Sophia Sato (pictured at the upper left) is a senior who received a Liebman Undergraduate Internship Award for the Spring 2021 semester. She worked closely with Dr. Korinta Maldonado as an intern for Indigenous Languages on the Move, which is a language justice and interpreters collective in the Urbana-Champaign area.
This is what she had to say about her experience: “I am so grateful for having been selected as a Spring Internship Fellow and awarded a grant graciously funded by the Paul A. Liebman Foundation. I had volunteered for the collective during the Fall 2020 semester and was able to take on more duties and increase my time commitment due to alleviated financial stress. During my time as a fellow, I served as the website creator and communication liaison. I was able to get firsthand experience on how important it is to include the communities we are walking with in everything we do, every step of the way. Our goal is not to speak for the communities, but rather, to create a space for their voices to be heard and recognized. Through our efforts, we have managed to expand the collective to better meet the needs of the communities”.