Abigail Galicia-Romero is a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Central Arkansas who is majoring in biology and plans to go into microbiology research.
“When I was younger I saw a documentary about rabies in developing countries and it discussed how it has grown out of control and how people are affected and I want to be able to help solve that problem,” Galicia-Romero said.
Galicia-Romero has been a dedicated vegan for almost five years. A vegan is someone who doesn’t eat or use any animal products or byproducts.
“I went vegan because I was researching a persuasive paper for my English class in high school about animal rights and the research for the paper led me to know how animals are treated in slaughterhouses,” Galicia-Romero said. “I was really interested so I watched a bunch of documentaries about veganism, and ‘Get Vegucated’ was the one that helped me decide to go vegan.
Galicia-Romero is from Berryville, Arkansas and has four older sisters and one younger brother.
In the fifth grade she moved to Arkansas from North Hollywood, California. She chose UCA because of the numerous opportunities it provided, and she said it felt like home.
She went to Mexico over the summer for the first time and met a lot of family she had never met before.
When she grows up she plans to buy a house in her mother’s hometown in Mexico so she can visit family.
She enjoys running in her free time, and is currently training for the “Hogeye” half marathon in Fayetteville this spring.
She is also involved in an on-campus organization called “Sisters in Action” which is a group of women who promote diversity and solidarity.
Galicia-Romero loves to talk about feminism, and thinks everyone should be a feminist.
She believes that though feminism can be interpreted in a lot of ways, she sticks to the simple definition of feminism as the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.
“It’s something that benefits both men and women,” Galicia-Romero said. “With it, we can get rid of gender roles and can be who we want to be – whether it be a guy who paints his nails or a woman who kicks butt as a CEO.”
