Sophomore Kate Maro spent her summer fighting for refugee rights with the International Rescue Committee, a nonprofit organization working to empower refugees around the globe through education, health care and access to basic economic needs.

Maro spent her summer at the organization’s Sacramento, CA. Day to day, Maro helped file paperwork, assist displaced individuals find and secure apartments and provide language, professional and cultural training.

Most of the refugees she worked with were from Afghanistan, Iran or Turkey.

Maro said her work was incredibly pertinent to her studies at school and long-term interest in refugees. 

“I’m an International Relations and Middle East and Islamic Studies double major… I study Arabic and I grew up around a lot of immigration issues, so this topic was really appealing to me,” Maro said. “It was and is important to me to be able to help the refugee population, so this was an awesome opportunity for me this summer.”