Karen Marquez ‘22 aspires to help her community through her studies | News

Marquez’s internship also connects to her capstone project, which is about finding resources for refugee families. 

“We have a caseload, and we work with a couple of students who come from refugee families. It has been so great to work with them and be a part of their lives,” she said.I love that they can count on me and come to me if they need anything, and I have enjoyed getting to know each of them and learning about their cultures and languages.”

Marquez believes her Hispanic studies minor will help her in her social work career. “At first I did not want to take Spanish because I am a heritage speaker, but it was actually really good to polish my Spanish and learn about my own and other cultures. It will help me when working with Spanish speaking communities, and also when working with immigrants and refugees.” 

As a Latina, Marquez stressed the importance of finding and building her own community at PLU. 

“We all have different experiences at college. I am a first-generation student. I feel like I have had support and created a community at PLU. I am involved in Latinx club, and my professors have really helped me feel supported and helped me build that community, especially David Simpson and Giovanna Urdangarain.”