Personal Involvements | Amelia Parker

OTTER CROSS CULTURAL CENTER

The Otter Cross Cultural Center (OC3) is CSUMB's resource and identity center and works under the Otter Student Union to provide both physical and supportive spaces for students to engage in dialogue and advocacy concerning issues of social justice, inclusivity, and diversity.

I have been working with the OC3, in some capacity or another, since the first semester of my freshman year. Currently, I work as a student coordinator in the Center and, as the Intern Development Student Coordinator, I facilitate, develop, and direct the OC3's Internship Program. I currently manage six interns and, this semester, they are learning event planning and facilitation skills by each holding their own event and supported by the OC3. Their topics include a seminar on labor unions, bias in the media, first-generation student empowerment, microaggressions and micro affirmations in the workplace, and an accountability workshop.

In September of 2020, I lead our first Social Justice Dialogue of the semester titled Election 2020: A Call To Action When Democracy Is At Risk where I facilitated discussion on voter suppression and political apathy and the potential impact on the November general election.

Before the summer of my senior year, the OC3 went through a transitional period in which myself and two other student coordinators stepped into the leadership roles that our previous professional staff and director had occupied. We successfully were able to open the center in the fall semester, maintain our signature programs, and continue to provide a safe and open space for students on campus.

The OC3 has not only supported me academically and allowed me to gain the confidence to excel in my many roles on campus, but it has also allowed me to grow so much as a person. My advocacy is more intersectional, inclusive, and impactful each semester I spend working within the OC3. I am exposed to theory and material that both compliments what I learn in my courses and challenges my ideas of academia and the role advocacy can have in a classroom. The connections I have been able to form with my coworkers are relationships that teach me every day the importance of compassion and empathy.

ACLU

When I made the connection between the fight against systems of oppression and politics at the ACLU’s Summer Advocacy Institute, I knew I needed to be an activist. The presenters’, lawyers’, and other sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds’ stories inspired me into my own political advocacy. Advocacy requires parties to be well informed about the multidimensional and complex issues we face today and many challenges stem from a lack of education. With my activism, I fight against political indifference, as it is a reflection of privilege or ignorance.

Both of the ACLU Summer Advocacy programs I attended taught me the importance of taking advantage of local, national, and international resources as well as learning from the path taken by powerful agents of change who work for what they believe, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Greta Thunberg. Their inspiring dedication and effective approaches provided me a broader perspective which often provides me with a new mindset and drives to engage in issues I had always cared about: equity, social justice, and valuing others’ viewpoints. Upon returning to my high school, I joined the school newspaper and wrote about issues I already enthusiastically talked about: such as environmental concerns of our city and student views on gun control. During my senior year, I was selected as a committee member for a school-wide walkout in response to the Parkland shooting. The nationwide effort asked participants of the walkout to take fifteen minutes of respect. However, our interpretation was not respectful silence, but respectful action by encouraging students to call representatives directly and advocate for the changes they wanted to see.