Journey to my major: panel and pizza chat

Are you still looking for a major that is a right fit for you? Join us for lunch and a panel!

What if you could get the inside scoop from students and alumni who have navigated the maze and found their way?

Attend this major exploration event to hear from other UIC students and alumni who are excited about their majors and future career options.

They will share insight regarding things like:

• How they chose their major
• How they found their fit
• Navigating family pressures related to majors/careers
• Key experiences (i.e. internships, research, student involvement, volunteer work, etc.)
• How they are leveraging their major in the real world (alumni)

Panelists Include:

Jazmin Juarez earned a bachelor’s degree in Latin American and Latino Studies, with minors in Chinese and Global Asian Studies, from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2021. She studied abroad in China, Costa Rica, Germany, and Mexico. In 2023, she completed a Master of Public Policy at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. She is currently a Strategy Project Manager with the Chicago Police Department, focusing on the Data section of the federally mandated consent decree to advance reform.

Yasury Mendoza graduated from UIC with a double major in Gender & Women’s Studies and Sociology with a concentration in social work. Exploring LAS courses like GWS, Sociology, Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS), English, and Black Studies helped her connect her passions for advocacy, social movements, and writing. She applied this knowledge through internships, from conducting research with a GWS professor to working as a communications coordinator/program assistant for the Gender & Women’s Studies department here at UIC.

Monse Garcia is a senior double majoring in Sociology and Latin American and Latino Studies. She is one of the Current Co-leads of Mexican Students de Aztlán (MeSA), a Co-fundraising chair of Latinos Unidos, and a Student Leader and Media and Marketing Intern at the Latino Cultural Center.

Sophia Martinez is a senior double majoring in Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS) and English. Through her studies, she has grown closer to her culture and learned about her interest in studying migration through literature. She continues her studies and interests through her independent studies of Migration in the Americas and Familial dynamics in healing. She is planning to pursue her masters in LALS at UIC.

Grace Stevens is a senior majoring in English with a concentration in Professional Writing. She is a blogger for UIC Radio and is writing her senior thesis on literature and film. She has also worked as an editorial intern at a magazine and works currently as a media intern at a nonprofit.

Yvonne M. Livingston is a Psychology and Black studies graduate who specializes in trauma-informed care, community engagement, and lived experience expertise. She works at the UIC Urban Youth Trauma Center (UYTC) and the Pediatric Stress and Anxiety Disorder Clinic (PSADC), where she collaborates on research and advocacy initiatives supporting families affected by trauma. As the founder of Yvonne Monique Livingston LLC, Talk To Me and See 501(c)(3), and SISTAMoms Global, she develops programs that blend storytelling, economic empowerment, and mental wealth-building to create lasting community impact.

Venus Obazuaye (they/them) is a sophomore majoring in Black Studies and minoring in Chemistry. Their studies at UIC have exposed them to Black diasporic methods of knowledge production, that they pursue implementing as a research assistant. After undergraduate, they plan to pursue further study in the health humanities.