The 2024-2025 RAJU Cohort

Jilary Guaman Calle is a senior at Rutgers University-Newark, majoring in Political Science with a minor in Women’s & Gender Studies. Jilary also pursues a double concentration in Social Justice through the Honors Living-Learning Community (HLLC) and the Honors College. As a member of the Fellows in Racial Justice Learning Community (RAJU), they worked to illuminate community narratives within decolonization discourse, offering a platform for individuals to reflect on the impact of colonialism on their current lives. 

As a first-generation immigrant from Ecuador, Jilary is deeply committed to advocating for the rights and stories of im/migrants, particularly within Queer, racialized communities. Their research focuses on the unjust criminalization and scrutiny faced by Queer bodies through migration. Jilary’s dedication to Queer experiences is closely tied to their own Queer identity. This commitment is further reflected in their role as a committee member of Newark’s LGBTQ Film Festival. Within the RU-Newark community, they emphasize the importance of creating supportive spaces for gender-queer individuals. 

Grace Asare is a senior at Rutgers University-Camden majoring in Political Science and double minoring in Legal Studies and Statistics. Grace was previously a part of the Fellows in Racial Justice Learning Community (RAJU), where she co-created a documentary focusing on housing and environmental justice in Camden. She now is committed to expanding racial justice efforts and learning across Rutgers campuses as leads the 2024-25 Student Advisory Board.

Grace’s interests in learning about systems of inequality has inspired her to continue her studies in government and politics as an Eagleton Undergraduate Associate. She believes in being an advocate for underserved communities of color to achieve a more equitable world.  

Azinwi Numfor is a junior at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, majoring in Public Policy and Political Science with minors in Law & History, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Africana Studies. She was a member of the Fellows in Racial Justice Learning Community (RAJU), where she deepened her understanding of systemic inequalities and worked to develop strategies for educational reform. 
 
Azinwi is committed to uplifting marginalized communities, particularly through her role as chair of the Education Committee for Rutgers NAACP. She also serves as a peer instructor for the First-Year Interest Group Seminars (FIGS), teaching a course on “Exploring Diversity and Social Justice.” Through her involvement on campus, Azinwi seeks to create inclusive spaces and effect positive policy changes that benefit marginalized communities. 

Renelyn (Ren) Sevilla is a senior at Rutgers-New Brunswick majoring in Psychology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. They are currently serving as a member of the executive board for Iota Iota Iota (Triota). While a member of the 2023-2024 RAJU Cohort, she completed a zine project that spotlighted the experiences of multiple disempowered communities titled Humanities 4 Humanity.   

Ren is deeply committed to providing accessible mental health services to oppressed communities and is preparing to write a senior honors thesis about how contemporary media representations of mental health for Women of Color and Gender Non-conforming people can be sites for decolonial resistance. 

Maria Loo is a senior at Rutgers-Newark double majoring in English & Political Science. As part of the 2023-2024 cohort of the RAJU Fellowship, Maria’s Social Action Project (SAP) was featured at the Mosh and Mingle Symposium in Rutgers-New Brunswick. Maria and her SAP group are currently in the process of printing their zine project so it can be distributed at Rutgers libraries and cultural centers. Maria is also an intern at the Historic Courthouse in the Superior Court Essex Vicinage and hopes to go to law school in the future.