As the sun set on Friday evening, students fought for human rights simply by playing a friendly game of kickball.
College Democrats and Supporting Women in Political Science hosted a kickball fundraiser on March 2 in order to raise money for SCOPE, Student Community of Progressive Empowerment.
Student organizations from across campus participated in the event. PAAC, Black Women United, Black Men United, Latinas Unidas and Hombres Unidos members joined together to play kickball.
SCOPE is an organization that supports and serves undocumented students. Programs Coordinator Yunuen Alvarado, journalism junior, said SCOPE provides a safe space for immigrant students to learn how to operate in a college setting as an undocumented student.
An immigrant herself, Alvarado said she finds the organization’s purpose powerful and extremely important. She said she joined the organization her freshmen year to find a home on campus.
“I knew I really needed the support going into college especially with my legal status and not having anyone there to understand,” Alvarado said.
Alvarado said SCOPE has empowered her to accept her immigrant status and embrace it as she moves forward in her life.
“As the organization grows we need to make room for our members to grow and learn as well,” Alvarado said. “It’s definitely empowered me about my legal status and taught me to want to empower others who may have faced similar problems.”
Operations Coordinator Isabel Esparza, English junior, joined the organization as an ally. She said she comes from a family of immigrants and found that SCOPE’s mission resonated with her.
“These are your friends, your neighbors, your sisters and brothers being affected,” Esparza said. “It’s not a ‘one group’ issue, it’s a human rights issue.”
Esparza said SCOPE is open to any student who cares about immigrants’ rights regardless of their documentation.
“It’s an issue that everybody should care about and want to make better so that people don’t have to suffer in order to live their best lives,” Esparza said.
SCOPE has organized meetings with immigration attorneys and undocumented students, as well as raised money to donate to students for DACA renewals. Last year, the organization raised about $3,000 and presented DACA renewal scholarships to six students.
College Democrats President Alison Castillo, criminal justice sophomore, said she joined with Supporting Women in Political Science after discovering that SCOPE needed financial assistance in helping undocumented students.
“I really like how everyone came together to focus on this one cause,” Castillo said. “No one was argumentative or divisive, we all just came together to just play kickball and help those who need it.”
Supporting Women in Political Science Co-President Ana De Loza, political science senior, said her organization wanted to help with the fundraiser in order to involve her organization more on campus.
“We wanted to help SCOPE because essentially they’re helping us by helping our student population,” De Loza said.
At the end of the evening, Hombres Unidos won the kickball tournament and the event raised $146 for SCOPE. De Loza said they plan on hosting another kickball fundraiser for SCOPE in April after seeing how much the participating organizations enjoyed the event.