Kimberly Medina was named Outstanding Woman of the Year over four other finalists on March 29.
Medina described the feeling of winning as one of disbelief.
"It's an honor to be described in conjunction with all these women," she said. "I can't really believe that I was chosen of the five."
Medina, a fourth-year political science and international studies student from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has been very influential in the USC community over the past few years. She has done work with the Multicultural Assistant Peer Program, a program designed to assist first-year multicultural students in their transition to the University of South Carolina. Along with this, she served at the Good Samaritan Clinic, which provides dental and medical help, as well as health education services for the latino community in both Columbia and West Columbia. She also worked as a legal service assistant for both the Mil Mujeres Legal Services in Washington, D.C., a firm which provides legal services and community education to low-income Hispanic immigrants, and South Carolina legal services.
“I see the value of living beyond the shadows. Having legal status opens many doors,” Medina said. “With it comes the opportunity to drive and work legally and most importantly, the opportunity to live without the fear and threat of deportation. For many women gaining legal status is what propels them to leave abusive relationships, seek helps and more forward with their lives.”
This award has been given out since 1991, and is held specifically for female USC students who hold a 3.0 GPA or higher, with 60 credit hours or more with the university, as well as being actively involved with bettering the community.
“It's basically essentially important to acknowledge our women leaders at Carolina because they are so important in acknowledging and empowering other women, so it’s a celebration of females as a whole," said Chelsea Johansson, the event organizer and a higher education and student affairs masters student. "Our goal is to celebrate them as a cohort and as collection of achieving women versus one over the other, because frankly, when one woman wins, we all win,”
Medina spoke on the importance of having her family there to witness her acceptance of her award, and called attention to the sacrifices they made and support they provided along the way.
Her plans for the future are to go into law school and eventually become an immigration attorney.
“Just kind of goes to show that there really is no barriers to what you can do. I think, sometimes being ... a person of color there are certain expectations about what we can do," Medina said, "but I hope this serves as an example to the young women coming behind me that do look like me or can identify with me in some sort of way that they too are capable of doing a lot."