Fernando ’29 Finds His Voice Through Writing and Advocacy

This summer, he’s spending eight weeks in Washington, D.C., through the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty, interning with Asian American LEAD (AALEAD), a nonprofit organization that empowers Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) youth in underserved communities through culturally responsive programming and advocacy.

The experience brings together many of Fernando’s academic and personal interests, including anti-poverty initiatives, identity-based policy, and law. “I am very interested in two things: identity policy and technology,” he said. “They currently feed my interest in law.”

Fernando has helped develop programming for AALEAD’s Summer 2026 cohort at Jackson-Reed High School. His work has included designing workshops on free speech and AAPI advocacy, creating educational activities for visits to Smithsonian museums, and facilitating community-building activities for participating students. 

One of his projects involved developing an “anti-scavenger hunt” that encourages students to think critically about representation by identifying age gaps in museum collections, such as the absence of certain South Asian histories and perspectives. As the summer program has progressed, he’s taken on increasing responsibility, leading workshops, assisting with program logistics, and contributing to initiatives like the DC Neighborhood Map Project.

Outside of his internship, Fernando has also distinguished himself as a writer. Since January, he has had five letters published in The Wall Street Journal’s Future View column, a nationally competitive forum that invites students to respond to weekly opinion prompts. For him, however, publication is not the ultimate goal.

“Because my goal is to write, and not to be published, failure isn’t the be-all and end-all,” he said. “Every ‘failure’ is something to look back on and ask, ‘What didn’t [work] and why?” 

“Because my goal is to write, and not to be published, failure isn’t the be-all and end-all ... Every ‘failure’ is something to look back on and ask, ‘What didn’t [work] and why?” 

Writing has become deeply intertwined with his own personal journey. A QuestBridge scholar and first-generation immigrant, Fernando arrived at Hamilton uncertain of whether he belonged. “I thought I would fail my classes,” he said. “But, semester after semester, I realized, looking at my transcript, ‘I belong here.’ I did not just pass; I excelled.”

That sense of belonging has grown through both his academic success and his involvement on campus. As opinion editor of The Spectator and a COOP Service Intern, he has found communities that support both his passions and his growth. Ultimately, Fernando hopes writing will remain central to his future, whether through law, policy, or advocacy work. 

“What keeps my passion so potent is my ability to step away,” he said. “Even if I don’t get published, I’m writing! I’m doing what I genuinely love.”

For Fernando, every article, workshop, and new experience is part of a larger goal: using his voice to better understand the world and help others navigate it as well.