Lucy Vazquez, Young Activist Leader and PJALS intern
Lucy Vazquez, from Wenatchee, WA, became interested in social work because she liked the case management work she saw her mother doing in the community. Lucy is also working on a minor in Chicano/Latino studies.
Lucy has been active in MEChA, NASA (Native American Student Association), One America and other social justice groups and she’s learned leadership and communication skills. She has a passion for social change, is open-minded, and wants to help other people.
Lucy is very involved in MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlán) at EWU. She first became interested in PJALS while participating in events PJALS put on at EWU. She found that both MEChA and PJALS pursued similar principals, particularly, building a nonviolent world. Lucy is hoping to gain tools and knowledge about how to be a better community organizer for her future work . She will be pursuing her Masters in Social Work next year.
Her most memorable moment so far was her participation in the event, “11 Years in Afghanistan, Not One More Death, Not One More Dollar!” Lucy said she “didn’t think that reading the death tolls of U.S. Soldiers and Afghanistan civilians was going to get me that upset and emotional, but it changed my life forever. Also hearing all the speakers give their testimonies made me realize that real people are suffering and at that point I couldn’t physically do anything to help but I was doing something by working on events such as that one. It really was an eye-opener for me.”