The ninth annual First-Gen Celebration Week kicked off with a keynote speech and Q&A with Julio Mejia, centered on resilience and finding one’s way despite chaos.
Mejia, only 20 years old, has already created a name for himself. A junior at Bentley University, Mejia first rose to prominence in 2023 when he became one of the first Gen-Z elected officials to the Greater Lawrence Technical School Committee. Since then, Mejia has worked with a variety of organizations, becoming the Executive Director of the Merrimack Valley Project, being a member of Governor Maura Healey’s Youth Advisory Council and even travelling to Washington, D.C. to represent Dominican-Americans during the Biden administration.
The theme for this year’s First-Gen Celebration Week, as Center for First-Generation and Educational Equity Director Lisa Rivera introduced, was resilience and championing access for others in a time where opportunities for first-generation students were under threat. The closure of the Veterans Upward Bound TRIO program was specifically mentioned in the speech as an example of such threats.
During his keynote speech, Mejia spoke of his work against entrenched systems in Lawrence, Massachusetts, as his defeat of a 38-year incumbent made him one of few people of color in elected office in Lawrence — a majority-hispanic city. He also described how national threats to human rights have kept him inspired to continue making change while in office.
“What’s happening nationally has grounded me in why I keep going,” said Mejia in reference to the actions of the Trump administration.
After the keynote speech, the event transitioned into a Q&A with Mejia, moderated by Suffolk juniors Victor Cruz Castro and Christina Costa. During the Q&A, one of the main topics was maintaining a work-life balance, as Mejia commutes to Bentley three days a week for evening classes while maintaining a job from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. He said that having a mentor at school to confide in was one of his greatest strengths for dealing with such a schedule, as it allowed Mejia to talk through deciding what he wanted to major in, something he said has changed numerous times as he determines what his future will look like.
Mejia also gave advice about the power of using one’s voice and putting passion into what you care about. He described how prior to running for the school committee, he wanted to become a teacher, but seeing how Lawrence often struggled, Mejia wanted to create a difference in the community, and for him, that would come in the form of running for the school committee. He noted how frequently people would question his credentials or dismiss him based on his age, however, he persisted because he believed in it..
“If something comes up in your head, no matter how crazy it sounds, throw yourself out at it,” said Mejia.
Finally, he gave advice on how to bring people together to create change in the face of funding cuts at both the federal and state level. Mejia talked about the organizing cycle of an advocate. He said first, listen to what the community wants and needs to be addressed. Then, connecting those with similar issues to each other, identifying how people can create change for a specific problem and taking public action as a group to make demands on those in positions of power.
“No one is coming to save us, we have to save ourselves.” said Mejia.
