In the weeks leading up to the graduation of university students across Colorado, The Puksta Foundation will be featuring “Senior Spotlight” profiles, a special series of posts to celebrate our graduating Puksta Scholars and their projects. We are truly impressed by the work these students have accomplished as Puksta Scholars, and we are so grateful to have this opportunity to share these profiles with the community so you can get to know our Pukstas a bit better.
Please join us in congratulating these students and wishing them luck in the future!
Today our featured Puksta Senior is Rebecca Robidoux, graduating from CU Boulder!
Rebecca has spent her time as a Puksta working to support the Sanctuary Movement and undocumented women and families living in Boulder, CO. She shared the following reflections about her Puksta experience and her work within social justice movements and community organizing:
A bit about me:
My name is Rebecca, and I recently graduated from CU Boulder with a degree in Women and Gender Studies, and I am the first student to graduate from the Leadership and Community Engagement major. My time as a Puksta Scholar has been transformational and full of personal and professional development.
As I move forward:
My hope is that other students and young people will consider the time in which we are living, during economic turmoil, in the wake of Trump’s decision to cancel green cards, and with an impending wave of climate refugees. I hope they feel both an urgency for justice and a pull towards the warmth and community I have found while working with the Sanctuary Movement over the last 8 months, because it is evident that there are connections to be made and victories to be had that could shift the way our country, our state, our community, values all of us.
Advice:
Identify the relationships in your life that give energy back to you and make you happy. Social justice work can be exhausting and bleak, and as important as it is to build strategic relationships, make sure to protect the ones that just feel good, because you’ll need them.
We invite you to learn more about Rebecca and her journey Puksta in the retrospective video below. Rebecca produced this video as part of CU Boulder’s Puksta Passages ceremony earlier this month.
Congratulations on the completion of your degree, Rebecca, and thank you for your truly meaningful and impactful work in the community!
