Liberal Arts student pursues passion for immigrants’ rights in Chile

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Luisina Kemanian-Leites, a fourth-year student double majoring in international politics and Latin American studies and triple minoring in Arabic, Middle East studies and Spanish, spent her fall semester in Santiago, Chile, in a program focused on politics, social justice and language.

Kemanian-Leites grew up in State College. Her parents, who are professors at Penn State, immigrated to the United States from Uruguay, where her family continues to live. Her father’s side of the family are Armenian refugees who fled to Uruguay after the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Her family’s background sparked a passion in Kemanian-Leites.

“I have always been interested in human rights and immigrants’ rights, as it relates to international relations,” she said. “Seeing how different countries respond to conflict, treat incoming immigrants and refugees and build social infrastructure to accommodate them has been fascinating.”

Kemanian-Leites chose to study in a Latin American country as it directly related to her major and she wished to learn about Latin American politics and history from local professors, who offered a varied perspective from what she had learned at Penn State. Additionally, Chile was going through the historic process of voting to adopt a new constitution at the time of Kemanian-Leites’ education abroad experience. She was able to witness firsthand the unique democratic processes at play in what she said would have been the most progressive constitution in the world had it not been rejected by Chilean voters on Sept. 4.

While taking courses focused on human rights in Latin America, native cultures and a Chilean economics course, the Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Scholar also participated in an internship while in Chile. As a teaching assistant at the Escuela Amor de Dios, Kemanian-Leites worked with students from vulnerable communities who were Haitian, Venezuelan and Peruvian immigrants.

“The school is seen as a safe space for students,” she said. “How we interacted with students is very different from teaching experiences in the United States because you have to keep in mind the traumas they experienced prior to coming.”

The internship exposed her to the different types of challenges that immigrants face around the world that she had not thought of before. She hopes to implement what she learned into her future career in immigration.

One class Kemanian-Leites took this fall focused on native cultures and the different Indigenous groups in Chile. Part of the curriculum included field trips to meet with Indigenous leaders.

“It was cool because we were able to meet the Indigenous communities and hear directly from their leaders about their fight for rights in Chile right now,” she said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Being away from her family was not challenging since Kemanian-Leites studied abroad earlier in 2022 in Amman, Jordan. She said that she studied abroad initially because she thought it would be more helpful to travel to the places she was studying in her classes.

Kemanian-Leites received funding from Penn State Global and the Liberal Arts Career Enrichment Network to support her education abroad experiences. She said she also appreciates the support she’s received from her academic advisers in the College of the Liberal Arts, Ben Whitesell and Greg Nolan, who she talked to often to ensure she stayed on course to graduate.

Kemanian-Leites will be back on campus this upcoming spring semester to complete her undergraduate degrees. She also plans to get back to being involved in the organization that she and fourth-year Liberal Arts student Janae Sayler co-founded — Minorities in the College of the Liberal Arts.

“These kinds of organizations help create a sense of community in such a huge university,” Kemanian-Leites said. “I think we help students feel safe and secure, especially in that transition to college. It creates a new kind of family.”

She encouraged other students thinking about participating in an education abroad experience to go for it and take the risk, even if it might feel intimidating.

“I promise you will meet a ton of amazing people, and it will be a good time. You can do it, and you have all the tools in your hands to accomplish it,” she said.

Participating in an internship, research, or global experience during summer 2023? Liberal Arts students can apply for enrichment funds through the Career Enrichment Network. Funding is available to support virtual, remote and/or face-to-face enrichment experiences. The priority deadline is Monday, May 1.