September 15, 2021
Alicia Terrero ’21 discovers passion for working with immigrant groups through internships, fellowships
By Maeve Hickey ’21, ’22G
Alicia Terrero ’21, a recipient of a summer 2021 Humanity-in-Action Berlin Fellowship, is passionate about immigrant populations and the struggles immigrants face.
After securing internships and fellowships during her years at Providence College, she works as an immigration paralegal at the New York Legal Assistance Group in New York City. She graduated from Providence College in May with a double major in political science and global studies and a certificate of proficiency in Arabic.
Terrero overcame the roadblocks that come with being an immigrant in the United States through perseverance and hard work, and now devotes her time to assisting the U.S. immigrant population. She has created her own social network through taking advantage of every opportunity presented to her at PC.
Terrero and her mother emigrated from the Dominican Republic when Terrero was 5 years old. She has other relatives who immigrated to the United States within the past couple of years.
“One of the things that stands out about Alicia is that she’s an amazing student, but she’s also deeply committed to fighting injustices and making the world a better place,” said Dr. Trina Vithayathil, associate professor of global studies and department chair.
Her accomplishments didn’t start at PC. During her senior year at Classical High School in Providence, Terrero was among 20 high school students to be awarded a $2,500 college scholarship through Brown University’s Fund for the Education of the Children of Providence. She was chosen from among 250 applicants based on her hard work and commitment during her high school career. She also was awarded a Multicultural Scholarship to attend PC.
Terrero actively explored many fellowship opportunities while in college to connect with others interested in social issues and public advocacy. She contacted Dr. Darra Mulderry, the director of national and international fellowships and scholarships in the Center for Engaged Learning at PC, for help kickstarting her post-graduate fellowship journey.
“When Alicia first contacted me during her junior year to say she was interested in applying for post-grad fellowships, I was immediately impressed by her interdisciplinary knowledge in the social sciences, her self-knowledge, and her drive,” Mulderry said. “I was also struck by Alicia’s nuanced understanding of the challenges faced by recent immigrants to the U.S. and her dedication to advocate for them.”
Terrero discovered the Humanity-in-Action Berlin Fellowship through Mulderry. The fellowship took place during June 2021 and included three weeks of programming. She joined a cohort of 20 fellows from Europe and the United States to hear professionals speak about human rights, colonialism, and public advocacy. The program took place via Zoom, but would have been held in Berlin, Germany, if not for the pandemic.
“The program made me more aware of how global a lot of these issues are. Sometimes we think certain problems are solely in the United States, when in actuality they are happening all over the world,” said Terrero.
Speakers spotlighted specific issues, which made the program different from a classroom setting, where the curriculum often only allows for a broad overview. Terrero said it was inspiring to see how passionate the speakers were about societal issues. Two stood out: Christiana Bukalo, founder of Statefree, a social initiative that seeks to provide a community for stateless people (those without a nationality), and Saad Malik, a freelance consultant and trainer on issues of social justice.
“I really loved listening to them because it taught me how the experience of stateless people is very similar to that of undocumented people in the United States,” Terrero said. “It made me realize that the challenges experienced by non-citizen migrants can be seen all over the world, and it reminded me of how the concept of borders is extremely arbitrary but can cause so much pain and suffering when it is reinforced by harsh immigration policies.”
Terrero also appreciated hearing from Alok Vaid-Menon, a gender non-conforming writer, performer, and public speaker, who spoke about how colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy create power structures that oppress people of color and the LGBTQ community.
“I really liked this speech because it really helped me rethink a lot of what I knew about colonialism,” Terrero said. “Throughout my time in college, I learned a lot about the intersection of colonialism on modern capitalism, racism, and colorism, but I had never learned about how colonialism was intertwined with homophobia, transphobia, and sexism.”
Terrero applied to her position with the New York Legal Assistance Group because of her passion for immigration law. That passion was fueled by her internship with Central American Legal Assistance, a nonprofit that provides legal services to asylum seekers from Central America. The internship sparked her interest in immigration law and provided her with experiences that helped her land her current position.
Terrero got the internship through the network connections she made while participating in the Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program. She learned about the Bard program at the Career Expo sponsored by PC’s Center for Career Education and Professional Development.
In addition to the Humanity-in-Action Berlin Fellowship and the Bard program, Terrero was a visiting student at the University of California, Berkeley, through the concurrent enrollment program in spring 2020. She took classes in philosophy, Arabic, interdisciplinary studies, and public policy.
She also participated in the UCLA Law Fellows Program and the Public Policy and International Affairs Program, which was run remotely by the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley during summer 2020.
“Alicia has very much forged her own path and has really worked hard to build amazing social networks to learn about opportunities,” said Vithayathil. “She continuously applies to the amazing programs that she learns about, and because she is brilliant and deeply committed to understanding and addressing inequities based on her own lived experiences, she has been selected for several extremely competitive fellowships, internships, and funded research opportunities.”
During her time at PC, Terrero was involved in student organizations. She was an executive board member (secretary, vice president, and president) of Students Organized Against Racism and secretary of the Board of Multicultural Student Affairs. She also found time to intern at the office of U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.
Now that the Humanity-in-Action Berlin Fellowship program has concluded, Terrero will complete the fellowship by designing and implementing an action project, where fellows apply their knowledge and develop a social justice strategy to benefit their own community.
