From the president
Karla Mercado Dorado, a third year student at Marymount University in Arlington, VA, is an exceptional student leader and organizer. She is passionate about social justice and immigrant rights, and works to raise the profile of the issues faced by immigrant students on campus as well and heighten the consciousness of her peers, staff, and faculty regarding these issues. In addition, she engages with important community partners in the struggle for immigrant rights across the DMV region. She has collaborated with a diverse set of community-based and social service organizations, and she continues to work to empower others to be catalysts for change through grass-roots activism.
Personal Statement
During my time at Marymount University, I have committed to uplifting marginalized voices on campus and building safe spaces for underrepresented students. I joined the executive boards of the Latinx Student Association and Saints Unafraid, the University's immigrant rights advocacy organization, during my first year at MU. Since then, I have helped lead the latter organization’s rebranding to promote inclusivity and intersectionality within the immigrant community, even changing the name from MU Dreamers to Saints Unafraid. In spring 2022, I had the honor of representing MU's undocumented student population at a press conference announcing the passing of a bill granting students in-state tuition regardless of immigration status in Virginia. Outside of MU, I am an active member of the regional chapter of United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the nation. As a community organizer and youth leader, I share my story of being an undocumented first-generation student in the US, in hopes of mobilizing impacted youth and allies to advocate for the rights of the undocumented community as a whole. I advocate for the rights of the entire immigrant community, including the most marginalized, in order to ensure that everyone's voices are heard.