imposter syndrome. But I realized by my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:25.060 - 00:38:29.460

L.A.: sophomore year – because then I started picking up on the knowledge and, like, the – I don't know, the poli- ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:29.460 - 00:38:34.820

L.A.: sci talk, right? I started, like, understanding what that was by my sophomore year, junior year more ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:34.820 - 00:38:41.040

L.A.: so, and I started being able to use that language. And I started being able to draw on ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:41.040 - 00:38:45.380

L.A.: my experiences that I've been able to have through Hopkins and, like, internships and things like that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:45.380 - 00:38:51.500

L.A.: And you know, like, now I realize that it was just because I was not at the same ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:51.500 - 00:38:55.380

L.A.: place as them experience-wise and knowledge-wise doesn't mean that I wouldn't have been able to get ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:55.380 - 00:38:59.220

L.A.: there. We were just in two different spots. But I definitely struggled with that freshman year, and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:59.220 - 00:39:03.620

L.A.: that's where, like, the finance – that came up for me. I was like, "Okay, they're able to do that because ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:03.620 - 00:39:05.900

L.A.: they probably come from a wealthier family." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:05.900 - 00:39:11.780

A.S.: Mm-hmm, yeah, yeah, just that general exposure. So obviously ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:11.780 - 00:39:17.160

A.S.: you decided international studies, poli-sci maybe when you got here. So could you tell me a little ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:17.160 - 00:39:23.440

A.S.: bit more about, like, what you – how you chose that and what you feel will be valuable about it ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:23.440 - 00:39:24.340

A.S.: kind of moving forward? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:24.340 - 00:39:30.660

L.A.: Yeah, so I – now I'm international studies and sociology, and sociology ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:30.660 - 00:39:38.500

L.A.: is more of my focus. And I'm also – I'm a minor in Islamic studies and a minor in film ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:38.500 - 00:39:41.900

L.A.: studies so I've been taking a lot of film studies classes lately. But – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:41.900 - 00:39:45.640

A.S.: That's a lot. [Laughter] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:45.640 - 00:39:46.820

L.A.: Yeah, a little ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:46.820 - 00:39:52.420

L.A.: bit, but I'm – I really wanted that film studies minor. But ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:54.120 - 00:40:00.720

L.A.: I feel like for me coming in, I wasn't as pleased with IS as I thought I was going be. I thought ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:00.720 - 00:40:04.960

L.A.: it was going be a lot more people-focused. And I remember thinking – I thought that everyone that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:04.960 - 00:40:11.600

L.A.: went into poli-sci or IS wanted to help people. That was, like, my – kind of like it was – I just – I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:11.600 - 00:40:16.020

L.A.: didn't understand what the field was, right? Like, I didn't understand anything about academia ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:16.820 - 00:40:21.000

L.A.: at all. I was like, "Oh, yeah, all these people, they want to go in and they want to go work at nonprofits ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:21.000 - 00:40:26.120

L.A.: or, like, go work for the UN and, like, that's what the vibe here." But you know ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:26.120 - 00:40:31.120

L.A.: a lot of people have different reasons for liking politics, right? Like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:31.120 - 00:40:35.480

L.A.: some people just like the game of politics or, like, learning about – you know, so it's like – it's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:35.480 - 00:40:39.860

L.A.: very different and I realized that very early on, because I didn't meet a lot of people that were ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:39.860 - 00:40:46.540

L.A.: studying it, because, for me I saw, like, yeah, I've experienced a lot. I've seen a lot of my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:46.540 - 00:40:52.380

L.A.: friends or my peers or my community experience a lot of hardship because of global politics and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:52.380 - 00:40:56.780

L.A.: our global system and the way that that trickles down into the everyday life. And ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:56.780 - 00:41:00.860

L.A.: that wasn't the mindset that a lot of people had, especially coming in, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:00.860 - 00:41:04.820

L.A.: I think. Maybe some people have developed it because they've learned about it through class. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:05.380 - 00:41:09.660

L.A.: Yeah, so I just felt that disconnection there. And then I took “Issues in International ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:09.660 - 00:41:14.420

L.A.: Development” and I met a lot more people in that class that had a more similar mindset or, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:14.420 - 00:41:19.760

L.A.: that were studying – because sociology is a lot more people-focused whereas, like, poli-sci and, like – I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:19.760 - 00:41:26.900

L.A.: feel like a lot of IS classes are just like broad-range, institutional, nation-state focused, and I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:26.900 - 00:41:30.900

L.A.: just really loved the people-centered focus. And I thought that's what IS was going be, but ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:30.900 - 00:41:37.400

L.A.: I found that through sociology. And I just – I really – just even the questions that my sociology ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:37.400 - 00:41:41.280

L.A.: professor asked or, like, considered in our discussions compared to my IS classes, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:41.280 - 00:41:45.780

L.A.: they were people-centered. Like, our first question of the class, I remember, was like – oh, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:47.000 - 00:41:51.080

L.A.: it was "What is happiness?" Or no, not what is happiness, "What is" – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:53.220 - 00:41:59.820

L.A.: something along the lines of, like, “what makes a good life,” right? And, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:59.820 - 00:42:06.040

L.A.: people were saying, like, a good salary, a place to live, and I remember I had said “ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:06.040 - 00:42:10.100

L.A.: happiness.” And she was just very responsive to that. You know, so just being able to, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:10.100 - 00:42:14.920

L.A.: consider the more human sides of, like, study and academia, I really liked that. So ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:14.920 - 00:42:22.780

L.A.: I struggled a little – I didn't declare sociology then. I just was nervous about career prospects, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:22.780 - 00:42:27.840

L.A.: just like – especially during COVID. Just, like, I was worried about money a lot. I started to worry ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:27.840 - 00:42:33.480

L.A.: a lot about, like, my future with money. So I just kind of like – I put it off, and then I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:33.480 - 00:42:38.220

L.A.: declared officially end of my sophomore year, I think, or beginning of my junior year. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:38.220 - 00:42:39.900

A.S.: Yeah, it's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:39.900 - 00:42:45.240

A.S.: hard – that is always the question, right? What are you going do with that or, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:45.240 - 00:42:49.920

A.S.: what's your plan for your degree? So I think it's – when you're at the beginning of the program, it's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:49.920 - 00:42:56.740

A.S.: a little harder to kind of see the possibilities. Are there any professors or ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:56.740 - 00:43:01.840

A.S.: classes that you've found particularly, like, memorable or useful in your experience at Hopkins? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:02.500 - 00:43:08.200

L.A.: Yeah. I've taken a lot of questions with Homayra Ziad. She's actually, like, one of – I would ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:08.200 - 00:43:14.580

L.A.: say she is the faculty member that I'm closest to at Hopkins. She just has been a wonderful ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:14.580 - 00:43:20.440

L.A.: mentor for me. She's the Director of the Islamic Studies Department is her title ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:20.440 - 00:43:25.620

L.A.: and she's a lecturer here, but all of her students love her. She loves to connect with ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:25.620 - 00:43:30.900

L.A.: people individually and just, like, puts a lot of care into the material that she brings to the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:30.900 - 00:43:38.620

L.A.: class. She's very innovative with the way – like her pedagogy and she almost ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:38.620 - 00:43:44.140

L.A.: always has a community-based learning class. So at Hopkins – are you familiar with the community-based ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:44.140 - 00:43:45.380

L.A.: learning classes? Or? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:45.380 - 00:43:47.500

A.S.: Yeah, you can explain it for the record. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:47.500 - 00:43:48.920

L.A.: Okay. Yeah, but – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:49.800 - 00:43:54.480

L.A.: so basically, like, those classes are in partnership with, like, a community organization or they have, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:54.480 - 00:44:01.080

L.A.: like, a community focus. So, there's a lot more, like – there's a lot more incorporation of, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:01.080 - 00:44:06.240

L.A.: field trips or maybe, for example, with working with a Baltimore or local organization ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:06.240 - 00:44:14.200

L.A.: directly and, like, focusing the curriculum of that class to fit within that. And she's just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:14.200 - 00:44:19.900

L.A.: very big on doing that and connecting Hopkins students to Baltimore and to the work ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:19.900 - 00:44:26.980

L.A.: that's being done here, both, like, community organizing work, political work, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:27.860 - 00:44:32.200

L.A.: advocacy work, you know, things of that lens. She's just incredible. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:34.400 - 00:44:41.920

L.A.: I have a couple more, I feel like. Ryan Calder, he's my advisor. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:42.660 - 00:44:47.240

L.A.: He's also very caring and just, like, likes to connect with students as well and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:47.240 - 00:44:54.240

L.A.: just has, like, really helped me as a writer. And then I would also say, like, the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:54.240 - 00:44:59.420

L.A.: Center for Student Success, like Brent Fujioka and the folks out there, just have really ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:59.420 - 00:45:01.440

L.A.: been, like, a source of support for me. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:01.440 - 00:45:09.680

A.S.: Did you – for the community-based learning classes, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:09.680 - 00:45:14.960

A.S.: do you remember any of the, like, organizations that y'all worked with? Was it ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:14.960 - 00:45:21.460

A.S.: based – I was just kind of curious if it was based in the curriculum with Islamic studies. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:21.460 - 00:45:26.400

A.S.: So were they, like, Islamic groups, like community groups, or was it something different? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:26.400 - 00:45:29.000

A.S.: I mean, I don't know if the class was that explicit. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:29.000 - 00:45:33.540

L.A.: So, one of them was with a Muslim organization ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:33.540 - 00:45:39.760

L.A.: based out of DC called “Justice for Muslims Collective.” And we did oral histories of Muslims and, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:39.760 - 00:45:45.920

L.A.: like, Muslim organizers in the DMV area and their lives before and after 9/11 and, like, especially their ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:45.920 - 00:45:49.700

L.A.: organizing work and how that changed. So we worked directly with that organization. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:50.400 - 00:45:55.480

L.A.: In the other community-based learning class I took with her, we were working – our plan – because of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:55.480 - 00:46:00.680

L.A.: COVID, we didn't get to do it. Our plan was to work with Morgan State students that were also ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:00.680 - 00:46:07.360

L.A.: taking an Islamic studies course, I believe. And we were going work with, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:07.520 - 00:46:15.480

L.A.: the National Library something…. I'm forgetting exactly what the project was going be, but ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:15.480 - 00:46:20.040

L.A.: we had met with Morgan State students and that was -that was really cool. And I feel like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:20.640 - 00:46:23.360

L.A.: I wish I really could've done that, like continued with that, because I've never ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:23.360 - 00:46:27.860

L.A.: connected with another university in Baltimore like I did, like, in those first moments before ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:27.860 - 00:46:30.640

L.A.: COVID hit.. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:30.640 - 00:46:35.680

A.S.: Yeah, and the HBCU connection would have been really worthwhile. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:37.700 - 00:46:44.840

A.S.: Awesome. So what was your living situation like while you were at Hopkins? Were you doing ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:44.840 - 00:46:48.260

A.S.: dorm life, apartment life? What was that scenario for you? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:48.260 - 00:46:51.300

L.A.: Yeah, so I did dorm life my first year, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:53.140 - 00:46:59.760

L.A.: and then when I came back spring 2021, I lived off campus with a roommate, and we live in the same ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:59.760 - 00:47:05.160

L.A.: place. We still live together to this day, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:05.160 - 00:47:10.140

A.S.: Was that the – I guess was the experience ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:10.140 - 00:47:17.000

A.S.: living off campus a lot different than being on campus? Like, are you in a neighboring community? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:17.600 - 00:47:18.840

A.S.: What was that like for you? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:18.840 - 00:47:22.920

L.A.: Yeah, we both really wanted to be close to campus, so we live at ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:22.920 - 00:47:26.920

L.A.: the Marylander, which is on St. Paul Street, like North St. Paul Street, right near ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:26.920 - 00:47:34.520

L.A.: University Parkway. But I feel like the changes that I had – like, that was, like, really ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:34.520 - 00:47:39.960

L.A.: starting to live – I really felt like I was starting to live on my own. I learned to cook a lot more ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:39.960 - 00:47:45.660

L.A.: dishes, like home dishes when I moved. I just became, like, more aware of nutrition, I feel like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:45.660 - 00:47:50.300

L.A.: especially with FFC. It's just like a huge buffet and a bunch of stuff and, like, you don't ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:50.300 - 00:47:54.860

L.A.: know who's preparing it or how food is being prepared but, like – especially with COVID, like, I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:54.860 - 00:47:59.040

L.A.: wasn't going out or eating out. I was cooking at home. And I just, like, started ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:59.040 - 00:48:06.140

L.A.: realizing the value of, like – I feel like I started realizing the value of budgeting more, too, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:06.940 - 00:48:11.040

L.A.: at that point just because, a lot of my living expenses were already, like, covered within ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:11.040 - 00:48:19.240

L.A.: my scholarship at Hopkins, right? So, like, my sophomore year, I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:19.240 - 00:48:22.940

L.A.: started getting the stipend back, my refund from Hopkins so that I could afford for my living ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:22.940 - 00:48:28.580

L.A.: expenses and that was up to my discretion. So I feel like that was one thing that changed. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:28.580 - 00:48:34.400

L.A.: Also, like, I guess like the social aspect changed a bit, which was hard a little bit. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:34.400 - 00:48:39.400

L.A.: But, my roommate and I are – like, she's one of my best friends in the world, so that just – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:39.400 - 00:48:44.660

L.A.: she's always been a great support and, like, home is home and it feels great being there, so yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:44.660 - 00:48:52.860

A.S.: That's awesome. So I know that you're a pretty active personally obviously, and I'm kind of curious ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:52.860 - 00:48:59.760

A.S.: about, like, activities or groups, organizations that you joined when you were at Hopkins. I know ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:59.760 - 00:49:04.260

A.S.: there's, like, probably different leadership roles that you took on, so would you like to talk about ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:04.260 - 00:49:05.120

A.S.: that for a little while? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:05.120 - 00:49:08.980

L.A.: Yeah. I feel like I didn't get to do as much as I wish I could've ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:08.980 - 00:49:10.700

L.A.: while I was here. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:13.140 - 00:49:18.060

L.A.: I feel like I've been involved with things, but I haven't really – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:18.060 - 00:49:24.520

L.A.: I wasn't able to take as much leadership as I wish I could have here. I think a part of that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:24.520 - 00:49:29.600

L.A.: was because, I have, like – in the semesters that I've been at Hopkins, I still have been really ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:29.600 - 00:49:34.180

L.A.: involved with, like, the Mutual Aid work that I was doing back home, and I was still doing that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:34.180 - 00:49:42.260

L.A.: really heavily virtually, so that was a big part of it. But I also – COVID, the fact that, like, COVID, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:42.260 - 00:49:49.360

L.A.: like – I wasn't involved with any organizations really at Hopkins for, like, a good year. So ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:49.360 - 00:49:54.860

L.A.: that really put a damper in a things. But freshman year I was a part of the Freshman ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:54.860 - 00:49:59.540

L.A.: Fellows, which was hosted at the Sheridan Libraries. There's four different fellows. You're able to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:59.540 - 00:50:04.480

L.A.: do archival research for a full year on anything that they desire. So that was just a really – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:04.480 - 00:50:09.580

L.A.: that was a really, really great experience for me, and I researched the history of activism at ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:09.580 - 00:50:16.160

L.A.: Hopkins and had found one of the first Black students that attended Hopkins who was the only ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:16.160 - 00:50:24.040

L.A.: undergrad at the time that was involved in racial justice organizing. And I got to meet him and do ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:24.040 - 00:50:28.060

L.A.: an interview – oral interview with him actually right before – I think the week before we got sent ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:28.060 - 00:50:35.200

L.A.: home for COVID. So my plan was to make that a larger project, but that's where it ended up – it ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:35.200 - 00:50:39.140

L.A.: just ended up being on that one person, his name was Donald Perry. There's actually an oral history ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:39.140 - 00:50:46.300

L.A.: of him as well in the Hopkins Archive. But freshman year I was also involved with – what was I involved ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:47.020 - 00:50:48.280

L.A.: with freshman year? Sorry, I have to take a moment. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:56.820 - 00:50:58.960

A.S.: I think the BSU? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:58.960 - 00:51:00.560

L.A.: The BSU? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:00.560 - 00:51:03.420

A.S.: Yeah. The – were you a part of the BSU or ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:04.320 - 00:51:07.700

A.S.: part of – I know you also helped with – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:07.700 - 00:51:17.540

A.S.: what was that lecture series in Shriver Hall where you had an environmental activist come? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:18.720 - 00:51:22.140

L.A.: No, no. Ah, I remember now. I was involved with the Hopkins Votes. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:22.140 - 00:51:24.500

A.S.: Oh, okay. Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:24.500 - 00:51:25.460

L.A.: I was involved with Hopkins Votes. So, I was doing a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:25.460 - 00:51:32.220

L.A.: lot of, like, trying to get people registered, especially ahead of 2020, just getting people ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:32.220 - 00:51:35.560

L.A.: a little bit more involved, especially on the local end. I was doing a lot of tabling. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:35.560 - 00:51:43.400

L.A.: That was a big thing. I do remember another thing. I was involved with “United We Dream,” ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:43.400 - 00:51:49.520

L.A.: which is not an organization out of Hopkins, but it's a national organization that fights ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:49.520 - 00:51:54.000

L.A.: for rights for undocumented people. And that's just something that means a lot to me, especially 'cause ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:54.000 - 00:51:57.720

L.A.: I have a lot of close friends that are undocumented, have family that are ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:57.720 - 00:52:03.560

L.A.: undocumented, like I mentioned earlier. But I was doing some organizing work on campus for that, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:03.560 - 00:52:08.280

L.A.: so the big thing – so I was just like, first off, just trying to get people on campus signed ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:08.280 - 00:52:12.020

L.A.: up with United We Dream and tapped into their, like, petitions and their organizing ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:12.020 - 00:52:17.340

L.A.: work. And the big thing that I helped organize was a Hopkins cohort of people going to the, like – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:17.340 - 00:52:22.420

L.A.: being, like, the Hopkins branch of United We Dream on campus and, like, going to support ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:22.420 - 00:52:26.860

L.A.: the national protests in DC. So, there was about 20 of us, and I coordinated rides and Jimmies and, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:26.860 - 00:52:31.880

L.A.: like, I helped, like, oversee the – so we had, like, different waves of people going at ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:31.900 - 00:52:37.540

L.A.: different times, so I helped coordinate leaders at each time. So that was a big thing that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:37.540 - 00:52:44.120

L.A.: I worked on. And then I worked with the Office of Multicultural Affairs for a little bit on ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:44.120 - 00:52:50.900

L.A.: just, – not, like, direct – it was informally. It was just, like, about spaces for undocumented ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:50.900 - 00:52:57.020

L.A.: folks on campus and resources. And I was working on that once COVID hit, which then, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:52:58.800 - 00:53:04.240

L.A.: stifled a lot. I was also involved with the Muslim Student Organization but just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:04.240 - 00:53:11.660

L.A.: attending events and getting to know people. Yeah, nothing too – I can't remember anything ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:11.660 - 00:53:17.720

L.A.: else right now, but I think that was all at the time. I just wanted to be very ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:17.720 - 00:53:21.680

L.A.: chill, and I attended a lot of meetings of, like, different things. I just wanted to get to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:21.680 - 00:53:28.420

L.A.: know the campus and get to know people. Oh! I was part of the Baltimore Collegetown Network, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:28.420 - 00:53:36.300

L.A.: which they hosted a class here at Hopkins, and it was a class from students all across Baltimore. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:36.300 - 00:53:39.800

L.A.: So, it was really awesome. There was only, like, three Hopkins students in the class. I was one of the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:39.800 - 00:53:45.640

L.A.: youngest people in the class. And we got to learn a lot about Baltimore, and part of our – so ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:45.640 - 00:53:49.640

L.A.: it was, like, a year-long project and the class was the first semester, and then for the second semester ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:49.640 - 00:53:56.980

L.A.: we worked on a community project, and we – my group was working ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:53:56.980 - 00:54:05.160

L.A.: on workforce development. So that's what I was, like, supporting with. So that was, like, a big ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:05.160 - 00:54:08.620

L.A.: part of the work that I was doing freshman year, too, and that was, like – that was more of a commitment ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:08.620 - 00:54:13.500

L.A.: as well. And I just got to learn so much through that, yeah. That's all I can remember right now. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:13.500 - 00:54:17.920

L.A.: I feel like I was just involved with things, but I wasn't in leadership ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:17.920 - 00:54:21.600

L.A.: at that point. I was just, like, very chill, getting to know the campus, getting to know people. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:21.600 - 00:54:22.760

A.S.: Yeah. I feel ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:22.760 - 00:54:27.500

A.S.: like it's – you put your head to the ground, like this idea of just, like, kind of always knowing ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:27.500 - 00:54:32.880

A.S.: what's going on a little bit, you know, from different communities and different types of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:32.880 - 00:54:37.400

A.S.: people. It's a good way to kind of like have a college experience where ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:38.000 - 00:54:42.100

A.S.: you know what's going on for everybody as opposed to just your one little group. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:42.100 - 00:54:44.860

L.A.: Yeah, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:44.860 - 00:54:46.300

A.S.: So, did ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:46.300 - 00:54:52.360

A.S.: you do any work while you were here, like internships or work any – do any jobs in between semesters? Do you ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:52.360 - 00:54:53.340

A.S.: want to talk about those? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:54:53.340 - 00:55:00.060

L.A.: Yeah, so I did an internship the past two summers. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:01.080 - 00:55:10.300

L.A.: Yeah, so, my sophomore year I was a TA, so I got paid for that. But I think that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:10.300 - 00:55:15.080

L.A.: was the only semester-long work that I did. My parents are very big, like, even growing up – like, I wanted ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:15.080 - 00:55:19.000

L.A.: to work. They're very big on not working when I'm going to school and they're like, "We don't care. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:19.000 - 00:55:23.560

L.A.: Like, if you need extra money, like, we will give it to you. Like, don't work. You can work when ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:23.560 - 00:55:28.280

L.A.: you graduate." So, they were very big on, like – they just, like, did not want me to have to worry. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:28.280 - 00:55:34.240

L.A.: They wanted me to be able to explore while I was here. So I didn't take too many, like, jobs ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:34.240 - 00:55:38.900

L.A.: during the – like, I think that was one of the two jobs that I took over the semester and it was very ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:38.900 - 00:55:46.040

L.A.: chill. Right now I'm – I write notes for students and I have, like, three classes, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:46.040 - 00:55:50.920

L.A.: like, for the SDS. I don't know, the – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:50.920 - 00:55:55.040

A.S.: The Student Disability Services or something? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:55.040 - 00:55:56.660

L.A.: Yeah, so I'm like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:55:56.660 - 00:56:07.260

L.A.: a notetaker for those for some classes. But for internships, I did – my sophomore year I did an ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:07.260 - 00:56:14.040

L.A.: unpaid internship with Maryland PIRG, and it was all virtual. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:17.100 - 00:56:20.440

L.A.: And – did I get funding for that to be able to do that or did I get credit? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:23.960 - 00:56:24.960

L.A.: I don't remember. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:24.960 - 00:56:26.580

A.S.: What is Maryland PIRG? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:26.580 - 00:56:30.380

L.A.: It is the Public Interest Research Group. So they ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:30.380 - 00:56:35.820

L.A.: do different, like, advocacy, research and, like statewide Maryland issues. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:36.320 - 00:56:40.900

L.A.: When I was doing work with them, a lot of what I was participating in was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:41.720 - 00:56:46.580

L.A.: the – motivated or, like, doing work around the passing of the Student Voter Empowerment Act – the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:46.580 - 00:56:51.040

L.A.: Student and Military Voter Empowerment Act. So I was doing actually, like, some ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:51.040 - 00:56:56.060

L.A.: virtual organizing on campus, well, not on campus but at the school for that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:56:57.700 - 00:57:01.340

L.A.: And that was my first internship, yeah. I think I might've gotten funding ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:02.300 - 00:57:06.120

L.A.: to be able to do that. I don't remember. Or, like, I got funding over the summer, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:08.660 - 00:57:13.460

L.A.: something like that. But then the last two internships, they were over the summer. I worked ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:13.460 - 00:57:19.240

L.A.: at Democracy International through the DEI Collective, the Diversity, Equity, and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:19.240 - 00:57:23.820

L.A.: Inclusion Collective that was started here at Hopkins, I think two years ago to help ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:25.200 - 00:57:29.860

L.A.: students of color and FLI students to help them get internships. So it's an international ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:29.860 - 00:57:35.040

L.A.: development organization focused on democracy and they were based out of Bethesda. That was a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:35.040 - 00:57:39.620

L.A.: really enriching experience. I got to learn more about the development world, and I felt like I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:39.620 - 00:57:44.660

L.A.: kind of learned that I didn't know – I didn't really think I wanted to go into it from that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:44.660 - 00:57:48.100

L.A.: But the people I worked with were really wonderful and, like, they paid us for our work. And ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:49.000 - 00:57:54.020

L.A.: also I got funding to do, like, mutual aid work that summer as well on the side, which ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:57:54.020 - 00:58:01.000

L.A.: was really, really amazing. And then last year I worked at Wide Angle Youth Media ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:01.000 - 00:58:04.440

L.A.: which is based here in Baltimore. It's actually right on North Howard Street, about a 20-minute ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:04.440 - 00:58:11.500

L.A.: walk from campus south. And I did that through the Community Impact Internship program, which ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:11.500 - 00:58:15.740

L.A.: is hosted at the Center for Student Concerns here at Hopkins, which was a really, really ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:15.740 - 00:58:21.160

L.A.: great experience. I got to know, like, my peers a bit better. There's a lot of FLI students that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:21.160 - 00:58:27.840

L.A.: do the program, so just got to get to know more FLI kids at Hopkins, which was really wonderful. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:29.880 - 00:58:34.580

A.S.: Cool. I'm going go ahead and stop this for a second since we're right about an hour. [Pause in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:37.000 - 00:58:43.760

A.S.: audio] Okay, so we just finished talking about sort of internships and those experiences. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:44.380 - 00:58:49.040

A.S.: Obviously, like, some of that might've happened during summer or breaks, but were there any things ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:49.040 - 00:58:55.820

A.S.: that you did I guess during summer or break that you want to mention? I know you also had ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:58:55.820 - 00:59:00.860

A.S.: the opportunity to do a semester abroad, so maybe if you want to elaborate a little bit more on that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:01.500 - 00:59:08.580

L.A.: Yeah, so my breaks, like, I guess – like, intersession, you mean? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:08.580 - 00:59:09.620

A.S.: Yeah, intersession, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:09.620 - 00:59:16.580

A.S.: yeah, if you took classes or, I don't know, how you kind of used that time. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:16.580 - 00:59:17.000

L.A.: Yeah. For intersession ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:17.000 - 00:59:26.960

L.A.: I took a class my freshman year. My sophomore year I took two classes over intersession. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:27.820 - 00:59:37.040

L.A.: And then this year I took one class. So just, like, I really – I liked the intersession classes, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:37.040 - 00:59:42.360

L.A.: they're just, like, very chill, you get to learn about something really niche. I learned about my first ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:42.360 - 00:59:46.700

L.A.: year – I really love art, so I took a modern art class and we got to visit different Baltimore ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:46.700 - 00:59:48.010

L.A.: museums. It was part of the B'More program I think that they have for freshman. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:48.010 - 00:59:49.760

A.S.: Fun! ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:49.760 - 00:59:50.640

L.A.: I think that's what ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:50.640 - 00:59:59.160

L.A.: it's called. And then my sophomore year I took a class, and – one of the professors – both of them ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:59:59.160 - 01:00:03.320

L.A.: were really great. One of them, she's one of the best professors – I had her for a week; I would say ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:03.320 - 01:00:07.920

L.A.: she's one of the best professors I've ever had. Like, and you can just tell – I could just tell from – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:07.920 - 01:00:11.660

L.A.: like, all of us could tell from that first week. Unfortunately she's no longer at Hopkins. She's at ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:11.660 - 01:00:18.900

L.A.: Michigan. But her name was Ashley Cureton – really incredible, really kind. And the insurrection ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:18.900 - 01:00:23.500

L.A.: actually happened during our class, and just the way that she handled that was incredible. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:23.500 - 01:00:26.900

L.A.: The other class I took was on Muslim mental health, which was really, really interesting. And ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:26.900 - 01:00:31.760

L.A.: the professor was a – I believe she's a PhD candidate at the School of Public Health, or ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:31.760 - 01:00:37.220

L.A.: maybe by now she's already gotten her PhD. But the class that I just took was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:37.220 - 01:00:42.860

L.A.: Cryptography Through the Ages. The professors were both really nice, just very chill, a virtual class. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:43.780 - 01:00:52.000

L.A.: So I've only taken one intersession class in person. And then spring breaks have just been ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:52.000 - 01:00:59.520

L.A.: very – spring breaks and winter breaks have just been very chill. My freshman year I got the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:00:59.520 - 01:01:05.600

L.A.: chance – I got funding to be able to shadow an international organization in Jordan for a week, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:05.600 - 01:01:08.960

L.A.: which was a really, really cool experience, especially during that time I thought I was going go into ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:08.960 - 01:01:15.980

L.A.: the international world. So we got to, like, go shadow the work that they do with Syrian and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:15.980 - 01:01:23.880

L.A.: Palestinian refugees. My freshman year I was supposed to go on the Center for Student ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:23.880 - 01:01:30.880

L.A.: Social Concerns alternative spring break. The past two years have just been ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:30.880 - 01:01:36.040

L.A.: very chill, just hung out with friends during my breaks, just like taking the time to rest. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:37.180 - 01:01:43.260

L.A.: And then I studied abroad this past semester, fall of 2022. I studied abroad in Amsterdam in the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:43.260 - 01:01:46.860

L.A.: Netherlands, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:46.860 - 01:01:52.240

A.S.: So, what was the program there like? Were you full time ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:52.240 - 01:01:56.480

A.S.: taking classes? Were you able to travel a little bit? What was it like to be in Amsterdam? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:56.480 - 01:01:57.420

L.A.: Yeah, so ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:01:57.420 - 01:02:02.160

L.A.: if it was my choice, I wouldn't have taken full-time classes. I did end up taking full-time ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:02.160 - 01:02:10.580

L.A.: classes. But I was very much, just living. My goal going there – my focus was not school. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:10.580 - 01:02:15.140

L.A.: I did make sure that I put effort into school, but I wanted to go experience the Netherlands ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:15.140 - 01:02:19.340

L.A.: and I wanted to go and just like – I wanted to travel. I'd never gotten the opportunity to travel ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:19.340 - 01:02:25.460

L.A.: before, like, beyond the US or my only travel growing up was going to Morocco and seeing ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:25.460 - 01:02:31.440

L.A.: family, but it was to see family, not to actually, like, see the world. So, I got to travel a lot ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:31.440 - 01:02:37.020

L.A.: actually, which is really, really cool. I'd saved up a lot of money, so, like, the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:37.020 - 01:02:40.180

L.A.: past couple years I'd been saving so that I would be able to, like, go abroad and, like, really ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:40.180 - 01:02:46.380

L.A.: just, like, live and, that's another thing that comes back to I feel like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:47.140 - 01:02:53.960

L.A.: how much Hopkins has been able to provide me. I got, like, full – like, housing, everything covered, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:53.960 - 01:02:58.900

L.A.: and then I got a stipend, like a generous stipend. It was also because of my financial aid, right, but, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:02:58.900 - 01:03:05.320

L.A.: like, the stipend that usually would be going towards paying my rent I got to use as, like, my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:05.320 - 01:03:10.360

L.A.: living expenses, which was just eased so much for me and, like, eased so much worry that I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:10.360 - 01:03:16.100

L.A.: had had going into it. So I was able to travel. I was able to use my savings and, like, still ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:16.100 - 01:03:20.020

L.A.: have a little bit left over for this semester just for living expenses, which was really nice. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:21.920 - 01:03:23.540

L.A.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:23.540 - 01:03:24.780

A.S.: So, where all did you go? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:24.780 - 01:03:28.060

L.A.: I went to – so I really wanted to go to Switzerland. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:28.460 - 01:03:32.060

L.A.: I wanted to go hiking. I didn't care about anything – I just wanted to go hiking through the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:32.060 - 01:03:37.980

L.A.: nature! So, I, like, didn't really know people very well. I met a couple of – I had a couple of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:37.980 - 01:03:41.960

L.A.: friends that I got really close with, but none of them really were into hiking or really wanted to go. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:41.960 - 01:03:46.620

L.A.: So, I was like, "Okay, I'll just tap into my program and see if anybody wants to go." And I ended up ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:46.620 - 01:03:52.860

L.A.: coordinating with these two other girls who I became good friends with. And we planned our ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:52.860 - 01:03:56.460

L.A.: trip and we went to Switzerland. We ended up not hiking in Switzerland. We hiked in France because ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:03:56.460 - 01:04:01.820

L.A.: it was cheaper and also still beautiful. So we went to Chamonix. It was really, really cool. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:01.820 - 01:04:05.800

L.A.: And one of the girls knew someone who lived in a town nearby so we got to stay with her and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:05.800 - 01:04:10.460

L.A.: had, like, a really French experience and, like, her parents, it was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:10.460 - 01:04:15.620

L.A.: kind of like we were, like, hosted. It was really, really nice. And then ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:17.720 - 01:04:21.900

L.A.: I realized – like, at first, I thought I was going travel with friends a lot. But I realized ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:21.900 - 01:04:26.620

L.A.: a lot of people – especially the friends that I made – again, like, I was friends with people – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:26.620 - 01:04:31.400

L.A.: there were a lot of people who were very, very, very, very wealthy in the program. Like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:33.160 - 01:04:34.620

L.A.: I knew a billionaire in the program. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:34.620 - 01:04:35.300

A.S.: Wow. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:35.300 - 01:04:37.080

L.A.: Like, that is – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:38.820 - 01:04:43.520

L.A.: here it's not obvious, this I think, goes to, like, speak to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:43.520 - 01:04:48.500

L.A.: what I was saying earlier, that other schools, the wealth disparity is much more obvious than it ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:48.500 - 01:04:53.940

L.A.: is here. Here I know people who are apparently very wealthy here, but if you look at them, you ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:53.940 - 01:04:57.740

L.A.: wouldn't think. Or, like, if you – just the way that they act, you wouldn't think that they are, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:04:57.740 - 01:05:02.900

L.A.: you know, like, just very humble. Like, I know someone who's very wealthy who dresses in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:02.900 - 01:05:06.380

L.A.: very similar clothing all the time, like, just very humble, down to earth. Like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:07.520 - 01:05:11.300

L.A.: there, it was the complete opposite. It was like a lot of people in my program were very wealthy. A lot of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:11.300 - 01:05:16.280

L.A.: them were traveling every weekend, like, ate out all the time. So it was, like, very obvious. So ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:16.280 - 01:05:20.900

L.A.: for me, my friends that I made didn't really want to travel too much, and they were like – they were saving ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:20.900 - 01:05:25.860

L.A.: their money more towards Amsterdam experiences, just because I had budgeted differently. So I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:25.860 - 01:05:29.240

L.A.: didn't really, like, have close friends to travel with, and at first I was like, "Ah, I need people to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:29.240 - 01:05:35.000

L.A.: travel with." But then I was like, "I'll just go on solo trips." So, I went to Ireland. It was my first solo ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:35.000 - 01:05:42.580

L.A.: trip ever. I went to Dublin and then I went to Galway – really, really cool. Yeah, I just, like – just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:42.580 - 01:05:48.760

L.A.: I read, like, Sally Rooney, who's an Irish author and, like, I just felt so safe there and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:48.760 - 01:05:53.820

L.A.: just so welcomed and they were so nice. And then I was going do a solo trip to Italy, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:53.820 - 01:05:59.120

L.A.: but I ended up convincing my mom to come and meet me. So we met in Milan, which was, like, the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:05:59.120 - 01:06:03.800

L.A.: craziest experience ever. And we met outside the train station. She's like, "I can't believe I'm meeting my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:03.800 - 01:06:09.440

L.A.: daughter at – who" – she just, like – again, like, we didn't travel growing up, you know? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:09.440 - 01:06:15.800

L.A.: Like, it wasn't in the budget, right, like, a lot, for a big chunk of our life. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:15.800 - 01:06:21.800

L.A.: Getting to Morocco was already hard enough. Like, thankfully, like, now, my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:21.800 - 01:06:27.040

L.A.: parents – you know what I'm saying? Like, we're not – we used to be, like, very low- income, about maybe, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:27.880 - 01:06:32.720

L.A.: seven to ten years ago. You know, now my dad – it's not as ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:32.720 - 01:06:39.360

L.A.: much. So it's like we're not struggling as much as we were, right? But you ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:39.360 - 01:06:44.100

L.A.: know, like for her, it was just a very surreal moment. Like, I am with my daughter in Milan, in Italy ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:44.100 - 01:06:48.080

L.A.: right now. And, like, it was so great, because I didn't expect her to come. I just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:48.080 - 01:06:52.920

L.A.: threw it out there 'cause she's a very humble woman. My mom doesn't really like material things ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:52.920 - 01:06:56.860

L.A.: very much, she just likes experiences and nature and just, like, being in her home and reading ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:06:56.860 - 01:07:02.080

L.A.: and things. But when I told her I was going go – sorry – I just want to talk about this ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:02.080 - 01:07:03.880

L.A.: for a second. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:03.880 - 01:07:03.930

A.S.: I love it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:03.930 - 01:07:07.480

L.A.: When I told her, I was like, "Yeah, I booked a ticket to Italy." And she was like, "Oh, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:07.480 - 01:07:11.000

L.A.: you should really to go that Lake Como. Like, I saw videos on YouTube about that That looks ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:11.000 - 01:07:15.140

L.A.: really beautiful." And I was like, "Yeah, Mama, I've already – like, I'm planning to go. I'm just, like, looking for, like" – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:15.140 - 01:07:20.420

L.A.: I already had it planned out, dah, dah, dah. And I was like, "You and Lena should come," my sister, my younger sister. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:20.420 - 01:07:25.580

L.A.: And she was like, "What? Crazy." And I looked up tickets and they were really cheap, because it was, like – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:25.580 - 01:07:30.500

L.A.: I went in, like, October, so the weather wasn't, like, ideal at that time, so the tickets were really ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:30.500 - 01:07:35.140

L.A.: cheap. And she had a place to stay – we organized it where she came back to Amsterdam ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:35.140 - 01:07:35.520

L.A.: with me. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:35.520 - 01:07:36.160

A.S.: Oh, cool. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:36.160 - 01:07:42.860

L.A.: She had a place to stay, right? Funny enough, the billionaire that I did know ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:42.860 - 01:07:46.880

L.A.: was my roommate, but because she was a billionaire she was able to find her own place. So, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:46.880 - 01:07:51.200

L.A.: thankfully with, like – otherwise if that wasn't the case, my mother wouldn't have been able to stay ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:51.200 - 01:07:56.440

L.A.: with me, right, because I would've had a roommate. But – yeah, so we got to do that. She came ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:07:56.440 - 01:08:01.240

L.A.: back with me to Amsterdam. Her sister lives in Belgium. A lot of Moroccan people, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:01.240 - 01:08:06.500

L.A.: they, like, live in Europe. Sorry, I ranted a bit about that, it just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:06.500 - 01:08:13.320

L.A.: made me so excited. But yeah, I went to Italy and then went to Belgium. That was my first time in Belgium. I got ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:13.320 - 01:08:21.240

L.A.: to see my aunt. My grandma was in town. I got to see my uncle; it was very nice. And then I went to – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:22.280 - 01:08:25.640

L.A.: I have a cousin who lives in the south of France. I went to the south of France. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:26.180 - 01:08:35.800

L.A.: And then I went to Barcelona, and I think that was it. Yeah – no, wait, yep, that was it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:36.920 - 01:08:38.120

L.A.: Yeah – sorry, that was a bit long. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:38.120 - 01:08:41.120

A.S.: No, I love it. I think it's really – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:42.120 - 01:08:46.540

A.S.: it brings you a little full circle to have that experience with your mom, too. I think that's really – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:46.540 - 01:08:49.050

A.S.: it was probably really special for her. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:49.050 - 01:08:49.280

L.A.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:49.280 - 01:08:54.060

A.S.: So that touches a little bit on, like, your support ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:54.060 - 01:08:58.080

A.S.: system while you were at Hopkins, but I wonder if you could tell me a little bit about, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:08:59.340 - 01:09:04.400

A.S.: your relationship with your family in your time here. Like, did you guys stay super close? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:04.400 - 01:09:10.440

A.S.: And then also, like, how did you – what kind of support system did you develop here, like, other ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:10.440 - 01:09:14.220

A.S.: than your family, I guess, you know, a network of friends, if you want to kind of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:14.220 - 01:09:15.340

A.S.: elaborate on that? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:15.340 - 01:09:21.340

L.A.: Yeah. So, I'm still very, very close to my family. Like, my mom, my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:21.340 - 01:09:30.060

L.A.: sister, and my dad, they mean the world to me. I think in some ways, those relationships got ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:30.060 - 01:09:33.820

L.A.: closer. I think part of that is because I've grown up more and I understand my parents a lot more ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:33.820 - 01:09:40.360

L.A.: than I used to. But they're always, like, a support for me, like in my personal – I'm very open. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:40.360 - 01:09:46.360

L.A.: My mom and I, we have some differing views on the world at times and, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:46.360 - 01:09:53.340

L.A.: the ways that I live my life, you know? But she's always been, like, very supportive, and I just, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:53.340 - 01:09:57.980

L.A.: like, can openly talk with her about anything that I'm struggling with, same with my sister. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:09:58.780 - 01:10:03.300

L.A.: So yeah, just very close there, they've always been a support for me. And then just like at school, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:03.300 - 01:10:10.080

L.A.: I have, like, really, really amazing close friends that I've had consistently. Like, I just, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:10.080 - 01:10:15.900

L.A.: genuinely have – like, was a big thing for me, too, is, like, coming in to freshman year, I noticed ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:15.900 - 01:10:19.920

L.A.: that a lot of people – like, of course it's a big transition, so people, they just were, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:19.920 - 01:10:24.500

L.A.: trying to find people and, like, just stick together with them. So for me, I, like, really just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:24.500 - 01:10:30.540

L.A.: didn't want that. I wanted to develop, like, genuine friendships with people. So even though ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:30.540 - 01:10:35.940

L.A.: I'd met a lot of my friends initially, I had taken a bit of a step back when I started school because ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:35.940 - 01:10:40.000

L.A.: I was like, "I want to be able to meet all the people and just, let me see who I really want to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:40.000 - 01:10:44.040

L.A.: be friends with and who I really connect with genuinely and, like, who I think is, like, a person ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:44.040 - 01:10:51.000

L.A.: that I admire and, like" – and I ended up coming back to those people. They were just wonderful ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:51.000 - 01:10:55.520

L.A.: people. And I think it also speaks to, like, the fact that they wanted to spend their first week ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:10:55.520 - 01:11:00.280

L.A.: before coming to Hopkins doing service work, was also, like, a part that spoke to that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:01.200 - 01:11:06.820

L.A.: But yeah, just had, like, a really strong – I feel like I can trust them and rely on them. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:08.440 - 01:11:12.760

L.A.: I've had a boyfriend for the last two and a half years and he's the most wonderful ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:12.760 - 01:11:19.080

L.A.: human ever. He's a big support for me, too. So I met him my sophomore year through one of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:19.080 - 01:11:27.240

L.A.: my friends. Yeah, I just feel friend-wise very supported. Network-wise, like, the Center for Student ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:27.240 - 01:11:32.380

L.A.: Success has been, like, a really big support for me. There were some folks at the Office of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:32.380 - 01:11:35.680

L.A.: Multicultural Affairs, especially my freshman year, that were a big support. Like Rezwana she ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:35.680 - 01:11:43.020

L.A.: doesn't work here anymore, but she was wonderful. Also, like, faculty, Dr. Ziad, like, a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:43.020 - 01:11:50.040

L.A.: huge support, especially, like, as a Muslim woman in, like, an academic space. She just has been able ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:50.040 - 01:11:57.160

L.A.: to provide so much insight for me, both personally and in my professional path ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:11:57.160 - 01:12:02.440

L.A.: as well. Yeah, I just feel – I've been able to connect with the right people so, like, even if ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:02.440 - 01:12:07.840

L.A.: I have run into any issues with a student or a professor or, like, with anything in my personal ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:07.840 - 01:12:10.320

L.A.: life, I've had people that I can rely on. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:10.320 - 01:12:13.920

A.S.: Yeah, you've been able to navigate those situations. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:14.900 - 01:12:20.060

A.S.: So, I guess we talked about it, like, financially, and I think you did mention some ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:20.060 - 01:12:23.720

A.S.: of the programs, but I just wanted to see if there was anything else you wanted to add about, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:23.720 - 01:12:28.480

A.S.: feeling supported as a first gen student here at Hopkins. I know that's, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:29.300 - 01:12:35.260

A.S.: just something – I’m just curious. It sounds to me, from your reflections, that you did feel supported, but ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:35.260 - 01:12:39.180

A.S.: I don't know if there's anything else that you would add to that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:39.180 - 01:12:41.280

L.A.: I'm a part of the Kessler ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:41.280 - 01:12:47.200

L.A.: Scholars program here, and that started my sophomore year, and – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:47.200 - 01:12:51.240

L.A.: excuse me. So it's run out of the Center for Student Success, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:12:52.360 - 01:13:00.540

L.A.: and that's a big part of how supported I've been able to feel, not just, like, personal support ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:00.540 - 01:13:07.540

L.A.: but also financially. So part of being a Kessler Scholar, you get a stipend to pursue a, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:08.040 - 01:13:14.620

L.A.: summer internship every year, and now I believe it's up to $5,000.00, which is – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:18.340 - 01:13:23.920

L.A.: that can change so much for a person. It just changed so much for me ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:23.920 - 01:13:28.920

L.A.: and it, like, really allowed me – I was able to continue doing – I was able to do a lot more organizing work ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:28.920 - 01:13:35.560

L.A.: over my summers, like, with Mutual Aid because of that funding. So ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:36.240 - 01:13:38.460

L.A.: that was a big part of it, I would say. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:38.460 - 01:13:41.040

A.S.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:41.040 - 01:13:42.840

L.A.: The financial support is so important, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:42.840 - 01:13:46.540

L.A.: so, so important. And I'm just really thankful that I was able to be a part of the program, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:46.540 - 01:13:47.340

L.A.: I still am. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:47.340 - 01:13:55.540

A.S.: Yeah. [Clears throat] Excuse me. I didn't ask you explicitly, but could you explain the, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:55.540 - 01:13:58.180

A.S.: like, Mutual Aid work that you do? Like, what does that mean? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:13:58.180 - 01:14:00.900

L.A.: Yeah, so ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:00.900 - 01:14:08.840

L.A.: the organization is called Prince William County Mutual Aid, and we support people – we do organizing work ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:08.840 - 01:14:18.260

L.A.: on youth detention most specifically and policing, but a big focus of our work is ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:18.260 - 01:14:25.540

L.A.: support in the community, like support services, so like with food, groceries, mutual Aid ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:25.540 - 01:14:30.660

L.A.: requests for, like, formerly incarcerated folks or just, like, people in the community ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:30.660 - 01:14:35.280

L.A.: that can't get resources, like, through the government or at local feed ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:35.280 - 01:14:39.680

L.A.: pantries that just need that extra bolster of support. We've also been able to provide, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:39.680 - 01:14:42.260

L.A.: financial support for folks, like being able to crowdfund for, like, medical bills, rent, utilities. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:42.260 - 01:14:44.840

A.S.: Cool. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:47.500 - 01:14:54.760

L.A.: Yeah, yeah. I haven't given the Mutual Aid description spiel in a long time, so ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:54.760 - 01:14:59.120

L.A.: that's not the most refined. But that's a gist of the work that we've done. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:14:59.640 - 01:15:05.760

A.S.: Yeah. I mean, I think it's, like, kind of filling the gaps, right? So, like, filling in for, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:07.580 - 01:15:14.400

A.S.: like, things that the government or, like, other services and things – like healthcare and things ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:14.400 - 01:15:19.320

A.S.: that are, like, lacking, right? I guess, you know, kind of just – filling – plugging in the holes, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:19.320 - 01:15:23.360

A.S.: filling in the gaps for people who need help, so that makes a lot of sense. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:23.360 - 01:15:24.680

L.A.: And especially with – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:24.680 - 01:15:31.060

L.A.: I had mentioned we have a lot of undocumented folks in our county. So of course, like, everyone who ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:31.060 - 01:15:36.780

L.A.: is documented in the US got a stipend but they did not, so that was a big gap that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:36.780 - 01:15:38.380

L.A.: we were trying to support with – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:38.380 - 01:15:38.840

A.S.: For COVID you mean? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:38.840 - 01:15:44.860

L.A.: For COVID, yeah, the COVID stipend. Yeah, so those folks didn't get support from the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:44.860 - 01:15:51.580

L.A.: government, so that's a huge community that we serve. And we have about, like, half of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:51.580 - 01:15:56.980

L.A.: our organizers speak Spanish, so being able to, like – and a lot of the people we supported were sole ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:15:56.980 - 01:16:02.720

L.A.: Spanish speakers. And at the time my Spanish was much better, not as much anymore because I haven't ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:02.720 - 01:16:07.960

L.A.: been doing that. I haven't done that work directly in, like, a year, but…. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:07.960 - 01:16:13.500

A.S.: Yeah, very cool. So – let's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:13.500 - 01:16:19.740

A.S.: see. I know there are a couple of, like, historic moments that happened while you were here, and I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:19.740 - 01:16:21.810

A.S.: think if I'm remembering correctly you were also here during the Garland sit-in, maybe? No? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:21.810 - 01:16:23.890

L.A.: Uh-uh. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:23.890 - 01:16:25.960

A.S.: Ah, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:25.960 - 01:16:32.560

A.S.: it was the year before you started. So are there any, like, historical moments or things, like, that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:32.560 - 01:16:36.880

A.S.: happened in Baltimore while you were here that you want to mention or talk about? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:39.220 - 01:16:46.420

L.A.: I was home at the time, but while I was a student at Hopkins, the 2020 election, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:46.420 - 01:16:52.160

L.A.: that was a huge stress. Like, I remember not even – I remember feeling like I couldn't even do work ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:16:54.880 - 01:17:01.980

L.A.: during – yeah, that was huge. And I feel like there had been so much buildup up ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:01.980 - 01:17:08.360

L.A.: until it. And like I had said, my freshman year I was doing a lot of, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:09.220 - 01:17:15.720

L.A.: voting work, getting people registered. You know, and that was, like, in part – of course it's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:15.720 - 01:17:19.500

L.A.: something that I believe, that everyone should vote even if they don't vote – everyone ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:19.500 - 01:17:24.920

L.A.: should, like, turn in a ballot, even if they say, "I'm not voting for anyone." And that was, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:24.920 - 01:17:29.580

L.A.: like, of course motivated by the 2020 election but also by, like, the fact that I think, like, people ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:29.580 - 01:17:33.040

L.A.: should be voting in all elections, in, like, local elections. So, I feel like it's ground zero. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:33.040 - 01:17:39.240

L.A.: Like, it's not – you know, there's much more we can do as well, but yeah. What else has happened ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:39.240 - 01:17:46.940

L.A.: while I've been at Hopkins? Brandon Scott became mayor while I was here, and I know that, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:48.100 - 01:17:52.040

L.A.: that was a really huge election and there was a lot of interesting stuff going on with the mayoral ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:52.040 - 01:17:58.140

L.A.: race with certain candidates. And I know a lot of people in the community, because I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:17:58.140 - 01:18:01.820

L.A.: think he's the youngest mayor of Baltimore ever, or maybe, like, the youngest mayor – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:01.820 - 01:18:02.720

A.S.: Generally. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:02.720 - 01:18:03.220

L.A.: Generally, or ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:03.220 - 01:18:07.620

L.A.: something, yeah. And a lot of people had a lot of hope with him. And I know that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:08.340 - 01:18:12.080

L.A.: there has been some issues, especially with the private police force where, like, he hasn't been ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:12.080 - 01:18:16.840

L.A.: 100 percent on. But I know he's helped a lot of people in a lot of ways. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:16.840 - 01:18:18.380

A.S.: Yeah, do you want to take a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:18.380 - 01:18:25.440

A.S.: minute to talk about the private police or anything – like, your reflections on that process here at ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:25.440 - 01:18:25.800

A.S.: Hopkins? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:25.800 - 01:18:33.380

L.A.: Yeah. I've been, like, tapped in to what's going on. I've helped ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:33.380 - 01:18:40.640

L.A.: out with some organizing against the private police force. I'm not, like – not very, very much – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:43.740 - 01:18:50.640

L.A.: yeah, I think a lot of people – because there's moments in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:50.640 - 01:18:53.900

L.A.: organizing where there's, like, the high moments and the lower moments, and I think we're just – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:53.900 - 01:18:57.440

L.A.: the past couple years have been, like, the lower moments. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:57.440 - 01:18:59.540

A.S.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:18:59.540 - 01:19:01.580

L.A.: Yeah, I can't speak too, too much ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:01.580 - 01:19:06.580

L.A.: to it just because I haven't, like – I was never involved with organizing ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:07.260 - 01:19:12.300

L.A.: as, like, a leader within it. I was more of a participant and, like, doing more collaboration ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:12.300 - 01:19:13.540

L.A.: work than anything. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:13.540 - 01:19:20.200

A.S.: Yeah, and it has been paused technically for most of the pandemic, so ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:20.200 - 01:19:26.000

A.S.: you know – but now it's moving forward. So that makes sense. There wasn't a whole lot of movement ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:26.000 - 01:19:33.960

A.S.: while you were here as a student. So is there anything that you want to add about, like, living ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:33.960 - 01:19:40.300

A.S.: in Baltimore, you know, what that experience is like for you or – I don't know – what it's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:40.300 - 01:19:41.560

A.S.: been like to live in the city? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:41.560 - 01:19:43.060

L.A.: I'm going miss it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:43.060 - 01:19:43.480

A.S.: Yeah? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:43.480 - 01:19:46.840

L.A.: I'm going miss it. Especially during ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:46.840 - 01:19:50.680

L.A.: COVID – Because there wasn't really anything else to do, I got to explore the city a lot more. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:50.680 - 01:19:55.320

L.A.: So my roommate and I and, like, the few friends that we had on campus, we'd rent Zipcars and just, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:19:55.320 - 01:20:01.580

L.A.: like, go to different neighborhoods all the time. My favorite neighborhood ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:20:01.580 - 01:20:05.940

L.A.: in Baltimore is Highlandtown. I love Highlandtown so much, and I just, like, love the Patterson ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:20:05.940 - 01:20:10.220

L.A.: Park area. So we got to go down there quite a bit and just walk around, and even though we weren't ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:20:10.220 - 01:20:14.720

L.A.: doing anything specifically, like, we got to walk around and there was a bakery that was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:20:14.720 - 01:20:23.780

L.A.: down there that we loved and we got baked goods there, yeah. I mean, I love Baltimore. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:20:23.780 - 01:20:30.120

L.A.: I think it's just, like, such a dynamic city. Like, I saw a kid a couple weeks ago, like, 9:00 p.m. at night ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:20:31.120 - 01:20:35.240

L.A.: riding his bike and it didn't have a front wheel. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:20:35.240 - 01:20:36.140

A.S.: But he’s standing it up? Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:20:36.140 - 01:20:37.380

L.A.: Standing it up! Like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:20:38.120 - 01:20:44.160

L.A.: you're incredible, my gosh. You know, just like people make it work here and, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:20:44.820 - 01:20:50.780

L.A.: it's just a really beautiful city, and I'm glad I've gotten to know it. I know a lot ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:20:50.780 - 01:20:56.100

L.A.: of the neighborhoods, I've been, like, tangentially, like, connected in some way, shape, or form with a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:20:56.100 - 01:21:01.360

L.A.: couple of organizations in the city. I've been tapped in, like, not ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:21:01.360 - 01:21:07.180

L.A.: directly into the politics, but like, I'm tapped into what's going on locally. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:21:11.060 - 01:21:14.760

L.A.: Yeah, I can't think of anything else right now. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:21:14.760 - 01:21:18.240

A.S.: Are you – so what – I guess it sounds like you're ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:21:18.240 - 01:21:22.720

A.S.: not staying in Baltimore, but what are your plans for the future? What are you doing after Hopkins? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:21:23.680 - 01:21:30.360

L.A.: Yeah. So, I've not been officially accepted yet, but I got accepted into the Coro ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:21:31.120 - 01:21:35.340

L.A.: Fellowship for Public Affairs and I'm going be at the New York City branch. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:21:35.340 - 01:21:38.380

A.S.: Okay, fantastic. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:21:38.380 - 01:21:41.460

L.A.: Yeah, so I'll be doing that for the next – well, starting in September – nine months. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:21:41.460 - 01:21:46.980

A.S.: Okay, very cool. So you'll get to move to New York after all, I guess. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:21:46.980 - 01:21:48.340

L.A.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:21:48.340 - 01:21:49.360

A.S.: Awesome. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:21:49.920 - 01:21:55.440

A.S.: So, do you have, like, a plan after that or are you kind of going see how that goes and then ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:21:55.440 - 01:22:01.280

A.S.: kind of make a decision I guess, like, job applying, or do you know what type of job you want? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:22:01.800 - 01:22:06.320

L.A.: Yeah, I don't know. I don't know yet completely, I have some ideas. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:22:07.920 - 01:22:13.000

L.A.: I would like to come back to school. I really – I love to learn, and I'm really going miss ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:22:13.000 - 01:22:20.560

L.A.: the school so much, so – ugh, so much, just being in the classroom, just being, like, around ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:22:20.560 - 01:22:25.580

L.A.: knowledge, like the lectures that are going on, the different speaker events. Like, I just – that's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:22:25.580 - 01:22:31.100

L.A.: something I'm going miss a lot. So I will definitely come back to school, whether it be for a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:22:31.100 - 01:22:37.340

L.A.: Master's, or if it's in the plan, a PhD, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:22:37.340 - 01:22:39.580

A.S.: I could easily see you doing that. [Laughter] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:22:39.580 - 01:22:41.420

L.A.: Oh, no, we'll see. We'll see ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:22:41.420 - 01:22:47.920

L.A.: what works. But I am considering more of a PhD now, just because I just – I love the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:22:47.920 - 01:22:50.620

L.A.: university space. Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:22:50.620 - 01:22:53.040

A.S.: Yeah, it might help you get back here faster. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:22:53.040 - 01:22:54.860

L.A.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:22:54.860 - 01:22:57.280

A.S.: So, I guess there's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:22:57.280 - 01:23:05.220

A.S.: just a couple of last questions for you, and one I think is kind of implicit in your answers. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:23:05.220 - 01:23:09.500

A.S.: But would you recommend Hopkins to other first gens and is there any, like, advice that you would ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:23:09.500 - 01:23:11.680

A.S.: give to them if they choose this path? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:23:11.680 - 01:23:15.280

L.A.: Yeah, I would. I think especially from ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:23:15.280 - 01:23:19.520

L.A.: experiences from other people that I've heard who are first gen at other universities, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:23:22.900 - 01:23:27.940

L.A.: here you will find your people. And even if they don't come from the same ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:23:27.940 - 01:23:33.220

L.A.: socioeconomic background as you, like, there are, like – a lot of my friends, like – not a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:23:33.220 - 01:23:36.320

L.A.: lot. I would say half of my friends do not come from the same socioeconomic background from me, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:23:36.320 - 01:23:42.200

L.A.: but they are, like – they are down with what I believe in, like, support me, love me, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:23:42.800 - 01:23:47.040

L.A.: we share, like, very, very similar – like, especially core values. We share the same core ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:23:47.040 - 01:23:53.980

L.A.: values. And you'll find, like, people who just, like, want to – even especially as someone who comes ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:23:53.980 - 01:23:57.740

L.A.: from the humanities and the social sciences, like, there's wonderful, wonderful people here, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:23:58.320 - 01:24:03.160

L.A.: and there's just so much support that's available, a lot of money, so much money in this school, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:24:03.160 - 01:24:07.240

L.A.: whether it's through Center for Student Success, whether it's through the Life Design Lab, the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:24:07.240 - 01:24:12.320

L.A.: research grants. There's money here. So the support goes beyond personal support, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:24:13.080 - 01:24:18.740

L.A.: there's also financial support, so much of it. Yeah, I would recommend it. I'd recommend it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:24:18.740 - 01:24:23.400

L.A.: I think this school, like, genuinely changed my life. There are so many issues with Hopkins, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:24:23.880 - 01:24:31.740

L.A.: right? It's unfathomable. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:24:33.280 - 01:24:38.560

L.A.: I was able to go, like, spend a semester abroad, like, traveling the world and, like, learning ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:24:38.560 - 01:24:44.280

L.A.: through experience. Like, but yeah, I wouldn't have been able to do that if it wasn't for Hopkins. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:24:46.140 - 01:24:50.820

L.A.: And, I don't – I feel like slightly conflicted because I know this school ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:24:50.820 - 01:24:55.380

L.A.: has, like, inflicted a lot of harm upon a lot of people and, like, I'm very privileged to be able ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:24:55.380 - 01:25:00.960

L.A.: to say that Hopkins has benefited me, right? Like – but yeah, I just see it – it's, like, opened ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:25:00.960 - 01:25:04.540

L.A.: up so much for me, yeah, and it's going continue opening doors for me, too. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:25:04.540 - 01:25:07.020

A.S.: Yeah, I think ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:25:07.020 - 01:25:13.440

A.S.: it's – you said it very eloquently. I think it's hard to have that dichotomy of harm that it has ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:25:13.440 - 01:25:20.180

A.S.: caused for others, but then, you know, the opportunities that you've been awarded just because of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:25:20.180 - 01:25:27.400

A.S.: getting into the programs that you have. But it's also about your hard work, right? So is there ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:25:27.400 - 01:25:32.240

A.S.: anything else that you want to, like, reflect on about your time at Hopkins, any sort of like ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:25:32.240 - 01:25:39.480

A.S.: closing thoughts to summarize your time here, just like reflections that you have? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:25:45.760 - 01:25:52.020

L.A.: I'm really glad I got to explore, and I'm still doing that. I'm, like, acting in, like, a play in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:25:52.680 - 01:25:57.760

L.A.: two weeks, like, just very, like – I've just been able to, like, grow and push myself. And ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:25:59.680 - 01:26:03.440

L.A.: I hope to be able to continue to do that. That's my goal, to be able to continue to push ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:26:03.440 - 01:26:08.360

L.A.: myself and challenge myself and give myself new experiences all the time throughout my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:26:08.360 - 01:26:12.800

L.A.: life. But Hopkins has been just, like, so fundamental in allowing me to grow and, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:26:13.420 - 01:26:15.940

L.A.: become the person that I am today. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:26:15.940 - 01:26:22.100

A.S.: Awesome. Well, I think that's a great point for us to end, and I just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:26:22.100 - 01:26:26.440

A.S.: want to thank you again for doing this interview and kind of reflecting on your time here. I really ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:26:26.440 - 01:26:29.600

A.S.: appreciate it and feel like I've learned a lot from you, so thank you. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

01:26:29.600 - 01:26:29.650

L.A.: Thank you, Allison. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Yep. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠