Andrea Valdez Torres is a senior at The University of Texas at Tyler, majoring in political science with a minor in pre-law. She is the founder and president of East Texas Monarchs, a youth-led nonprofit that supports undocumented students through advocacy and access to resources. On campus, she served as a junior class at-large senator and a judicial branch justice in the Student Government Association. Valdez Torres has presented original research on U.S. immigration policy at the Midwest Political Science Association Annual Conference and received the Faculty Award for Student Research Distinction. She has participated in leadership programs including Immigrant Rising’s Pre-Law Boot Camp, United We Dream’s Summer of Dreams, and NEW Leadership® Texas. As a Model United Nations delegate, she received a Position Paper award and was part of a Distinguished Delegation at NYU’s collegiate conference. After graduation, she plans to attend law school and pursue a career in diplomacy.