Democracy Camp

Mia Alexa Verdin (she/they)

Mia Verdin is a second year undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, studying Urban Studies and Ethnic Studies. She was born and raised in the city of Santa Ana, CA to immigrant parents from the Mexican states of Zacatecas and Querétaro. As the first in her family to attend university, she is a proud first-generation student. She is passionate about advocating for social justice, as well as promoting civic engagement and education within her community; especially among other young people. She discovered this passion...

Ariana Berumen is a first generation Latinx student at UC Berkeley. Ariana grew up in San Martin, CA, but now lives in Gilroy, CA. Ariana is a senior double majoring in Sociology and Spanish with an Education Minor who is ambitious to continue to learn in order to better understand how to make a difference in the world. Growing up, she faced educational injustices of only knowing Eurocentric knowledge that oftentimes made her feel like people of color do not have the capability of succeeding and attaining a college education....

David Carranza was born and raised in Los Angeles by immigrant parents from Central America. As a child, his parents instilled in him the value of education and hard work and he aspired to go to college, however, as a teenager, David struggled to cope with the emotional trauma of growing up in an abusive household and his father being habitually incarcerated. Although he excelled in high school, he gravitated toward gangs and during his senior of high school was sentenced to life in prison. While incarcerated he found healing from his past and pursued his dream of going to...

Peter Coe is a third-year undergraduate studying Political Science and Public Policy at UC Berkeley. He is currently rebuilding the UC Berkeley SunRise Movement Club to leverage membership to motivate local and national politicians to champion environmental policies. The Sunrise movement is a "movement of young people to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs" by fighting for the Green New Deal. As a member of the Partners in Health Engage advocacy team, Peter advocates for policies (such as Medicare for All) to reduce health inequity. On a state level, Peter wants to...