UNM-LA Student Fernando Trujillo Discusses Criminal Justice Reform At White Rock Senior Center Talk Friday

UNM-LA student Fernando Trujillo making a presentation on criminal justice reform in October will deliver a similar talk Friday at the White Rock Senior Center. Photo by Bernadette Lauritzen
 
By BERNADETTE LAURITZEN
Executive Director
LARSO

UNM-LA student Fernando Trujillo will make a presentation on criminal justice reform at 12:30 p.m. Friday at the White Rock Senior Center.

The community is welcome to attend this free event.

Trujillo has spent the last three months as a student intern with the Los Alamos Retired and Senior Organization (LARSO), which operates both the Los Alamos and the White Rock Senior centers.

“I enjoyed the friendly atmosphere at LARSO, both the seniors that are members, as well as the staff that I worked with,” Trujillo said. “I was expecting to be shied away from because of the way I appear but was shocked to be so welcomed.”

The idea to have Trujillo present on his work was designed as a way to introduce him to the community of seniors. The Friday presentation is a way of wrapping up his time as he finishes his internship program.

Trujillo entered the Community Internship Collaboration, or CIC program not knowing what to expect from the non-profit. The goal was to design his experience to match his educational goals, but what unfolded seemed to change throughout the process. The intergenerational relationships were key to the success of the work. The ability to spend time together created an enjoyable experience and learning on both sides of the aisle.

Trujillo took part in a variety of events throughout the time including;

Staff meetings, information gathering sessions and socialization activities and was able to participate as a student in the non-profit session of Leadership Los Alamos.

“When I did the leadership workshop, I learned the importance of networking, flexibility and getting out of my comfort zone by engaging a large group of people,” Trujillo said.

The students accepted him as one of their own and provided him with a copy of Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson.

Trujillo is an advocate for criminal justice reform, drug policy reform, and immigration rights. He is a Volunteer Leader with the ACLU and works as part of the ACLU Justice Advisory Board for Smart Justice.

He said he hopes to get a job in the field of advocacy and is looking to pursue an education that will aid his advocacy efforts. He recently attended a Drug Policy Reform Conference in St. Louis, Mo., as well as an ACLU Organizing Workshop in Charleston, S.C.

“If the Drug Policy Conference helped me decide what I want to do with my life, the ACLU Workshop cemented that decision,” Trujillo said. “It was an amazing experience, as well as good practice for public speaking; and the chance to get to offer a different perspective while simultaneously offering a different education to the community at large was short of phenomenal. It really has showed me how far I have come in the past year.”

To learn more about the UNM-LA Community Intern Collaboration, contact Student Success Specialist Grace Willerton at gwillert@unm.edu or 505.663.3402.

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