Growing up in the small town of Lewisburg, Mississippi, Brionna Bolaños (CLAS’24), a second-generation Mexican immigrant who relates closely to their Chicane identity, often felt detached from Latin American history and culture. As Bolaños pursued options after graduation, they saw Georgetown’s Center for Latin American Studies as a way to connect their undergraduate focus on policy and governance with their life-long interest in Latin American culture. For Bolaños, CLAS has gone above and beyond that expectation.
“CLAS is full of culture!” Bolaños affirms. “The way students interact with one another, the way we greet each other, the languages we use to communicate, the relationships we have with professors—come to the Center and it might just feel like you’ve stepped into Latin America.”
Engaging With Migration
In January 2023, Bolaños began interning as a justice graduate intern with the DC Schools Project (DCSP) at the Center for Social Justice (CSJ) at Georgetown. Through the CSJ, Bolaños found a network that valued them as both a student and a young professional, particularly when they entered the position of inaugural DCSP program manager in March of 2023. “During that transition [from graduate intern to program manager], CSJ staff provided me with invaluable advice and support. The CSJ has also been incredibly flexible and excited about my achievements as a graduate student,” they say. “The CSJ has always maintained a high level of appreciation for the dual roles I play at Georgetown.”
Throughout their time at Georgetown, Bolaños has been deeply involved in assisting migrants to DC, the subject of their capstone project. Bolaños’ CLAS classes have been beneficial in this work with DC migrants, allowing them to communicate with the tutees, parents and compadres [translates directly to friends and is used to refer to the migrants that DCSP works with]. “Since [becoming DCSP program manager], I have worked diligently and excitedly with DC’s newcomer migrant community on advocacy-related initiatives, as well as bringing Georgetown undergraduates into the community to support migrants’ English language acquisition,” they say.
Connecting to Latin America
Bolaños’ time at CLAS also coincided with their first trip to Latin America in the summer of 2023. On a trip with friends and fellow CLAS students to Colombia and Brazil, Bolaños was able to experience the subject of their academic interests firsthand. “It was an incredible experience to finally be in and around the very cultures and communities that I have studied for so long,” they say. “Though I have my own personal connections to Latin America, I really took advantage of the opportunity to participate in the local community and economy in an intentional way.”
Of course, Bolaños’ studies also deepened their understanding of the region. Indigenous Americans and Power Based Violence, taught by Professor Veronica Quinonez, was particularly influential for Bolaños. “Though the material was at times incredibly difficult to deal with, Professor Quinonez did an amazing job of cultivating a community of students who took care of one another inside and outside of the classroom,” Bolaños remembers. “She presented material in engaging formats, adjusted the curriculum to be responsive to ongoing current events, and brought a level of respect and appreciation for a topic (indigeneity) that is sometimes difficult to find in an overly political and practitioner-focused space.”
A New Plan for the Future
Bolaños’ experience at CLAS was deeply impactful in shaping their vision for their future. On an alternative break program to the US-Mexico border through the CSJ, Bolaños reconsidered their hesitancy about attending law school. “It was during that trip that I confronted the very same gaps in the immigration legal system that I myself had experienced as the daughter of an undocumented immigrant,” they reflect. “I witnessed the current reality of immigration law in the United States and began to envision the space I could create to support migrants the way my father and my family needed when I was a young girl. This experience solidified my resolve to go to law school.”
A first-generation college student and graduate student, Bolaños is excited to start this new chapter, and as they prepare to attend Stanford Law School in the fall, they are grateful for the path that Georgetown has set them on. “Sometimes you imagine what your life might have looked like if you made different choices. Looking back, I am not sure I would have ended up here—law school on the horizon, an explored passion for migration, and a clear sense of what lies ahead of me—without coming to Georgetown.”