How the REAL Program Helped Camille Follante ’27 Turn Learning Into Action
Political science and gender and sexuality studies double major Camille Follante ’27 spent her summer turning classroom questions into real-world action. Supported by SCU’s REAL Program, she worked with a women-led humanitarian organization to challenge dominant narratives and support communities through research and storytelling.
By: Maggie Junkins ’26
For Camille Follante ’27, questions about justice, power, and representation have long shaped her academic path. A commuter student from San José and a double major in political science and gender and sexuality studies, Camille is deeply interested in how global narratives are formed and how they shape public understanding of marginalized communities. She is especially drawn to stories that challenge dominant perspectives and reveal the complexity behind issues often reduced to headlines.
Those interests influence not only what Camille studies, but how she approaches learning. In the classroom, she gravitates toward discussions of geopolitics and advocacy, often asking who is being centered and whose voices are missing. Beyond campus, she looks for opportunities to carry those questions into real-world settings, where research, storytelling, and community engagement intersect.
Last summer, Camille put those interests into practice by interning with the Uplift Afghanistan Fund, a women-led humanitarian organization supporting grassroots initiatives in Afghanistan and among Afghan refugees worldwide. She first learned about the opportunity through a conversation with Mukta Sharangpani, an associate professor in the gender and sexuality studies department, who introduced her to both Uplift’s work and the REAL Program. Camille was drawn to the organization’s humanitarian mission and its wide range of projects, including education, mental health, arts and culture, and refugee support.
Learning Beyond the Classroom
Over the course of the summer, Camille’s internship developed into a multifaceted role. She conducted research on the geopolitics of Afghanistan, contributed to fundraising and communications initiatives, and engaged in administrative work. Camille took on an additional responsibility by helping draft the organization’s 2024 Impact Report.
“That was the moment I was most proud of,” Camille said. “Putting the Impact Report together required analyzing each of the organization’s projects in depth and capturing the results accurately. Because the process was so collaborative, I grew very close to my supervisors. It felt like we had developed one, unified vision that aligned with their goals.”
The experience pushed Camille to rethink how Afghanistan is often portrayed in Western media. “Western mainstream media tends to focus on the worst aspects of life in Afghanistan,” she said. “Being exposed to the humanity and diversity within the country gave me a much more nuanced perspective. Afghanistan does not have just one story to tell.”
Support That Made It Possible
Camille’s ability to engage in the internship was made possible through Santa Clara University’s REAL Program, which provides funding for students pursuing meaningful summer research, internships, and creative work aligned with their academic interests, values, and goals. The program is designed to make experiential learning more accessible and allows students to pursue purpose-driven opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach.
“I likely wouldn’t have been able to do this internship without the REAL Program,” Camille said. “REAL funding gave me the opportunity to engage in something I am passionate about.”
Looking Ahead
Camille plans to attend law school, pursue a career as an attorney, and eventually return to academia as a professor. To her, education is not something that ends with a degree, it is something meant to be shared, allowing lived experiences and hard-earned knowledge to continue shaping and supporting others. She credits her political science and gender studies coursework with providing a strong foundation that helped her approach the internship thoughtfully and responsibly.
One of the most important lessons I learned was to try my best to understand the full story, beyond the dominant narrative, Change might happen without communities, but positive change only happens with them.
As she looks ahead, Camille sees the REAL Program as a meaningful example of how the College of Arts and Sciences at Santa Clara University supports students in turning learning into action. She encourages other students to pursue opportunities that reflect their values and interests, even if the path feels uncertain.