Alejandra Lopez Nestor  

Congressional Intern, Presented by Walmart   

Hometown: Warrenton, Oregon  

School: Mount Holyoke College  

Major: American Studies  

Placement: Office of Rep. Andrea Salinas  

Alejandra Lopez Nestor is a student at Mount Holyoke College, majoring in Critical Race and Political Economy, and minoring in Educational Studies. She grew up on the rural Oregon coast and is the daughter of immigrants from Oaxaca, Mexico, and Suchitepéquez, Guatemala. She is passionate about bringing her lived experiences into academic and political spaces to address educational inequalities, access to healthcare, and generational poverty embedded in our institutions today. Watching her parents’ tireless physical labor every day and the limitation of their elementary education motivates her to pursue and excel at higher education. Her dedication is a testament to her parents’ sacrifice.  

She began her activism journey through protests, and was confronted by Proud Boys at a young age. She later joined State Representative and Congressional campaigns and interned at the Oregon Legislature for Speaker Pro Tempore Paul Holvey, and most recently State Senator Wlnsvey Campos. In 2024, she worked to document the Latino coastal community, which yielded a gallery show. In 2025, she produced a series of short documentaries encapsulating the voices of the Latino coastal community in Oregon. Hearing their experiences and dreams in the United States. She finds it crucial to document, archive, and highlight lived experiences under the current Federal Administration. At Mount Holyoke College, she worked to double the Mi Gente Living Learning Community housing and, alongside a team, curated a “Latinidad at Mount Holyoke” 2025-2026 exhibit.  

Alejandra hopes to implement what she learns at her CHCI internship back on the Oregon coast. She is driven to create meaningful change through policy.