Aria Bernal graduates this week withΒ a degree in environmental scienceΒ from the University of Arizona. Bernal competed on the swim team and plans to attend graduate school to earn a master's degree in environmental science and continue swimming.
Growing up in Houston, Aria Bernal, who graduated from the University of Arizona on Friday, saw what environmental injustice looks like.
Lower-income communities, especially those with high concentrations of Latino residents, often didnβt have sidewalks, greenspaces and proper irrigation. Sheβs noticed it in Arizona, too, where chemicals from factories and contaminants from old mines seem disproportionately positioned near poorer communities.
But Bernal was also exposed to the power of activism through her late maternal grandparents.
βThey were huge social justice advocates. They were part of the Latino rights movement in Houston,β said Bernal, who recalls how her grandparents built a ditch in a neighborhood that was prone to flooding. βTheir legacy lives on through me. All of the efforts they made in their life are a huge motivation for me and I want to make them proud.β
After four years at the UA, Bernal is leaving Tucson with a bachelorβs in environmental science and a deep understanding of how she can use her degree to advocate for marginalized communities like her grandparents did. She has plans to pursue a masterβs in environmental science after graduation, though sheβs not sure where yet.
While she doesnβt know precisely the job she wants after that β sheβs hoping graduate school will present some ideas β her overarching aim is to βhelp marginalized communities, make them environmentally sustainable living spaces and reduce the impact of global warming.β
But that wasnβt so clear to her during her first year of college. She credits her professors and campus mentors with bringing her interests into focus.
When Bernal was recruited to join the swim team at the UA, she already knew she wanted to major in environmental science. βI saw what was happening with climate change and how it was impacting us. Preserving the beauty of nature is something I felt was innate,β she said. βI felt passionately enough to study that.β
But she wasnβt entirely sure how her coursework would translate into a career. And between her demanding swimming schedule β she held the fastest 100-yard backstroke time on the team for three straight years β and school, there wasnβt a lot of downtime to think about it.
Finding her βfireβ
Further, Bernal said she struggled to find a sense of belonging as a Latina on campus, competing in a white-dominated sport.
βIβve dealt with my fair share of prejudice and microaggressions,β she said, recalling the βobvious segregationβ within her high school classes β she was one of the few people of color taking advanced courses. βI thought when I came to college it would be different, but I was incorrect. β¦ Itβs very prevalent and common and itβs something I want to change in any way I can.β
Then, she joined a group on campus called Men and Women of Purpose, which is a program designed to help underrepresented student-athletes establish their individual values, networks and career insights.
βI finally had a space where I felt like I belonged. I could talk with people who were going through the same things I was going through,β Bernal said. βIβve been able to develop good communication skills and more of an inner confidence. I feel more confident to speak up about things I have issues with.β
Aaron Davis, a senior leadership specialist at the UA, was the educator who connected Bernal with Men and Women of Purpose. Theyβve stayed in touch, and heβs watched her come into her own.
βSheβll come into my office and tell me about her environmental science classes β how different policies have affected community resources and opportunities in relation to the environment,β Davis said. βItβs exciting to see someone so excited about these issues our world needs to address so badly. I donβt always see the kind of fire in students like I do in Aria.β
That fire is something MΓ³nica RamΓrez-Andreotta, an assistant professor of environmental science at the UA, saw in Bernal when she took her class on ecosystem health and justice a few years ago.
βShe always sat in the front row and took a lot of notes,β said RamΓrez-Andreotta, who noted Bernalβs above-average academic performance while balancing a rigorous swimming schedule.
She remembers one moment in particular when Bernal came up to her after class and told her not only how important the material was to her, but also that it was being taught by another Latina.
That interaction left a lasting impression.
βThey skyβs the limit with Aria. She has the trifecta of intelligence, passion and discipline β and really wants to do the right thing,β RamΓrez-Andreotta said. βWhen you see that kind of light and energy in a student, my job is to create these platforms and find opportunities for them.β
RamΓrez-Andreotta encouraged Bernal to get more involved with field work and focus her interests. Several months later, Bernal joined one of RamΓrez-Andreottaβs labs and worked on a project investigating the quality of native plants growing in stormwater drainage basins.
RamΓrez-Andreotta is confident Bernal will take what sheβs learned at the UA, build on it wherever she chooses to attend graduate school and apply those skills toward affecting positive change in the realm of environmental science.
The field, RamΓrez-Andreotta added, needs more people like Bernal.
βTo create structural change, itβs important to have cultural knowledge brokers β individuals who come from the communities in which weβre aiming to serve, who are able to engage those communities and who are also fluent in the science,β RamΓrez-Andreotta said. βI see Aria being able to create that structural change as both a cultural knowledge broker and scientist.β
Photos: 2022 University of Arizona Commencement
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony
Updated
The University of Arizona's 158th Commencement Ceremony