Flavia de la Fuente’s parents always encouraged her to take the initiative and be very vocal in pursuing her goals.
“I think it’s been a real stroke of luck to have parents who encourage me to be strong and confident and go for everything I want,” the fourth-year political science and Latin American studies student said.
Now, de la Fuente has the opportunity to be vocal on UCLA’s largest stage as the student speaker for the College of Letters and Science commencement ceremony at Drake Stadium.
De la Fuente’s speech will be about creativity and the power her fellow graduates have to be artists in their lives, she said.
“It’s a real honor, and I hope to do the position justice and live up to what I say in my speech,” she said.
De la Fuente is the oldest of three children born to Fernando de la Fuente and Fiorenza Comunian, immigrants from Chile. Her two younger siblings are also Bruins.
“My brother and sister and I, we’re all really different. I’m really into politics, my sister is pre-med, and my brother is an incoming Bruin at the music school ““ but UCLA fits for all of us,” de la Fuente said. “It’s a place for all kinds of people, and I think my family really speaks to that.”
De la Fuente has made a point of involving herself in as many aspects of campus life as possible throughout her college career. Her service and engagement on and off campus allow her to broadly represent her graduating class as someone who has taken full advantage of what UCLA has to offer, said Julie Sina, College of Letters and Science chief of staff and a member of the selection committee.
As a political science student, de la Fuente said the political system at UCLA has been the biggest influence on her time as an undergraduate student. She has participated in several aspects of student politics, from working on the Cultural Affairs Commission to serving as campaign manager for Cinthia Flores, the current Undergraduate Students Association Council president.
Her involvement in campus student government has prepared her to work in politics outside of UCLA, she said.
“The internal politics of the school have been a real eye opener,” she said. “I realized as I worked more and more in politics that UCLA is a good training ground if you want to be part of public life.”
De la Fuente is already actively involved in the political sphere beyond that of the UCLA campus. She works full time on behalf of the DREAM Act, a piece of legislation proposed in 2009 that would allow certain undocumented students to earn legal status. She also serves as an editor of Dreamactivist.org, an online network that provides resources to undocumented students.
“I’m a political science major, so I felt that in the same way that pre-med students spend time in labs during their undergrad years, I should be spending my time in real-world politics,” de la Fuente said. “There’s no better time than now to get involved.”
Her social and political activism stems from a deep passion and belief in the causes she supports ““ a passion that was nurtured and encouraged by a very politically active family, said her sister, Francesca de la Fuente, a Daily Bruin Viewpoint columnist.
“When she was a junior working on the Obama campaign during the 2008 presidential election, she was so busy with all the campaign work ““ and would go to Nevada every weekend to campaign ““ that our family talked to her rarely. But we were fine with it because she loved what she was doing,” Francesca de la Fuente said. “What she’s done at UCLA has really exemplified how much students can do for their own community.”
In addition to running the campaign Bruins For Obama, Flavia de la Fuente also sat as a board member for Bruin Democrats in her third year and served as co-director for Mighty Mic’s 2009 Benefit for Burma, an annual concert series that raised $3,000 to aid human rights awareness in Burma.
De la Fuente took the opportunity to study abroad in Chile during fall and winter quarters of her senior year. This, in addition to being active in social and political organizations on campus, presented her with a range of very different experiences throughout her four years in college.
“UCLA is like a kind of crucible because so many different kinds of things happen on campus every day, and we have to learn and adjust our way of seeing the world every time we’re challenged with something new,” she said.
A 10-person panel of staff, faculty and students selected de la Fuente from a pool of 30 applicants. Six students were asked to present their speeches to the selection committee in a process that involved a much larger degree of student engagement than in years past, said Joseph Brown, graduate student affairs officer for the political science department and head of the selection committee.
“At the end of the day, we wanted to get someone who represents the students and the UCLA community at large, chosen through a student-driven process, and Flavia was that person,” Brown said.
De la Fuente believes her fellow graduates will relate to her well-rounded experience at UCLA and hopes her speech will inspire them to be creative in their future endeavors, she said.
“No matter what field you’re in, whether it’s sciences, humanities or social sciences, we can all be artists, be creative, and see things differently,” de la Fuente said. “I think that’s something UCLA has done for us ““ it’s helped us look at the world in a different way.”