Diya Murthy

Back in high school, my mom and I volunteered through the National Charity League, which focuses on mother-daughter volunteering. We volunteered at different organizations like soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and the animal society, anywhere that gives back to the community. I was really thankful to meet people from all different backgrounds, and that experience led me to getting more involved in public service. 

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I grew up in Chandler, Arizona, which is a largely Hispanic community close to the border with Mexico. Seeing how that community contributes to society, and the effects of gentrification as a lot of local Hispanic culture gets stripped away really inspired me to continue in public service.

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My parents are both immigrants, and as a child of immigrants, I grew up understanding how much they give back to the community. My parents are really amazing people, and they came here for the opportunities they could give to us, and also to give back to their community. So that's something that I hold with me in everything that I do.

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Growing up as an Indian American in a largely Caucasian community can feel a little bit isolating, like different parts of your identity don’t really fit into either group. There are definitely aspects of my culture growing up at home that would make me feel more Indian, and then I'd come to school, and then feel like I need to be more American. And so something that's always resonated with me is, like, making people feel included, because there are times when I didn't really feel included in these communities. 

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And so that was kind of my initial draw into public service. And then being able to give back to people, and then making them feel seen. I wanted to go into immigration law to help people like my parents. There’s currently a lot of challenges for immigrants to receive visas, even just to study in this country. And I think in a world of increasing globalization where everything is becoming more interconnected, it’s really important that we accept different points of view and allow people from all over to come in and contribute their skills. It's a really valuable asset to have immigrants in this country, and I think that's something that I definitely want to emphasize in my future. 

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I’m currently a senior at Arizona State University, studying political science and philosophy. 

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I’m applying to law schools, and I hope to eventually start working at an immigration clinic or immigration law firm. I would love to start out at a smaller firm and work my way up, eventually having my own firm. I think that would be a really amazing opportunity. I'd like to provide services for refugees who are coming here from a country with a completely different culture, who may not have access to tutors, cultural education lessons, those kinds of things. Things that could help them assimilate a little better and make it feel like home to them, and maybe have some sort of community. I would love to organize activities where they can meet other people from where they're from, and create a sense of community.

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This summer, I participated in the Summer Policy Academy, where I learned more about how nonprofit, public, and private organizations can work together to create meaningful change. 

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We had a lot of speakers come in who were former federal employees, who shared what inspired them to go into public service. Not a lot of people choose their career because they want to help people, truly give back to the community. And I think that’s a lot about what being a civil servant is. You have the ability to amplify voices that aren’t heard. In the second week of that program, I was able to take a small course in the Goldman School of Public Policy in Berkeley, California. We took that Law and Public Policy course, and then we got to participate in a practice court all together. I'm currently on the pre-law track, and I'm hoping to go into public interest law. Right now, my goal is to be an immigration attorney. I’m especially concerned with Asian American advocacy and immigrant rights and refugee access to services.

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In college, I got involved with the Next Generation Service Corps, which is allowing me to get a certificate in cross-sector leadership. They highlight involvement in the nonprofit, public, and private sectors, and so that's what I've done throughout college, interning at the local, state, and national levels.

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I volunteered as a Senate page in the Arizona State Senate, where I learned a lot about how advocacy groups come in to share why their bill should be voted on, and what’s important to them. As an Asian American, I realized I wanted to advocate more for my community after seeing an Asian American advocacy group come to the Senate. I joined APAICS, which is the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies. They do a lot of work making sure that Asian and Pacific Americans pursue public office, because representation is a really important part in making sure your voice gets heard and that there are people who look like you advocating for the issues that our community faces. For example, they do work on access to literacy resources and English language learning, as well as translation resources.

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This past summer, I interned for Congresswoman Valerie Foushee, who represents the Research Triangle area in North Carolina. I answered phones and learned a lot about constituent needs and the importance of medical research funding.

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Back in high school, I was part of a club called Bring Change to Mind, which helped high school students struggling with their mental health to access resources and create community. I was the president of the club in my senior year, and we created a week-long educational seminar on mental health. I think a lot of the time, mental health is taken as a little bit of a joke in high school. To get students to attend, we incentivized it through free treats, raffles, and the ability to get out of class during the session. I organized speakers to come in, including the then-president of the ASU Devils for Devils, which is their mental health organization. She talked about the importance of maintaining your mental health and access to resources. After the seminar, our school’s social worker came up to me and told me somebody had told her that this whole thing gave them hope. And that made me really happy, that something I did was able to make someone feel heard. And then I ended up joining Devils for Devils in college, and we helped organize our suicide prevention walk through campus, and we had over 2,000 people come. It was really awesome.