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Young lady

 

Zaira Martin (2018 Cohort) (NMSU BA Government, Spanish, Anthropology and Gender & Sexuality Studies, 2021; starting her MA in Anthropology at NMSU in Fall 2021).

“Participating in the Research Experience for Undergraduates on Immigration and Border Communities was meaningful to me on an academic and personal level. As a lifelong fronteriza, I was appalled by the injustices happening in my own back yard, affecting my community and affecting my people. This experience was also my first exposure to academic research. This experience helped me understand research and craft my own ideas into a project. I have been able to shift and integrate some the concepts of REU project to fit my undergraduate thesis which has served as a foundation to research as I transition into graduate school.”

Young lady

 

Ava MCElhone Yates (2019 Cohort) (Vassar College, NY, BA History 2021). Coordinator for Research and Pedagogy of the Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement and Education (CFMDE).

“The REU program allowed me to expand my knowledge of immigration and border community policy while learning research skills and methods that have greatly impacted my own path and development as a student. The emphases on participatory-action research and documentation were crucial to our understanding of the material and to our ability to thoughtfully reflect on positionality and space, especially for those of us learning these research and advocacy techniques within a limited time frame in a community that was new to us.”