About:

Erika Colangelo is a senior at CUNY Hunter College. She is a two-sport student-athlete, participating in both NCAA DIII Softball and Cross Country.  Off the playing field, Erika has also strived for academic excellence as she made the dean’s list the past three consecutive semesters. Erika is studying Political Science and Public Policy. Her main area of focus over the past year has been addressing the problems within the U.S. criminal justice system including: mass incarceration, police abuse, racism, and discrimination.  She was inspired to look into ways to reform the criminal justice system after she had the opportunity to intern at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York for the past two summers. For her senior capstone thesis she is researching how economic disadvantage and low access to quality education impacts the incarceration rate.  After college Erika aspires to attend law school.