Sofia Molina

Sofia was raised in several Latin American countries and has called Mills River, N.C. home for over a decade. In May of 2021, she graduated from Duke University with a B.A. in Political Science and minors in Psychology and Education. Sofia’s studies at Duke focused on political ideology and behavior, social psychology, history, and race and power.

At Duke, Sofia became passionate about education equity, access, and opportunities. As president of the student global education committee, Sofia created programming for financial aid recipients and minority students who were interested in going abroad. She frequently shared her experiences from her terms overseas with both current and prospective students, in addition to supporting annual WNC student and Latinx student recruitment outreach for the university.

Her passion for education led her to volunteer with Partners for Youth Opportunity, a program that works with the community to support Durham youth through mentoring and educational support. Through Duke, Sofia worked on a social research project focused on Guatemalan migration and deportation in which she researched the ways immigration impacts mental health. She facilitated partnerships between the Duke research team, nonprofits in Guatemala, and mental health nonprofits in cities around N.C. Additionally, Sofia worked on the communications team at Forward Justice, a nonpartisan law, policy, and strategy center dedicated to advancing racial, social, and economic justice in the South. During this internship, she designed and led the inaugural university outreach “Week of Engagement” programming at Duke in collaboration with Duke Athletics.

During these experiences, Sofia was exposed to many of the complexities of working towards meaningful change and became inspired to continue community-driven work after graduation.