Stephanie Mendez is a 26-year-old nursing major and mother of two boys. She has worked in insurance for 5 years and is pursuing nursing to help others through missionary work. She is motivated to participate politically because younger Latinx people are not speaking up for immigration rights even though many were born in the US. She would change abortion laws to give women more freedom over their bodies and make citizenship paths more attainable with gun restrictions.

1. My name is Stephanie Mendez and I am a Nursing major. I am 26
years old and a mother of 2 boys. I have also worked in insurance,
and currently still do, for 5 years. I decided to pursue Nursing
because I've always been drawn towards helping others and I want
to be able to help others in countries that aren’t as fortunate as we
are get proper medical help as a missionary.

2. WHAT MOTIVATES ME
What motivates me the most to be an active participant is
that it doesn't seem as though there are many of the
younger Latinx generation that are speaking up for
immigration rights. Which is concerning because although
a lot of the younger generation was born here they should
still speak out for others who don't have that privilege to
be able to have the same equal opportunity. Having the
privilege to have a voice and being able to use it is what
drive me to vote. I would change the abortion law,
because women should definitely have freedoms to their
bodies and I would also make the path towards citizenship
more attainable as well as apply gun restrictions.

3. 3 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
• I have learned that the Governor of Texas has informal
powers and is actually less in charge than what I thought and
that even in a town like Sherman, TX the mayor doesn't have as
much power as it seems.
• I also learned that there are cases in Texas that have been
overturned because there is not a proper translation in Spanish
and there really should be giving that Texas is a border state.
• There should also be more funding and support towards
rehabilitation for minors who commit crimes so that they can
move forward with their lives outside of crime.
• I was not expecting to learn so much about the intricate
working of our local government and how exactly council
members get picked. I also did not expect to learn about the
criminal justice system and how Texas has a high incarceration
rate.

4. THE FUTURE
One of the biggest issues that I can see to
continue on in the future is Immigration
reform. It is one of the most debated
political concepts that is always brought
up in Texas. Because Texas is a border
state it makes sense that it’s residents are
concerned with exactly how it is dealt with.
I think as society gradually moves toward
political freedom and more liberal views
that hopefully eventually there will be
changes made towards the process to
becoming a resident or citizen of the U.S.

5. TEXAS
Texas being the second largest state with 150
seats in the House of Representatives and one
representative for every . I see state powers have
a bigger influence on national powers especially
because Texas is a border state and would have
more say-so on immigration reform, abortion
laws, oil/ land imminent rights, as well as farming
since Texas is widely known for farmers and
ranchers. I also see Texas having influence on
criminal justice reform as well since it’s an
important political concept that always gets
discussed during elections.

6. WHAT I WILL TAKE
WITH ME
I have learned a lot about Texas’ local
government from how council members are
chosen up to how the board members in Texas
are chosen as well. Also about the criminal
justice system and how that could be better but
those changes don’t just happen overnight and
with law reform there would also have to be
educational, health reform, etc. to tag along
with it. I do think that Texas can get there
eventually. I also learned more in depth about
how elections are handled and how politicians
raise money as well as utilize the resources they
have available to promote their campaign,
whether free or not. How political parties do
not really play as big of role as we all really
think and they don’t indicate ideology.