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Yoshi Mendez
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At 15 years old, Yoshi left her rural community in Mexico and began a new life in California. After high school she attended Skyline Community College where she was an E4FC Immigrant Student Ambassador, gaining the knowledge and confidence she needed to resurrect P.O.D.E.R. (emPower Ourselves to Demand Educational Rights), the campus immigrant student support group. She then transferred to UC Berkeley as a Sociology major. She is now a leader of Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action (BOCA), a liaison to Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALSC, Women Active in Letters and Social Change), and an ambassador of the Chicana Latina Foundation Broadband Project. This summer Yoshi was selected as a Marco Firebaugh Scholar (named in honor of the late CA Assembly member who authored AB 540), where she collected field research for the first time. Ultimately, Yoshi wants to obtain a PhD in Counselor Education so she can motivate other students to pursue higher education.