From the president
As an active student leader at Rutgers University-Newark, Maria Zamora-Porras has demonstrated a strong commitment to creating social change through awareness raising, advocacy, and activism. During her time at Rutgers-Newark, Maria has effectively implemented initiatives aimed at addressing social inequities experienced by historically underrepresented and marginalized communities. As an intern in the Rutgers University-Newark Office of Undocumented Student Services, Maria has worked to empower undocumented students by coordinating community building activities, facilitating educational trainings,and inspiring her peers to take action by sharing her personal narrative of being a first-generation college student and child of immigrants. As an Honors Living and Learning Community (HLLC) scholar and member of the BOLD Women's Leadership Network, Maria helped implement a transformational project called "Swipe Out Hunger" to address food insecurity on campus. Maria's enthusiasm for improving the campus community lead to her election by the student body as the Student Governing Association (SGA) Senator for the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA). Maria's commitment, strong leadership, and genuine passion for serving the community has positioned her to become an influential agent of social change.