MESM 2024
Pronouns: she/her
Bio
Isabella Rothenberg graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2020, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Ethnic and Gender Studies. During her undergraduate career, Isabella attended classes that analyzed the intersection of social and environmental issues, noticing patterns of who was affected and hypothesizing solutions for these targeted groups. Growing up, Isabella was shocked by stories her grandfather and other relatives would recount of dreadful conditions as farmworkers in the San Joaquin Valley, and how they fought back by boycotting alongside Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. This family history, combined with her upbringing in Berkeley, California filled with protesting and activism, sparked Isabella’s interest in social and environmental justice. In order to combat some of these issues, Isabella has been active in volunteering and community service in the Bay Area. Most recently, she collaborated with an interfaith art jobs and job training program called Youth Spirit Artworks to design and construct a “Tiny House Village” in Oakland for unhoused youth ages 16-25 in the San Francisco East Bay Area. Isabella hopes that she can combine her real-life volunteer and activism experience with her past and future knowledge of environmental justice in order to turn her hypotheses into real-world solutions to environmental issues affecting underserved and marginalized communities.