Meet LEAP’s New Student Reporter – Daniela Alejandra Najera!

Daniela is LEAP’s new Student Reporter and a current University of Washington freshman from Brewster, Washington. She is majoring in Political Science and American Ethnic Studies; and minoring in Education and Diversity. Daniela will be finding time in her busy schedule to interview Latino youth and bringing to you many of the exciting and interesting things Latino students are doing in Washington state.

Daniela has extensive leadership skills and served as one of the LEAP Conference planning committee member. She has also:

- served as her class president for 3 years,
- was a Junior Counselor at La Cima Bilingual Leadership Camp,
- a GEAR UP Camp Junior Counselor, and
- is currently involved with the UW Latino Student Union.

But its not all business with Daniela, she loves to sing, dance, and is one mean baker. She enjoys jogging but especially loves soccer, whether it’s playing, watching, recording stats, or being the manager or stats keeper of the team.

Daniela likes to express herself through her writing and says:

As I think, I have this vision of my idea and want to express it to reflect the vision in my head; so others can see and feel what I see and feel. I like expressing myself through writing because it is a way of keeping a tangible record of important things and I enjoy looking back at what I have written (diaries, journals, papers/essays, poems, etc). A record of the past influences the future and keeps memories alive. As LEAP reporter, I will keep a record of LEAP activity to inform others of what is going on with LEAP and to have documentation of the actions LEAP is taking. I want to assure that when I no longer exist, ideas, belief, and memories important to me still remain; I can guarantee this will be through writing. The life of one’s body is not eternal but a piece of writing is and can carry so much life within it.

We are very proud to have Daniela as part of the LEAP Team and we will bring you more on this amazing leader at a later time.