Maria R. Vargas

Program Coordinator

A graduate from Florida International University Honors College, Maria received her Bachelors in International Relations in 2024. During her time in school, she worked in non-profits and grassroots movements in Miami, FL where she grew up most of her life. Maria had come from an educational environment that pushed her to involve herself in local Florida politics by participating in clubs like Model United Nations and Speech and Debate. This gave her the knowledge needed to teach students in her city Speech and Debate as an after-school coach in underfunded schools in North Miami. She was heavily involved in civic education and voting rights for young people in South Florida where she nurtured her voice and passion for community building, equity and justice for underprivileged groups in the United States. While mobilizing the community and being in the field speaking to community members across Miami-Dade and Broward County, she wrote of her perspective and thoughts on the justice and public education system in a series of short essays in hopes to publish them in the near future. Meeting Kathie, the founder of Exchange for Change, came at a pivotal moment in her life where she knew the work that was being done was vital and contributing to it would be an unimaginable experience.