Hsf Alumni Hall Of Fame Essay

Inducted into the HSF Alumni Hall of Fame is the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Boston’s City Council, Sofia Meadows-Muriel. As early as high school, Sofia was heavily involved in leadership programs and public service. She was elected Vice President of her class and was the only female and person of color as class officer. She was awarded the Seevak Fellowship, a summer internship at social justice institutes in Boston. She was assigned as an intern to the Community Service Department (CSD) of MassHousing, an organization which focuses on financing affordable housing. At MassHousing, she learned about the many programs they funded and was able to observe how some of those programs were implemented. She saw how powerful it was to engage your community for the greater good and initiate conversations about different ideologies.

After graduating Boston Latin School, Sofia went on to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Ithaca College and a Master in Public Administration with a concentration in Human Rights and Social Justice from Cornell. In college, she was involved in such clubs as PODER, the Latinx Student association, The Student Government Council, and

She connected with the organization’s National Director, Tray John, whom she had met during her senior year in high school as part of her Topol Fellowship. Sofia visited schools all across the country teaching about the school to prison pipeline. She held workshops at community centers, police stations, and public offices in order to educate all ages, races, and genders about these issues that affect thousands across the United States. Other initiatives she focused on was decreasing rate of incarceration for women by working with organizations such as the Massachusetts Bail Community to help those be able to afford bail for minimal