Valeria Andrango

Valeria Andrango is an Ecuadorian-born immigrant of Kichwa heritage. She immigrated to the United States at an early age, where she spent the rest of her upbringing in Harlem, New York City. Here she worked closely with the missionaries of Charity to provide assistance in the development of their Domestic Violence Shelter and Community Outreach Youth Group. She developed a passion for international experiential learning following the opportunity to participate in The Leadership Institute hosted by the School of International Training in India and Nepal. Here she studied the effectiveness of NGOs in respect to community health and development. She is currently a rising third year student at the University of Pennsylvania studying Comparative Politics and Latin American and Latino Studies. Here she was awarded the Penn Undergraduate Mentorship Award to conduct linguistic research and assist in creating a Kashaya Dictionary. She has continued to advocate for language revitalization and the promotion of indigenous rights through the Quechua Program at Penn and The Quechua Alliance. From these experiences she has also gained a passion for promoting civic education and participation. Through the Netter Center for Community Participation she has advocated for civic education in underserved high schools in Philadelphia. She has expanded this advocacy to be at a state-level as a Policy and Program Fellow for The Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan organization promoting a better government in the State of Pennsylvania.