Bruna Cardosa, whose friends call her Mel, is from Hampton, VA, in
the Tidewater area. She works with children and family services issues. She is a DACA recipient. Her whole goal is to use her education to do
social work. She also would like to combine her social work background
and degree with a future degree in law to help immigrants like herself. She works for a nonprofit that focuses on mental health needs. I think we all know how significant mental health needs are in the
country and how many people have never been diagnosed or, if they get
diagnosed, they don't get treatment. This is an important issue, and
the organization she works for helps people to make sure they can find
the financial support they need to access the mental healthcare they
need. Before she worked with this family services agency, she formed a
coalition called I-CAUSE with other DACA recipients in Hampton Roads to
help undocumented students be able to afford higher education. She has
received numerous scholarships, honors, and awards that have allowed
her to pursue her higher education and, specifically, she was a
recipient of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, to get her social work
degree. With her academic success and her passion to help others, Bruna is
exactly the kind of Virginian we love to celebrate because she is a
person of accomplishment who is taking her own skills and not just
benefiting herself but benefiting others. That is as Virginian and
American a value as there is. The fourth student I will mention is somebody I have come to know a
little bit, Giancarla Rojas. Giancarla is a DACA recipient here in the
Northern Virginia area. She came to America a decade ago to be reunited
with her parents, whom she had not seen for 7 years. In an article in the Washington Post that highlighted her particular
story, Giancarla said that she spoke only Spanish when she came here
and that the way she and her father perfected their English was by
riding in the car and singing Beetles songs and Chicago songs.
Keywords matched
immigrants undocumented DACA