University of Redlands
Montserrat PinedaMontserrat came to the University of Redlands from her hometown of North Long Beach. Her family immigrated to the United States from El Salvador, and her mom was particularly influential in instilling in Montserrat a commitment to serving her community.
From the beginning of her time at the University of Redlands, Montserrat has been involved in activities both on and off campus. In Long Beach, she interned for the mayor and Congressional representative. She worked as a policy analyst on issues related to healthcare and immigration. In response to the increase in ICE raids, Montserrat helped to create a resource webpage that was translated into Spanish, Khmer and Tagalog. She has also volunteered at the Long Beach Center for Economic Inclusion, with their food distribution efforts.
On campus, Montserrat has been a participant and mentor in the STEP program for first generation students. She has served as Diversity and Activism Chair for WRW. This year, her big project was working on Bulldog Votes. She met with 20 FYS seminars to help educate them on the importance of voting. She helped to register voters as part of the California Ballot Bowl, and the University of Redlands won the prize for colleges in our category. All of this work is related to her major in Political Science.
As one of her nominators writes, “Monserrat invests so much into making campus better for her peers and future generations of students. I admire her, and her commitment and drive inspire me to do better for my community. Every academic and extracurricular venture exemplifies her passion for the liberation of marginalized students. Monserrat works hard for marginalized students but does it in a way that any student can feel welcome and encouraged to join the effort. She balances important and safe spaces for marginalized students as well as uplifting collaborative spaces for students of all backgrounds to work together and learn from each other.”
We are pleased to award the 2021 Jacob Green memorial Prize to Montserrat Pineda. Congratulations!
Keith Osajima, Ph.D.
Professor
Chair of the Race and Ethnic Studies Program
