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DACA Recipient Wins Race Against Time, Secures Permission To Represent Native Country At Olympics

Multiple runners lined up at a starting line. The photo does not show faces, it is a closeup of mulitple runners legs in position to start running.
Photo by Snapwire is licensed under CC0 BY 1.0

U.S. immigration policy collided with an Olympic dream this past summer. During my NPR internship with Here and Now, a nationally syndicated mid-day magazine show with nearly 5 million weekly listeners, I had the opportunity to connect with DACA Recipient Luis Grijalva and his immigration attorney Jessica Smith Bobbadilla to tell their experience of getting Grijalva special permission to perform in the Tokyo Olympics. The catch? They only had a week. The race to beat the clock and secure permission by the end of this week was on.


Grijalva says his message to DACA recipients that find themselves in a similar situation to his is: “Just keep fighting, keep believing in yourself, because there's so many possibilities.” Because for Grijalva, life is only beginning.

Their 'Pocket World': Parkade Students Learn Meaning of Land

A closeup of a stone that has the words, this pocket world loved by kindergartern royalty, written in Sharpie marker. The stone is on top of a pile of fall leaves.
Photo by Xcaret Nuñez

With Native American Heritage Month around the corner, some educators are taking a different approach to how they teach the meaning of land. For KBIA’s education corner, I had the opportunity to visit a kindergarten class at Parkade Elementary where a teacher and her students are drawing from Indigenous beliefs to explore the power of the land around them.”


“Kids are often taught that land is something to be conquered or taken over,” James said. “When in reality, the land has always been here, and it’s always been loved.”

For This Columbia Activist, Life In Pandemic Hasn't Slowed Down

Columbia Activist Rene Powell is sitting on a small wooden bench outside her home. She is wearing black sunglasses, a black mask that reads, vote, and a black shirt that reads, adapt or perish, a quote by Charles Darwin.
Photo by Xcaret Nuñez

Rene Powell is a local activist for disability rights, women’s reproductive rights, voting rights, and much more. At a time where most people’s lives feel at a standstill, her life as an activist and as a person with a disability has only become more active. “Disability issues are inherently political,” Powell said. “And we're always having to fight for our rights and for policies, and having to defend our policies.”


For this KBIA News feature I had the opportunity to profile Powell and learn the pandemic hasn’t stopped her from making an impact in both the community and people’s lives.

Mattel's Barbie Turns Women Of Science Into Dolls

A closeup of a hot pink barbie sign that reads the word, barbie, written in the company Mattel Inc.'s signature curly font.
Photo by JeepersMedia is licensed under CC BY 2.0

As a part of my NPR internship (Summer 2021) I had the opportunity to write for NPR's Newsdesk, the front page of the NPR website. One of the stories I had the chance to write about was Mattel Inc. honoring six women healthcare workers with their very own look-alike Barbie. British vaccinologist Sarah Gilbert was one of those six women.The Oxford University professor helped lead the development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.


"I am passionate about inspiring the next generation of girls into STEM careers and hope that children who see my Barbie will realize how vital careers in science are to help the world around us," Gilbert first told The Guardian. "My wish is that my doll will show children careers they may not be aware of, like a vaccinologist.