So when she thought about spearheading a new club at Fordham in her sophomore year, a UNICEF chapter seemed like a perfect fit. Under her leadership as president since 2016, the club has successfully engaged in fundraising and advocacy to advance the U.N.’s efforts for children.

Graduating from Fordham College at Rose Hill with an international political economy degree in the French language track, Olveira credits Fordham’s West Wing, an integrated learning community, with nurturing her as a student and a social justice activist.

“It gave me a sense of community, but we were also talking about public policy, international relations, and local issues,” she said of the West Wing, which focuses on Ignatian leadership and civic service. She also gained confidence in her public speaking abilities, which she needed to pursue leadership roles.

“Just looking at who I was sophomore year versus now, I know that the program was a catalyst for so many things for me,” she said.

Olveira’s aspirations for peace building and public service have flowered through internships she pursued, including positions with the U.N.-affiliated Religions for Peace, UNICEF USA, and most recently, Pencils of Promise, which helps build educational infrastructure in Ghana, Guatemala, Laos, and Nicaragua.

In 2017, she was elected to represent UNICEF USA as one of six National Council Members at the college level; in this role she has advocated on Capitol Hill for the human rights of children.

Olveira received a Tobin Travel Fellowship from Fordham to fund a research trip to England, France, and Germany following her junior year. She studied how governments in these countries are helping refugee children transition to new schools after their educations have been disrupted.

“That really connected with me because I know how important it is, after having moved my whole life, to be at a school that can welcome you and create an environment where you feel like what you are doing is important, and also help you catch up with the work,” she said.

Through school visits and interviews, Olveira learned that while some schools, particularly in Germany, have many resources for these children, others are severely lacking. She hopes to publish her findings as part of an expanded project.

While in England, Olveira learned of a University of Cambridge M.Phil. program in education and international development. She applied and was accepted, but decided to defer enrollment to pursue a prestigious UNICEF USA Global Citizenship Fellowship, which she has just been awarded.

The two-year program prepares individuals working on behalf of children for effective leadership in public service. As the New York Community Engagement Fellow, Olveira will lead partnership development and grassroots implementation of UNICEF initiatives.

Ultimately, she aims for a career with a worldwide view.

“I would love to be an ambassador and do foreign service work, or if not, be in an organization like UNICEF working on a larger leadership scale,” she said.

–Nina Heidig

“That would be the greatest transfer of human capital that we’ve seen in recent times,” he said of the move that would send 800,000 law-abiding, economically productive U.S. residents to Mexico. “It would transform Mexico in a very positive way, but of course this isn’t what the DACA recipients want. They’ve spent most of their lives in the United States, and even though they were born in Mexico or other countries, they believe this is the country they call home.”

In a wide-ranging Q&A at the Rose Hill campus on Oct. 3, Gomez-Pickering lamented the fact that in the United States, the word “immigrant” has become synonymous with “criminal.” He detailed his government’s efforts to aid DACA recipients and its response to last month’s earthquake in Mexico City. He also remarked on the ties that bind Mexico to the United States, New York City, and Fordham.

An Unbreakable Connection

The United States was the first country to recognize Mexico as an independent state in 1821, he said. In 1848, when the Mexican-American war ended, he noted that 110,000 families in Texas woke to find themselves living in another country. Even today, the economic and cultural bonds between San Diego and Tijuana are strong.

“It might seem that the U.S. and Mexico are going through a rough time, but that’s not necessarily the case. On an everyday basis, the relationship is still there. We’re much more than neighbors, because if you don’t like your neighbor, you can just move to another building.”

“We’ve got to stick together as we have been, in a positive manner.”

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, said that the University’s connection with Mexico is “longstanding, deep, and enriching.”  He noted that one of the University’s most valuable artworks, the eight-foot-high painting Adoration of the Magi, which is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until the end of the month, was created by the Mexican painter Cristóbal de Villalpando.

“In the 19th century, shortly after our founding, we had a very substantial number of students from the Caribbean, including the coast of Mexico, as part of our community. So our connection with Mexico is rich,” he said.

Welcoming Refugees

Monica Olveira, a Fordham College at Rose Hill senior majoring in International Political and Economic Development (IPED) who works with UNICEF, used the opportunity to ask Gomez-Pickering what the country is doing to help children who are migrating there from countries like Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

“Mexico has always been a very welcoming country to refugees. If you look back at the later part of the 20th century when all the military coups happened in South America, Mexico was the number one destination for many political refugees,” Gomez-Pickering said.

He said that the Mexican government holds meetings at least once a with representatives of countries in the “Northern Triangle.” The goal is to aid migrants, particularly those who travel by themselves.

“That’s something that continues, especially for our brothers and sisters from Latin America.”

Gomez-Pickering’s visit was sponsored by Fordham’s Latin American and Latino Studies Institute (LALSI).