Rebekah Mata Rebekah is a proud Longhorn who is double-majoring in the interdisciplinary honors program Plan II and Consulting and Change Management with a minor in Anthropology. She enjoys involvement in extracurricular activities that are reflective of her numerous interests. She impacts students on her campus as part of the Pearson Campus Ambassador program.On-campus she is also an active member of The University Management Association, and Hillel, the center for Jewish campus life. This summer she participated in coalition building trip to Israel with Jews and Latinas from campuses across the nation and is excited to continue working to bring a Latino and Jewish Coalition to campus.
Celeste Orta Celeste a is a rising sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin and majoring in International Relations and Global Studies with an Emphasis on the Economy in Latin America. Last spring, she interned for her Congressman Charles Gonzalez in his San Antonio, TX office. Celeste is currently Vice-President of League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC),and involved in organizations such as, Longhorn Scholars and Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA). This past summer Celeste was involved in the National Hispania Leadership Institutes's Latina Learning to Lead Program which helps foster the development of young college women. NHLI gave her the opportunity to travel to Israel where she was part of a coalition between Latinas and Jews from UT and throughout the United States and learned the importance of building a coalition.
Sonia Alvarez Sonia Alvarez is a third year student at the University of Texas pursuing a degree in Social Work. Passionate about bridging services and educational resources to minorities and at-risk populations, Sonia has interned with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and mentored/tutored through Casa Maraniella. Adventurous and with a love for dance, Sonia also enjoys engaging in cultural exchanges with international students on campus and learning new languages. Sonia studied abroad in Spain last summer and hopes to keep traveling the world to expand her cultural competence and gain a greater understanding of world relations.
Debbi is a senior at the University of Texas at Austin with a double major in Plan II honors and anthropology. She is pursuing minors in communication and Jewish studies. Debbi will be writing her Plan II senior thesis on how the foods and cooking methods of biblical Israel have impacted the current culinary world. She is actively involved at Texas Hillel as a student executive cabinet member as well as the Campus Entrepreneur Initiative Professional Advisor. Debbi is an avid baker and loves making delicious treats for anyone wishing to indulge.She also enjoys travelling and most recently visited Israel with a group of Jewish and Latino girls as part of the David Project’s Building Jewish-Latino Bridges on Campus program. Using the knowledge gained on this trip, Debbi looks forward to teaching other UT students the importance of coalition building between Jews and Latinos.
Tammy is a freshman in architecture at UT Austin who has spent a wonderful first semester at Texas, keeping busy with her major and her involvement In various Jewish groups on campus such as Hillel and the Texas chapter of Alpha Epsilon Phi. She also has had the pleasure of going on a trip to Israel this past summer with a group that began to explore the idea of forming a coalition between Jews and Latinos leading to the development of the LJSC on campus today.
Carol PeralesCarol is a senior at the University of Texas at Austin.. She will be graduating May 2012 with a Bachelors of Art in Sociology and American Studies, with a minor in Psychology. Carol is currently a member of Kappa Delta Chi Sorority, Inc. a service organization dedicated to helping the Hispanic community and developing sisterhood and leadership. She volunteers with the UT Freshman Admission Center, SHARE and Hometown recruitment program on campus. She is also a member of the National Hispana Leadership Institute and was fortunate enough to participate in the Latinas Learning to Lead Program as well as the Building Latino-Jewish Bridges Program. Through these programs she was able to travel with other Latina and Jewish women from across the country to Washington D.C. and Israel. This semester these UT women became the co-founders of the Latino and Jewish Student Coalition, a new student organization on campus.
Melissa Macaya Melissa Macaya is a senior at the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in Latin American Studies Honors and Multimedia Journalism with a minor in Government. Melissa serves as the Spanish editor of the Student Journal of Latin American. She has undertaken additional leadership roles on campus as a Vice-President of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and Vice-President of the UT National Association of Hispanic Journalists Chapter. Melissa also studied abroad in Spain and conducted field research on censorship in Havana, Cuba. After graduation, she plans on pursuing graduate education and a career that mixes her love for journalism and Latin American affairs.