Emily Kern is IGNITE’s Milwaukee Fellow. She is currently a senior at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (UWM) majoring in Political Science with a minor in Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies. Emily is passionate about furthering human rights to create a more equitable society for those our current system has marginalized. Upon graduation, she plans to pursue a position behind the scenes to advance human rights in our community such as through writing and education or lobbying. She has served as an Equity Team Ally within the UWM Honors College, which is a dedicated group of students and faculty who are striving to make the Honors College and academia as a whole more equitable for first-generation and marginalized students. Within this role, Emily is working on bringing the movement to a larger scale by improving the Honors admissions process as well as hosting discussions on the importance of anti-racist actions. She has studied abroad in Sevilla, Spain to practice open-mindedness by learning about the culture directly from the people. She also participated in a full-immersion Spanish education program to help gain speaking and comprehension skills to connect with more people in her community. As a Fellow, Emily is looking forward to the opportunities she will receive through IGNITE as well as the community she will get to help create at UWM and in the broader community. For Milwaukee inquiries, contact emily_k@ignitenational.org.