The Nitty Gritty
My name is Sophia Lundberg (she/her/hers) and I’m a 21-year-old college student here at Middlebury. I’m the biracial daughter of a white American father named Brian (love Brian) and a Taiwanese mother named Meili (also love Meili). My younger sister, Grace (love Grace) is a first-year at UCLA. We also have a small dog named Lucky (had to give him a shoutout because we love Lucky). Our family has spent time living in New Jersey, Shanghai, Minnesota, Taiwan, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. I credit my resilience, curiosity, ambition, and compassion to the adventures we’ve shared.
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In my life, it has always been upfront engagement with issues — as well as the people surrounding such issues — that have given me effective experience. Growing up with mixed identities and in an international context fostered in me a desire to serve, to figure out how to make the opportunities I was given in life more available to others. Despite the endless support I received from my loving family, moving around was destabilizing and I struggled to cope. Maintaining my mental health has been an active, years-long process. These circumstances and certain mainstream narratives led me to pursue military and government service.
I— like every single one of my peers—have experienced moments of self-doubt, boundary-pushing, and limits-reaching. Middlebury constantly pushes me to challenge assumptions and narratives that I’ve had about myself, others, and our places in the broader world. My time and efforts in college have spanned a wide array of academic and extracurricular interests. I was a member of the Middlebury College Women’s Rugby Club during my first semester before getting my second concussion, I acted as a tour guide for the Office of Admissions, and I spent a year as an un-contracted cadet with the University of Vermont’s Army ROTC program. After realizing that I did not want to pursue a career with the military or other government agencies, I spent a semester abroad with the School for International Training (SIT)’s International Honors Program on Human Rights. While the semester was originally intended to travel to Nepal, Jordan, Chile, we had to complete the second half of the semester remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Within the Middlebury network, I’ve previously worked as a MiddView Assistant and an Extremism Investigation Intern with the Middlebury Institute for International Studies (MIIS)’s Center for Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism (CTEC). Aside from the SGA, I currently am involved with the Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB) and work as Special Events Staff under the Student Activities Office (SAO).
SGA Vice President
Over the past year, I’ve had the honor of working alongside John Schurer, Roni Lezama, and student leaders both within and outside the SGA to foster a culture of active collaboration and care here at Midd. Our team strove to uplift student voices and advance student initiatives by facilitating conversations between students, administration, and staff.
Through my work in the SGA, I’ve pinpointed areas where institutional culture needs improvement, developed a rapport with the administration while advocating strongly for students’ needs, pushed for communication that prioritizes transparency and accountability, maintained a well-organized and streamlined system of documentation, and structured an 115+ member organization that allows for cross-collaboration on initiatives and projects.
Some work I’ve been involved in:
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Structured, coordinated, and moderated the Student Town Hall-style panel alongside John Schurer (‘21) and Roni Lezama (‘22), and with administration and staff to aid in information sharing about COVID-19’s impact on the 2020-2021 return-to-campus plans.
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Aided Francoise Niyigena (‘21) and Madison Holland (‘21) in the structuring and coordinating of the Open Meeting on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that focused on key DEI and Anti-Racist efforts being taken by the College, including the 5-Year Action Plan for Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
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Fundraised $50,000 for nationally-focused and Vermont-focused organizations committed to racial equity and justice alongside John Schurer (‘21), Roni Lezama (‘22), Alice Hudson (‘21), Mason Olmsted (‘21), Abbott LaPrade (‘21), and the Office of Advancement.
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Provided feedback and recommendations alongside Khasai Makhulo (‘23), Connor Wertz (‘22), and Haley Goodman (‘21) to the Land Acknowledgement Steering Committee on ongoing and potential future College initiatives pertaining to native lands and indigenous culture.
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Continued conversations with Connor Wertz (‘22), the Anderson Freeman Resource Center (AFC), and Middlebury Outdoor Programs (MOP) about bolstering outdoor programming for students who come from marginalized communities.
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Organized a winter clothing giveaway in collaboration with Jackson Evans (‘22), the AFC, the Student Activities Office (SAO), and the International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) to give out clean, secondhand items in good condition.
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Established open dialogues alongside John Schurer (‘21), Roni Lezama (‘22), Kenzo Okazaki (‘21), and Priya Kaur (‘22) about student stress and student workloads with Faculty Council.
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Maintained dialogue with the Office of Communications on pressing issues and information sharing frameworks.
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Fostered collaboration between the College’s SGA and the MIIS’s Student Council.
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Engaged in conversation alongside current Co-Chair Christian Kummer (‘22) with representatives from Public Safety and Chocolate Thunder about campus security and the use of multiple private security firms.
Being in this position and getting to interact with different members of our Midd community has instilled in me a desire and an ambition to work with fellow student leaders and those who are willing to engage in our efforts to leave the institution better than we found it.