GRAD Spotlight: Amanda Udukumbura

July 26, 2022 - 04:30 PM

GRAD SPOTLIGHT is a series highlighting our 2022 graduates' stories. The series runs on the Mt. SAC social media channels Instagram and Facebook. 

The moment Amanda Udukumbura began serving as the president of the NoH8 Gender Sexuality Alliance at her high school, she began a life-long path of love supporting the LGBTQ+ community through education and advocacy.

When the first-generation LGBTQ+ student set foot on campus, Amanda joined the Pride Center as a student assistant and served as the president of the Sexuality and Gender Acceptance Club at Mt. SAC.

“I am especially proud of the loving kindness and compassion radiated by the various communities of Mt. SAC, which never fails to support their people, and will forever cherish the moments I’ve shared with such resilient and passionate people,” she says. “Mt. SAC is full of beautiful, colorful, and vibrant people. We are a community that comes from diverse backgrounds, but we are still united, and I am proud to be a part of this community.”

Amanda can also be proud of her academic achievements at Mt. SAC. The Jack Kent Cooke Transfer Scholarship semifinalist and Student of Distinction earned four Associate degrees, is Honors certified, and owns a 4.0 GPA.

“I plan on attending UCLA and then applying for graduate school,” Amanda says. “I intend on doing a combined Ph.D. and Master’s program. Ideally, I would enroll in UCLA’s Sociology graduate program with a concentration in gender. I would like to complete my education and return to Mt. SAC as a professor of Sociology.”

But before she completes her education at UCLA, Amanda gets to enjoy Commencement on June 10.

“Graduating from Mt. SAC means representing people from marginalized communities, giving them a voice, especially as a member of these marginalized communities myself,” she says. “I genuinely appreciate graduating from Mt. SAC because it involves being part of a community that unconditionally appreciates and accepts me for who I am.

“It also means advocating for a cause worth fighting for. I have learned such valuable lessons from Mt. SAC and am excited to become an educator too, so I can share these lessons with my community.”