[ Applause ]
>> Aja Johnson: My name is
Aja Lanee [phonetic] Johnson.
My major is ethnic studies.
I do research on hip hop
and gender and sexuality.
And so within academia,
that's something that's still
very much at the margins.
And so I think that in my time
at Sac State [phonetic] I've
gotten a lot more confident
in what it is that speaks
to my goal, and how I can do
that in an educational setting
that speaks to other people.
So I started working
at the Pride Center my
first semester here,
and then I transitioned
to the Multi Control Center
doing the Social Justice
Leadership seminar there.
My second to last
year, I started working
at the Martin Luther
King Jr. Center
when it was just
opening up, helping kind
of establish programs
and stuff there.
And then off campus
I worked with youth
in [inaudible] summer.
I think as a student
at Sac State,
it's kind of been a journey
of me settling into myself
and I think that while
I was at Sac state,
I was able to expose
myself to different forms
of activism and education.
That really sat well with me.
I was able to find faculty, like
for example, Dr. Andrea Moore,
Dr. Sarah Lapus [phonetic];
Dr. Roberto Pomo [phonetic],
who really have always
encouraged me and affirmed me
to be authentic to
myself and to push myself.
[ Applause ]
15, 20 years from now I see
myself running a community
social justice art
space for youth.
That's kind of my life goal
is to have a community space
where youth can come and do
-- make music and make art
and do theater production
that really affirm them
and encourage them
to become advocates
and activists in the community.
[ Music ]
