Featured Fellows: Amira Rahim and Jason Richberg

[asset|aid=891|format=image|formatter=asset|title=boxed_amirarahim_jasonrichberg.jpg|width=154|height=129|align=right|resizable=true]Amira Rahim is a senior at the University of Pittsburgh and a 2008 Young People For fellow. Her Blueprint for Social Justice project is Changing Faces: Supporting First-Generation College Students . She is interested in issues of higher education, green jobs, and international affairs. Her hobbies include painting, listening to music, and speaking Portuguese with whatever Brazilians she can find. Upon graduating, Amira plans to continue engaging in international research and cultural studies opportunities before applying to graduate school and law school.

Jason A. Richberg is a senior at Wilberforce University and a 2006 Young People For fellow working on the Blueprint Power @ the Polls. He is currently the President of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. Delta Chapter, and Co-President of the local National Pan-Hellenic Council Chapter. As a YP4 and Politicorps fellow, Jason has worked to increase civic engagement, raise awareness of campaign and political issues, and foster an attitude of civic responsibility in his community.

In this interview, Amira and Jason talk about their experiences of interning at YP4 and being YP4 fellows as well as the interconnectedness of issues.

» Apply for the YP4 fellowship or nominate a college student leader today.

Interview conducted by Dan Klein, spring and summer 2008 YP4 communications intern, for September 2008.

Jason and Amira, what do you stand for?

AMIRA: I stand for equal access to progressive education and global opportunities for change. I stand for love. I stand for music and I stand for free art.

Well, Amira just took every cool thing to stand for. Jason, how about you?

JASON: I stand for equal rights and education, election reform and health care reform. I stand for moving forward and not to the left or to the right.

Tell me about your Blueprints for Social Justice.

JASON: My Blueprint is a statewide student-run voter education, registration and GOTV [get-out-the-vote] program. I realize that Ohio is a highly contested state, and ideally people are going to be doing voter registration and education in the state. In 2006, along with a couple of friends of mine and my fraternity, we did a get-out-the-vote campaign and a party at the polls. We were moderately successful — we raised voter turnout by 14 percent [in our district]. In 2007, turnout was 1.7 percent or something like that, and we figured we could do a lot better.

I had an idea to take this statewide, knowing that students all over the state were going to be doing voter registration programs, and seeing that voter registration and get-out-the-vote are only part of the equation — we also need to do voter education [rather than] register somebody to vote and just send them out to the woods without letting them know what they can vote for — what are the issues, what’s going on. So sitting down with a few other fellows like Gigi Traore, Curtis Maples, Leonard Cousin and so on and so forth, we decided to create a statewide program in which we would get other organizations doing voter registration and education — who are doing it or want to get involved — we would get everyone on board to take part in our program.

AMIRA: My program is about transforming my personal experiences as a first-generation college student into research so that I can learn more about my experience through learning about other people’s experiences. So what I used my Blueprint support and funding for is to continue the research that I started as a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh. My research intends to survey first-generation college students at the University of Pittsburgh to understand their perception of social support in their college experience.

There are a lot of hurdles and navigation through the university and research boards and things like that... When I first started my Blueprint I wasn’t doing too much in terms of connecting with other people, but as I started to frame my Blueprint, I framed it around connecting with other first-generation college student YP4 fellows from around the country who would be interested in sharing their experiences to be included in the data as well.

After sitting down with Rachel and going through the Blueprint, I realized that this is important to the work I’m doing [at YP4] and what I’m interested in — because we can get a sense of where certain groups of fellows might need additional supports. So it’s really research focused, but at the same time I think it’s really necessary, because we know in the next five years, the highest growing population of new college students will be first-generation students. You’re going to see more first-generation college students on campuses.

So my research and my Blueprint looks at how institutions, particularly my own institution, respond to this changing demographic of college students. How do they respond to the needs of these students? How are they setting up programs and support systems for these students? Not only to get the degree, but to enjoy getting the degree.

Where is this boom of first-generation college students coming from?

AMIRA: Disproportionately, they’re coming from low-income families. They’re coming from underrepresented racial groups such as Latino, African American, and Native American populations. They’re coming from unrepresented pockets and social groups in higher education and education in general.

Jason, you’ve done get-out-the-vote work locally before. What’s it like moving onto the broader stage?

JASON: Unfortunately, I have this tactic. No. Not “tactic.” I have this propensity to take on humongous tasks that I assume are going to be easy. When I first started, I said, “You know, this is going to be easy... A couple people here, a couple people there, tell them what’s going on, keep on moving.”

But for all intents and purposes we’re creating a nonprofit; I think that’s the hardest thing about it. You’re trying to sell people an idea that they should join, share in your vision, but you also have to sell yourself. You have to explain to people why this important. Yes, you’re doing it on your own, but you’re doing it together for a common goal — to quantitatively raise voter turnout by 5,000 people statewide. Getting people you’ve seen only once or twice — be they [YP4] fellows, members of Greek life, student leaders that you’ve maybe talked to once — and getting them on board.

That’s what I think the hardest is. The hardest is that first, you’re creating an organization, and second, it’s never over. I’m always working. Even when I’m not working I’m trying to sell this idea to somebody. I think that’s the second part, that you’re never done. I was talking to Kevin Killer this weekend and I understood where he’s coming from. He’s never taken a vacation. The biggest vacation he’s taken was he came to New York and was able to go out one night. That’s sort of how I feel. If I’m at home I’m on the cell phone on a conference call in the middle of the week. I’m not going out doing the normal things people do during the summer — I’m working.

You both have very different Blueprints with very different goals. How has YP4 been able to differently support you?

AMIRA: YP4 gave me the support to say, “Hey, what you’re researching is important. Not just because you’re a first-generation college student, or because you have this interest, but because we have fellows who are first-generation, or people who have similar experiences, like the students with disabilities or the Native American students may have a similar experience.”

So I think YP4 gave me a lot of that validation I needed to continue doing the research, because it is outside the study, it is additional research that’s not required. YP4 gave me access to sources, to [YP4] fellows, to the DMI program and other organizations. They gave me the push that I needed to organize myself. I think with research you can get caught up in the process and lose sight of the big picture, but YP4 helped center the research into larger issues like higher education and showed me how everything is connected.

In one sentence, I’d say that YP4 gave me the social support that I needed. Ironic, since my research is investigating social supports for first-generation college students.

Jason?

JASON: I think YP4 has provided a humongous support of human capital. They are able to have a liaison with Power @ the Polls, they check in at the website, they’re able to do whatever needs to be done on a daily basis to help my Blueprint out — whether we’re having trouble with staffing, communications, what have you, they’re able to sit down and talk. That’s what’s most important, that you have someone to listen to you, and help you work through your problems when you need them.

In an amazing coincidence, you’re both interning at YP4 this summer. What have you enjoyed most about working here?

AMIRA: I really liked working in the office because it gave me the professional experience. It’s been awhile since I had a nine-to-five kind of job.

However, what I like most about YP4 is that everyone here has such an interesting background and an interesting path to how they got to YP4 and how they do the work that they do. So when we received the coupons [Ed. note: All YP4 interns receive a professional development coupon from each staff member, good for one-on-one sessions ranging from spoken word lessons to resume help to e-mail management] I really took that seriously and tried to connect with most of the people here to find out more about them.

Also, getting the feel of what it’s like to be in a larger organization, how they handle logistics and stay on task, all those things were new to me, so I’m glad that I got that experience in the last 10 weeks that I’ve been here.

JASON: I’m going to echo what Amira said about meeting everybody and talking about how they got here, or what their path is, what their strategies are. But mostly, it’s that the sky’s the limit, as much as there are limits, there are no limits.

[YP4] will give you time to work on side projects if you want to work on side projects. They’ll help you out with what you want to help out on. If there’s a conference going on around here, or even far away — I mean, Amira was able to go down to D.C., which was great — they’ll send you. They open up doors for you that you may not be able to get with other internships; there are other places where you couldn’t get this kind of experience. I think the best part is the freedom to learn and make mistakes. Other places, you make mistake and they say, “Oh my God, how could you do that?” but here, you make a mistake and they say, “Okay, you made a mistake. How can we help so you won’t make that mistake in the future?”

AMIRA: Yeah, that’s true. Just to add one more thing: it really is a unique experience, because we’re interns but at the same time we’re fellows, and I think that to the staff we work with, being a fellow is placed above being an intern. I think that their understanding helps add to [the benefit].

JASON: And we’re seen as staff members, we’re not just interns. Anywhere else, interns are getting coffee, shining shoes, walking dogs and you’re not doing anything in your field. But here, your input means as much as a full-time staff member’s. They look to you for your outlook on things. Especially if you’re a fellow, because you’re someone in the program and you’re designing a living breathing program, which is what YP4 is. It’s like the constitution — it’s constantly going to be stretched and expanded and shrunk. That’s why they want your input. I think that’s why they value you, because you’re part of something living and breathing and there are no limits.

When you finish up these Blueprints, what do you hope to see in front of you?

JASON: I hope to see democracy. To me, it’s not about the election. It’s not. It’s about getting students empowered. And finding there’s more commonality in what we can do than there are differences.

Each campus is different within their coalition. They all have issues they need to deal with. That’s what’s most important, that at the end they realize they’re not that dissimilar from someone who goes to Ohio State or Xavier. Just be like, “Yeah, we can do it.” At any point in time things are difficult, but if you make the right connections, if you’re willing to ask for help, if you want to work, people will help you. That’s the most important thing I got out of it: that this is just the beginning.

AMIRA: I want to see three main things. First, I hope that by the end of the Blueprint I’ll have reliable data for writing a solid thesis. Second, I hope that that data will push the university to support this issue. Specifically, I’d like to see the university adopt a learning community curriculum that’s being developed now in Minnesota. So there are things that other universities are doing to support first-generation college students and I just hope that the University of Pittsburgh, if they’re not already doing those things, will be proactive and creative.

Lastly, I hope to see an increased awareness among ourselves, first-generation college students, that there is a sense of community and urgency in these issues, ultimately so the students don’t feel alone when they don’t know what major to choose, when they have tremendous student loans. So those are my three things.

JASON: I’d like to see an increased awareness of the issues as well. One of the things I find funny — well, sad — is that people don’t know how things affect their lives. Like how gas prices are affected, or transportation costs, or higher food prices. The idea that all of these issues are interconnected and not separate issues. You can’t pick and choose your issues. Food equals people working, people working equals money in the economy. Things that people haven’t necessarily connected yet. That’s why we do voter education. So we have a more understanding electorate.

What’s next for both of you?

AMIRA: Come September 2, I’ll be studying in London. That’s what’s next for me. I’m going to finish up my senior year. I’ve got a couple things brewing — I don’t want to jinx myself by saying it. But basically I want to continue to be a student. Graduate school, law school is definitely in the future.

JASON: I’m leaving for school on Sunday. Past that, I’m trying to see where it takes me — whether I want to go to law school, whether I want to try other things... maybe nonprofit life. But mostly just staying active. I’m not one to stay on the sidelines and watch others play the sport.

» Apply for the YP4 fellowship or nominate a college student leader today.