By the time Brenda Narvaez ’17 entered Hamilton College, she’d taught English to immigrants, among other work at a community service agency back home in Florida. She believes her activism is one reason why she felt at home in women’s studies courses at Hamilton.
Narvaez, a women’s studies major, spent the summer before her sophomore year doing research related to women day laborers with Associate Professor of Women's Studies Anne Lacsamana. Narvaez had gotten to know day laborers at the agency back home.
At Hamilton, when she heard about Lacsamana’s work with women day laborers, she asked to shadow her. Narvaez also offered her services as a translator for the professor’s work with the Spanish-speaking laborers. The upshot was a job as a research assistant and the college grant for summer research.
Narvaez, who also majors in interdisciplinary studies, says women studies changes how its students look at the world. She thinks everyone should take a women’s studies course.
“I just feel like people come out of there being a better person and having a wider perspective,” Narvaez explains.
