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Perla Flores
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Perla Aurora Flores is a graduate student in the Masters of Public Health program at San Francisco State University as well as the Program Director of the Associated Students’ Women’s Center on campus. She is also an alumna from UC Berkeley and graduated in 2009 with an emphasis in Spanish Language and Bilingual Issues and Pre-Health. Perla was fortunate to have much support and guidance during her academic pursuits as an undocumented undergraduate, and in turn was able to focus on her studies and extracurricular activities. As a co-founder of Rising Immigrant Scholars through Education (RISE) at UC Berkeley in 2006, she was able to catalyze the urgent conversation that administrators, faculty and staff at UC Berkeley started in regards to the treatment and extreme lack of resources that undocumented students had during that time. Perla became very active there advocating for support, empowerment and visibility for undocumented students in the Bay Area by co-organizing the first, second and third annual “Reaching Our Dreams” Conferences and supporting the new RISE leadership by returning as a speaker and workshop leader in later years, emphasizing how far the undocumented student movement has come maintaining the focus on the present and future stability of undocumented students in academia. Perla is proud to dedicate her current culminating experience project, the capstone/thesis of her master’s degree, to the undocumented student organizing community by focusing on identifying and evaluating the kinds of support offered by various community and/or non-profit organizations aiding the current student immigration movement, specifically assisting undocumented youth and young adult organizers who have grown up in the United States. She believes that by writing about the undocumented student community and not forgetting where she comes from, it will empower many to get involved and do the same in their own communities.