a scarcity of Katherines By Sheila Ahi
I was standing right next to Mark Zuckerberg, and I was absolutely starstruck! Katherine Pantango explained with her jaw dropped, mimicking her past self during the experience. She was at an event hosted by Facebook at Great America; the entire park was closed for the party, which she was invited as a guest of a friend, an intern at the company. This friend was made at the premiere of Documented, the documentary film surrounding Jose Antonio Vargas s mission to help undocumented immigration. Katherine worked with Vargas on his campaign to focus attention on our broken immigration system called Define American, which was why she was invited to the premiere. There, she met the intern from Facebook, also named Jose. Mark Zuckerberg co-hosted the premiere, inviting his company, including Jose-not-Vargas. After Katherine and him hit it off, she was later taken to She has passion and drive, both displayed through her work... [which] has touched the lives of people not only locally, but on an international scale. the gathering at Great America. It was so overwhelming, she said. But he was so nice! We ran into each other a few times after that [at the event]. Katherine Pantango is currently a sophomore at University of San Francisco studying race relations and communications. She has a passion and drive, both displayed through her working in the Multicultural center at her school, being multicultural commissioner in high school, as well as working with Jose Antonio Vargas on undocumented immigration. All her devotion is rooted from her empathy, to which she tries to spread to the people around her. Her work has touched the lives of people not only locally, but on an international scale. In high school, Katherine was an active member in the arts. From being one of the Editors in Chief of her school paper and on the executive
board for Dance Spectrum, her creativity knew no bounds. She was also involved in the Associated Student Body on campus and had the role of the Multicultural Commissioner. She was in charge of organizing multiple events that dealt with cultural awareness, from international to socioeconomic ones. Camp Everytown, a community-building retreat, was one of her main projects her senior year. From selecting candidates to attend to going for her second time in her high school career, an opportunity only the Multicultural Commissioner receives, she participated full-heartedly every step of the way. Community is something Pantango values
immensely. ones formed from common interest. Katherine is no stranger to hard [Jose Antonio Vargas] and I got ship. While going through her adoles- really close, said Katherine. I concence, her parents divorced. While it sider him like family now. was a difficult time for her and her It really comes down twin sister, Anne, they stuck together and made it through. to a lack of empathy; It brought us closer together, Politicians don t said Pantango. understand the people Her admiration and desire for they re affecting. community intensified, as well as -Katherine Pantango her emphasis on the importance of family. Not just blood related, but the Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and an immigration activist, first met Pantango through Mountain View High School s newspaper, the Oracle. Katherine and her co-editor in Chief, Sophie Ho, invited him to speak to the class since he was an Oracle alumni. Inspired by his presentation, the two began communicating with one another. Katherine wrote multiple articles about Jose, which were published in various media sources
in the Bay Area. She also helped bring about an event in which Vargas talked to the members of the Mountain View community about his journey of being an undocumented immigrant and his campaign, Define American. Katherine s own adventure took place in El Salvador, where she spent time building schools, a part of USF s Arrupe Immersion program. During her stay, she befriended many natives, some of whom had relatives in the United States. One boy she got close with was unable to reconnect with his family, since he didn t have the right papers. It really comes down to a lack of empathy, said Katherine. Politicians don t understand the people they re affecting. Taking the boy s story to heart, she narrowed down reasoning of harsher immigration laws to a lack of empathy. Individuals that are not being affected are the ones enforcing these rules and regulations. The activities she partakes in lead up to her main goal of spreading understanding of one another to the point where people don t have to be separated because of where they are from. At USF, she works part time in the Admissions office and in the Multicultural center. For Latino Independance week, she and her partner worked on decoration and posters that exhibited the multiple events going on throughout the city and awareness about their independence days. Similar to what she had to do to advertise multicultural events in high school, she advertised by making posters with supplied paints. The office she works in is filled with vibrancy; posters flash motivational or information texts, high quality screens explaining what the multicultural center does and the energetic assistant, Katherine, running around doing errands. It s a lot of work, but it s worth it, she said, as she cut construction paper. Then again, I m used to it from high school it s the same stuff, really. Pantango loves her experiences, despite how intense they can be. She considers herself a sensitive person, so what she goes through hits close to the heart. However, she appreciates that she can feel that much, since it motivates her more to help others. We re all the same, we re all equal, we all have feelings and emotions and are human, Katherine said, throwing her hands up in the air, Why can t some people see that?