In Their Words: Jessica Chuidian-Ingersoll

Name: Jessica Chuidian-Ingersoll

Department: Community Studies

What Award/ Scholarship did you receive? Dean’s Undergraduate Award for Social Sciences

College: Merrill College

What year do you expect to graduate? 2018

Where do you call home? Sacramento, CA

With all of the choices for college, what made UC Santa Cruz stand out? The program offerings, research opportunities, and historical legacy as a university grounded in activism sparked my interest in attending UCSC.

What is your field of focus? Housing justice, 20 th century social histories in the United States.

What do you hope to do once you graduate fromUC Santa Cruz? I would like to go to law school and study public interest law, with an emphasis on eviction defense. I would also like to continue organizing around housing, labor, etc.

What is one memorable moment that stands out for you as a student here? Being able to conduct research as part of Steve McKay and Miriam Greenberg’s No Place Like Home Project was a definite milestone in my academic career. At the time I entered the course, I knew that I was angry about housing insecurity but did not know how or where to direct my energy. Being able to both conduct research and be a participant in the community through one-on- one interaction with residents was something that propelled me into all my (then) future decisions, especially my 6-month field study with Tenants Together, an organization that I became acquainted with through the program. I spent a long time doing independent study with Mckay, and I am inspired by the organizing that this research inspired!

What is your one piece of advice for incoming students about life at UC Santa Cruz? Going into a university, it is hard to know what your passion is and what you want to pursue for the rest of your life. This is doubly difficult when entering an institution like UC Santa Cruz, where there are thousands of people and hundreds of programs that seem overwhelming to many students who just came out of high school or who have not been in such an academically rigorous context before. I would encourage students to explore as many possibilities as they can and not be afraid to ask questions. It took me so long to figure out what I wanted to do, but because I pursued the things that were important to me – activism, community, and history—I eventually found all the doors that I needed to open.

How will this scholarship impact your academic life /research? I feel like this award validates my writing and research ability, and I have a lot more confidence in pursuing similar work. It has inspired me to work harder on my senior thesis for my History major and look for other research opportunities in the future.