Name: Licely Carcamo (she/her/hers)
Year: 3rd Year
Majors: Environmental Studies and Spanish
Hometown: Hillsboro, OR
You work for the UO Women’s Center. Can you describe your role?
Yeah! At the Women’s Center, I am an office assistant, which mainly means that my duties here are in the Women’s Center space. [This] includes welcoming people into the center. The center is open to people of all gender identities, so although it is called the “Women’s Center” it is a very inclusive space for all people. I also help out at the events that we have. My other duties just include promoting the Women’s Center on campus and just making sure that it’s a safe space for everyone.
Why do you think the Women’s Center is an important resource?
Like I was mentioning, it is a space that is open to people of all gender identities. I think it’s important to have an inclusive and safe space for all people on campus to go to. [Especially] taking recent events into consideration and how there were people coming onto our campus who are Neo-Nazis. When some pretty heavy political things are going on, people will come to the Women’s Center as a space for conversation, a place to take shelter and essentially be safe from what’s going on where you can be around like-minded people…And so I think that places like the Women’s Center are integral to people who are from marginalized identities and people that want to be allies too.
How have your experiences in college helped shape you or prepared you for your future goals?
Gosh, well I mean I’m getting to that point—with graduation at the end of next spring—where I’m like “What am I going to be doing?” But I think my experiences both here at the Women’s Center and the experiences that I’ve had in classrooms in the Environmental Studies program and the Spanish program have sort of shifted what I want to do with my career and what I want to do once I graduate. [I want to work] in environmental justice communities that are primarily Spanish-speaking and maybe integrating what I have been doing in the Spanish major, which is mainly focusing on literature. Maybe using literature or other types of media or art to communicate issues of environmental justice and issues of injustice that are going on in these marginalized communities. I really think that my experiences in both of my majors and my work here at the Women’s Center have sort of paved my path in figuring out that that’s what I want to do.
What is your favorite thing to do in your spare time?
I really like going to concerts, hanging out with friends, I like reading. At the moment—when I have time, right? Because it’s super hard to find the time when you’re in school full-time and working two jobs—I’m rereading my favorite book, Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. It’s really interesting to see: when I first read that book in high school and how it was impacting my identity development and then now how I view the book is really interesting to look back on. But yeah, I like reading, listening to music, all that good stuff.
Do you have any advice for girls (or anybody) who are new to college or in general?
I guess for people coming into college—women, feminized people—I would say definitely find your niche. Find a home on campus that you can call your own, where you’re safe, where the people accept you for who you are regardless of your identities. Because I know my first year I didn’t really prioritize that and so I kind of had a hard time integrating into the university. Being able to find myself among a student body of like 25 thousand people was really hard because I wasn’t really involved and I wasn’t doing that. So I would just say get involved, find your home, find like-minded people, and whatever you’re passionate about just try to find other people who are into that.