Aoife Mokalla

Raised in South Minneapolis, Aoife Mokalla always lived in diverse neighborhoods and grew up with the idea of social justice and community work. She co-founded a gender justice club at her high school that raised money for free menstrual products. She first heard about Occidental College from a fellow captain on her high school debate team. 

“I wanted to go to a small school in a big city in a warm place,” says Mokalla. “Those were my requirements, and there aren’t many schools that fit all three. Occidental was my top choice. When I had the opportunity to tour the campus, it was amazing to see students on the Academic Quad, using the green space. They were so lively. I also went to the Silver Lake Farmers Market and got Persian ice cream. I'm half Iranian, and felt at home in L.A.”

An integral part of Mokalla going to Occidental has been that her academic and need-based financial aid has covered her tuition. “I was astonished that I got that aid,” she says. “It felt like a weight being lifted off my chest.” As a new recipient of the 2026-28 Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service, she will receive up to $50,000 to support her junior and senior year at Occidental.

Majoring in sociology, with minors in Spanish studies; public health; and gender, women, and sexuality studies, Mokalla has channeled her passion for public service into jobs as an equity ambassador in Occidental’s Intercultural Community Center (ICC), which uplifts and centers the experiences of BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, low income, and first-generation students, and as a peer health educator in the Emmons Wellness Center. 

I wanted to go to a small school in a big city in a warm place. Occidental was my top choice.

She is also co-president of the Middle Eastern and North African Students Association (MENASA), and a member of the student club Dance Production (known as Dance Pro), a student-led, student-choreographed, and student-danced organization. In 2025, through the ICC, she launched a yearly campus celebration for Nowruz, the Persian new year. 

“It's now an anchor program that has been foundational at the ICC,” Mokalla says. “I've had so many opportunities to explore what I'm interested in at Oxy, and my roles at ICC and Emmons have been most influential. The opportunity to create programming and connect with the community in a way that's also supported by administration has been amazing.”

As a peer health educator, she has organized sex education game nights and tabling to spread awareness of sex education, mental health awareness, and overdose prevention. As an equity ambassador, she has hosted a community event about names and relationships associated with names. “That brought a lot of people together,” she says.

Faculty members like Professor of Sociology Richard Mora have influenced Mokalla to find topics she is thrilled and passionate about, like providing access to menstrual products in low-income schools and communities. “He truly cares about seeing you go places,” Mokalla says. “He lets you dream in a structured way that gets you excited for the future.” In his Sociology of Education course, and Assistant Professor of Sociology Eric Bjorklund’s Inequities in Health and Healthcare course, she researched menstrual poverty. 

“The most impactful thing about sociology is everything I can do with it,” says Mokalla. “I’ve seen how people use sociological empirical methods, interviews, and ethnography to do research that comes up with suggestions for change. One option for me after graduating is doing public health research that supports a gender equity initiative.”

Mokalla’s Spanish studies; public health; and gender, women, and sexuality studies minors have also boosted her interest in multiple fields.

In Spring 2027, she is set to do research as part of the study abroad program SIT Study Abroad Peru: Indigenous Peoples and Globalization. She was inspired to go after taking the course Latin American Women's Voices through Fiction and Film, taught by Resident Assistant Professor of Spanish and French Studies M. Gabriela Venegas. 

“There are so many opportunities at Oxy, with its wide range of classes, jobs, internships, research librarians, and more,” she says. “Students should always use the great resources we have.”