1st Gen Student | Cultural Advocacy | Latina
I grew up on the rural Oregon coast to Guatemalan and Mexican immigrants.
National Association of State Directors of Migrant Education, 2025 National Conference
MY WHYI am passionate about bringing my lived experiences into academic and political spaces to address educational inequalities, disparities in cultural representation, and generational poverty embedded in our institutions today. I am driven to create meaningful change through policy, cultural resistance, and by sharing my story.
About Alejandra
Cerebro 101: Neuroscience Bilingual Workshop 2023Since 2020, Alejandra’s unwavering commitment and active passion for education, politics, and Latinidad have grown through vast internships and personal projects. Her social activism stems from her lived experiences of substandard housing, food insecurity, inadequate access to health care, and experiencing educational inequalities. She recognizes the desperate need for political change.
She is committed to her rural hometown community in Oregon, driven to create a meaningful impact on the political landscape on the coast. She is devoted to preserving stories, history, and culture in the Latino spaces she encounters.
The Migrant Spirit (2021)
"At our annual kickoff with all Northwest Regional ESD staff, we enlisted Alejandra, a student in the Migrant Education Program (MEP) to welcome educators. A special thanks to MEP team members Rosa Gilbert and Amanda Casian for making the telling of Alejandra’s story possible. This story represents the culmination of five years of developing a supportive, reciprocal relationship with her family. Alejandra and her family volunteered to tell a very personal story to hundreds of strangers in large part to the trust they have in Rosa and Amanda to carry their message forward with integrity." - Northwest Regional Education Service District
Chicago, Illinois
2022 Ferguson Institute | Student Panelist
Washington D.C.
2023 Oregon Trio Association Fellow
Council for Opportunity in Education’s (COE) Annual Policy Seminar
2022 National Migrant Education Conference
2022 Communicare Reception
2023 First Gen Summit
2023 Oregon TRIO Conference
2024 National Migrant Education Conference
2024 MHC Noche Latina
2025 Harvard LEAD Conference
2025 Stonehill College Social Justice Conference
MY VOICESince 2020, I've had the privilege of speaking from San Antonio, Texas, to Chicago, Illinois, and Oregon. My journey as a speaker has taken me across the country. I've seen the impact of my voice in Congress and the Oregon Legislature, reinvigorating a sense of hope for the future. I recognize the importance of amplifying my voice in spaces that have historically excluded people like me. My experiences have afforded me a unique perspective that not only represents my journey but also echoes the experiences of my parents and countless others on similar paths. Sharing my story is a testament to their journeys and our resilience as a community.
During the summer of 2021, my family and I were the focus of a short documentary, showing the realities faced by many migrant families in Oregon.
The Migrant Spirit• Northwest Regional Education Service District