Luis Alejo '01 Receives Community Service Award

Luis Alejo '01, recently elected to the Watsonville City Council, received the first-ever Tony Hill Community Service Award at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation in San Jose on February 12.  The award, named for a community activist and mentor for Alejo who died in 2007, honors Alejo for his long history of community work in the Watsonville area.

Alejo, who did his undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley before coming to King Hall and who also earned a Master's Degree in Education at Harvard University, began his activism early in life, founding a chapter of the Brown Berets, an anti-gang violence group.  After graduation he returned home to Watsonville to provide legal aid to the poor through California Rural Legal Assistance.  He has served on a number of local governmental boards and, in addition to his duties as a city councilmember, works as a staff attorney with Monterey County Superior Court.
 
Santa Cruz Sentinel article