Name: Serena McMahon
Age: 19
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Bourne, Massachusetts
Major: Journalism and Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies
HC: You’re super involved on campus! Can you tell us a bit about what you do?
SM: The first group I ever got involved in was the Coalition to End Rape Culture (CERC). We created a document called the Survivor’s Bill of Rights to help protect survivors of sexual violence at UMass.  I love CERC because it’s a bunch of awesome people who are passionate about making campus a better place! Right now, I am a news writer and social media assistant for the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. I am so grateful for this experience, it’s so rewarding to be involved with student media on campus! Â
HC: Why do you think it’s important for students to be politically and socially active?
SM: “The students united will never be defeated,” is one of my favorite sayings because it holds truth and power. We are seeing millennials actively creating collective student power, stemming from grassroots organizing. This student activism directly challenges oppression, discrimination, and the status quo at the university level and beyond. It’s our responsibility, especially in the upcoming presidential elections, to demand racial justice, gender equality, environmental justice, and college affordability, among many other things. We can’t sit back and wait for someone else to do this, which is why students becoming politically and socially active is so important!
HC: What do you like to do in your free time? (If you have any!)
SM: Adventure, write, watch American Horror Story with my roommate, eat buffalo chicken bacon ranch pizzas from Antonios, buy things I don’t need from Target
HC: What is your best UMass memory?
SM: Okay I have a few!! Halloween 2014, dancing to DJ Dah Son’s music, #CarryThatWeight day of action with CERC carrying mattresses from the Student Union to Whitmore, and tailgating at UMass football games.
HC: What’s something you look for in a significant other?
SM: Someone who is passionate about something! It doesn’t matter what really, but someone who gets excited talking about even the smallest detail of what they love. It’s inspiring to see someone light up when they talk about their passions and dreams.
HC: Who is your celebrity crush at the moment?
SM: Right at this moment…I would be lying if I didn’t say Drake, I like his sweaters. Alex Libby doesn’t seem too bad to me either.
HC: And you’re studying abroad next semester! What is the number one thing on your study abroad bucket list?
SM: I am so excited to be studying in Cape Town, South Africa! The top of my bucket list is sky diving! Along with petting lions and seeing elephants and penguins, of course.
HC: And finally, guilty pleasure?
SM: NAPS.
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Photos: Cover/1 courtesy of photographer Robert Rigo, all others courtesy of author