Water bottles left in the middle of a desert on the Tijuana/San Diego border with messages of hope written in Spanish. Children’s clothes and toys abandoned by the dried-up husk of a bush. A mother, attorney and activist, separated from her teenage daughter in the U.S., standing by the wall on the Mexican side with an upraised fist, defiant and undeterred. These were just a few of the moments that struck BC alum Mari McMenamin on a whirlwind journey to tell the story of life at the Mexico/Southern California border for 91.3 KBCS, BC’s award-winning community radio station serving the Seattle-Tacoma region.
In the spring of 2013, Charmaine “Cid” Canja fulfilled her mother and father’s lifelong dream. She became a nurse. It was the culmination of her parents’ sacrifice, long working hours, and for Canja, intense studying. Of the 35,000 people taking the Philippine National Licensure Exam, she placed fifth. The problem was, she didn’t want to be a nurse. Learn how a STEM to Stern class inspired her to switch gears, and discover a new passion for engineering.
