In Their Words: Sarah Cameron

Name: Sarah Cameron

Department: Community Studies

What Award/ Scholarship did you receive? Dean’s Award for Social Science Undergrad Thesis

What year do you expect to graduate? Spring of 2018

College: Rachel Carson

Where do you call home? Loleta, California

With all of the choices for college, what made UC Santa Cruz stand out? With its balance of theory, praxis, and reflection, the UCSC Community Studies Program stood out to me as space to develop myself as an thoughtful and intentional community organizer, outside of elite academic spaces.

What is your field of focus? My major in community studies and minor in education allowed me the freedom to create an academic program tailored to my specific interests and passions. I emphasized adult literacy and language justice among immigrant and refugee communities.

What do you hope to do once you graduate from UC Santa Cruz? I am currently working as a Community Organizer and adult English Language educator for newly arrived refugees in the agricultural community of Twin Falls, Idaho.

What is one memorable moment that stands out for you as a student here? The opportunity to complete a six month field study, working full time and on the ground in refugee education was undoubtedly the most educational and important part of my time at UC Santa Cruz.

What is your one piece of advice for incoming students about life at UC Santa Cruz? Unless you have a very specific job that requires a college education, or there is a very specific field of study that you are passionately and ravenously interested in learning everything about, drop out while you can. Go do the work you want to do. Figure out what it actually means to work in your field at the entry level. Find out what you’re good at, and then, if it still feels important in a few years, come back to school. I absolutely loved my major, but if I started college today, I would have studied something different, or at least with different intentions. Resist the educational industrial complex and just go and do the work. It is way too much money to spend without direction.

How will this scholarship impact your academic life /research? The process of writing my thesis allowed me the opportunity to challenge myself and the status quo of my professional field. I believe that writing my thesis has made me a better educator. This award is a very flattering recognition of the work that I did, and the thoughtfulness with which I approached my analysis.