CHCI-HEP CAMP Intern
Hometown: Pittsburg, Kansas
School: University of Kansas
Majors: Political Science and Italian
Placement: The Office of Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard
Karla Arana was born in small town located in Ahuachapán, El Salvador and migrated to the United States with her mom in 2013. She graduated from Pittsburg High School and is currently enrolled as a freshman in The University of Kansas, majoring in political science and Italian. Her hopes and dreams have been shaped by her struggles in life and her parents’ struggles. She has seen her parents being discriminated against because of their race as well as how poorly they are treated in the workplace. Her experiences in life have made her a resilient person, driving her to thrive and be the voice of those who are living in the shadows. Even though her parents have always struggled economically, they are her biggest supporters and have motivated her to be the most hard-working person she can be.
She has overcome many hindrances, one of which was to adapt to a new culture and language. She’s always been proud of her background and being Hispanic. Making her parents proud and improving her community has always been her biggest goal. Her hopes for the future are to become a lawyer and use her profession as a way of helping people.
As a CHCI and HEP CAMP intern, Karla aspires to gain real life experience in helping those who cannot help themselves and to gain knowledge to continue her path into law school. She wants to work as hard as she can to allow this to be a life changing experience. She wants to gain knowledge to help the Hispanic community and to help people who are in similar situations as her parents were in during certain moments of their life.