Got a Girl Crush x Dynamic Girls: Karina Rodriguez
Dynamic Girls is a non profit youth development program, focused on connecting girls from socioeconomically underserved communities with brands and leaders in the creative industries. Dynamic Girls offers opportunities through mentorship, classroom learning, job placement and college admissions services.
Learn more about Dynamic Girls’ programs, opportunities for mentorship and partnership, and other ways to get involved at www.dynamicgirls.org
In Spring 2020 Got a Girl Crush partnered with Dynamic Girls and New Village Girls Academy on a student-driven publishing class led by Got a Girl Crush’s Editor-in-Chief and Dynamic Girls’ Program Director, Meg Wachter. Below we present an interview conducted by a participating New Village Girls Academy student.
Interview by Maria Munoz-Rivera
Karina Rodriguez
The person I decided to interview is my sister, Karina. She’s currently attending UCSC. She’s the first girl at New Village Girls Academy who has been accepted to UC Davis and received a blue and gold scholarship. She’s a third year at UC Santa Cruz. She’s currently majoring in environmental studies and education minor. She’s determined to finish school and make her family proud.
Maria Munoz-Rivera: What was the process of applying and getting into different colleges? And, what made UC Santa Cruz your final choice?
Karina Rodriguez: I’m not so sure, since it has been 3 years ago I’ve applied to. Each year it only gets harder to get accepted. SAT scores matter, but what also matters are extracurricular activities; clubs, sports, and more. What made me choose UCSC was the scholarship I was given, financial aid, played a huge role since I didn’t want to be in debt after college.
Maria: Is your field male based? How does it make you feel?
Karina: Yes, my field is male based. Mostly white male. It makes it harder for me because when I’m in class there’s rarely any latinas and it’s hard to find people alike to me in my major, environmental studies and education minor.
Maria: Have you ever experienced being discriminated against for your race, gender, skin color?
Karina: I heard that in my department there has been a PH student that made a racist comment against chinese people. And, there’s a professor that has made comments about reverse racism and it exists. When I was at her office I experienced this girl trying to get her signature to declare her major and she wouldn’t. And, the girl was a latina.
Maria: What year are you in and how has your experience been throughout college?
Karina: I’m a third year. And, I feel like each year it just gets more difficult. The first year was hard because I was trying to get used to being away from home. And, my second year was also hard since I was trying to be more involved. Now, during my third year it’s also hard because there have been more complications with my classes. However, I had the opportunity to take an education class. Which made me realize that I wanted to major in education. Also, this year I’ve been working all year long.
Maria: Do you feel like what’s going on with the whole pandemic has affected you as a student?
Karina: Yes, it has because it created more barriers for me aside to the ones I already had. For example, wifi, the resources to try to communicate, the money for buying textbooks. And, professors have been giving too many assignments. They didn’t take into consideration everything that is occuring with the whole pandemic.
Maria: Do you sometimes feel like you regret choosing UC Santa Cruz?
Karina: Yes and no. Yes, because of the whole messed up system that they aren’t giving those who are graduate students well paid. And, I realized that they don’t care about their students other than getting paid. No, because everyone I’ve met. At the end of the day I feel like my campus is beautiful. I feel like it has many opportunities.
UC Santa Cruz