Miyako Iwata

UC Berkeley

Miyako Iwata is a student leader who is passionate about voting and civic engagement. As a member of the Associated Students of University of California (ASUC) Vote Coalition and an Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere Ambassador, Miyako has been instrumental in working with her peers to design and implement strategies for encouraging students to vote. This year Miyako will be serving as the campus representative for the PAC 12 vote challenge, a multi university coalition committed to increasing student voter participation she co-founded, as well as co-leading numerous student voter participation activities on campus.

Dr. Carol Christ
Chancellor
UC Berkeley

Personal Statement

Growing up mixed-race in Oregon, I struggled to find reflections of myself in my hometown, on TV screens, and among the public officials who represented me in Congress. Yet it wasn’t until college that I became more aware of Oregon’s representation problem, and realized that this struggle was not mine alone, but one that affected other Americans, too.

That's why, during my sophomore year at UC Berkeley, I focused on registering my peers to vote during the 2018 midterm elections, and have continued to fight to make voting more inclusive — and our democracy more reflective — ever since.

In my role as Lead Andrew Goodman Ambassador, I founded the PAC-12 Voting Challenge — a cross-campus initiative which has brought together a coalition of schools committed to increasing student voter turnout across the West Coast. I have also worked with underrepresented communities on campus, including the Queer Alliance Resource Center and Transfer Student Center, to ensure that voting is made accessible to every Berkeley student.

By registering my peers to vote and getting them out to the polls, my hope is to create a democracy where every American can look up to their representatives and see a reflection of themselves.

Miyako Iwata
Political Science: Class of 2021
written 2020

2020 Fellows Alphabetical by Institution

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Alexander Kaye, U. of Central Florida Miyako Iwata, UC Berkeley M. Chiamaka Okonkwo, UNC Charlotte Noelia Michelle Flores González, Universidad de Monterrey Ashlyn Woods, University of Baltimore Greta Hacker, University of Central Arkansas Christian Coleman, University of Central Oklahoma Hailey Ettinger, University of Colorado Boulder Michael Hernández, University of Connecticut Claire Sullivan, University of Dayton Maggie Nelson, University of Delaware Tarun Ramesh, University of Georgia Gregoria Uroza, University of Houston-Downtown Wasan Kumar, University of Illinois at Chicago Kaitlyn Meyr, University of Kentucky Ana Benitez, University of La Verne Amanda Gardner, University of Maine at Augusta Stephanie Turcios, University of Mary Washington Nihira Mugamba, University of Maryland, Baltimore County(UMBC) Maggie Sullivan, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Danelia Ramirez Aguilar, University of Massachusetts Lowell Jendayi London, University of Miami Meredith Days, University of Michigan Lucy Grimshaw, University of Missouri – St. Louis Kortney Sims, University of Montana Dinesh Karki, University of Nebraska Omaha Alexandra Vergara, University of New Hampshire Keyri Ambrocio, University of New Haven Aryelle Jacobsen, University of North Carolina Asheville Katherine Torres, University of North Georgia Yarik Molina, University of North Texas at Dallas Cole Passick, University of Northern Iowa Evan McKenna, University of Notre Dame Justin Norris, University of Oklahoma Nisha Sridhar, University of Oregon Oluwatomisin Oyedele, University of Pennsylvania Stephanie Rose, University of Pittsburgh TJ Tann, University of Richmond Ana Trejo Aguilar, University of San Diego Evelyn Pedraza Fernandez, University of San Francisco Imani Sherrills, University of South Carolina Beaufort Patrick Mack, University of South Carolina Upstate Reylan Cook, University of South Carolina-Columbia - Columbia, SC Tyus Edmond, University of St Thomas Amber Heidenreich, University of Wisconsin - Superior Shehrose Charania, University of Wisconsin-Madison Tavyonia Davis, University of Wisconsin-Parkside Trenton Ebel, UW Green Bay
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