2022 Champions of Change Student of the Year Nominees

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Jalesha Bass
Co-Founder
Shift Press

Jalesha Bass is a graduate at the Univeristy of Texas at Austin who majored in Journalism and Communication and Leadership. Where she was named along with 10 other students as UT’s Outstanding senior in her Graduating class of 10k + students. Jalesha is currently pursuing her Masters at Columbia’s Union Theological Seminary in New York. She has been a Digital Docent with E4Youth for the past 3 years. Jalesha is a Co-Founder of a non-profit publication called Shift Press as well as it’s sister orgnizaiation Instute Of Engagment. Jalesha has skills in Game design and development, Public speaking, orgnizatinal development, consulting,design thinking, global leadership, community engagement, and social media management.

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Jeffrey Clemmons
Huston-Tillotson SGA Chief Justice & ATX College Student Commission Chair

Jeffrey Clemmons, originally from Dallas, Texas, is a recent Political Science graduate of Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, where he served as President of the campus NAACP, Chief Justice for the Student Government Association, a student leader for Texas Rising, and a variety of other roles promoting student civic engagement. Off-campus, he served as Chair of Austin's College Student Commission, where he worked alongside peers from other universities in the city to represent nearly 100,000 students in City Hall on issues including housing affordability to food insecurity. Recently, he joined the was elected to serve as the first Vice President of the Texas NAACP Youth and College Division, along with serving on the boards of Transit Forward and Elevate Your Essence. In these roles, he plans to continue serving the community of young people from across the state who call Austin home along with advancing progressive initiatives.

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Anthony Collier
Chair
National Black Law Students Association

Anthony Collier is a 3L at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where he served as the Student Body President and the Class of 2022 G. Rollie White Public Service Scholar. Anthony is the Chair of the National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA). Founded in 1968 and with over 6000 members, NBLSA is the largest student-run nonprofit in the nation. Anthony is on the executive board of the National Bar Association, and was appointed to the Austin Bar Association executive board, the first student to ever serve in this role. During his 1L summer, Anthony was selected for the prestigious Kellogg's NAACP 2020 Law Fellow program. During his 2L summer, Anthony served as a Judiciary Fellow on Capitol Hill for Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a senior member on the House Judiciary Committee and Chair of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. Anthony is currently a Student Attorney in the Criminal Defense Clinic at Texas Law.

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Tegan Debrock
Chair
Homeless Coalition of Hays County

Tegan Debrock is a Central Texas young leader. Tegan was president of San Marcos High School's XYZ Club for queer and trans students and has continued to advocate for district reform post-grad. Tegan also served in leadership roles in Air Force JRTOC and ROTC for 6 years until removal from the program due to the ban on transgender service members. While in college Tegan interned with Congressman Doggett's Austin District office, worked on several political campaigns, served in TXST Student Government, served as a College Democrats officer, and lead Texas Rising TXST for over 3 years doing progressive issue advocacy, youth leadership development, and civic engagement work to empower diverse TX youth. While in college Tegan co-founded and work as the Vice President of the nonprofit HOME Center to serve the unhoused populations of Hays County and worked as a co-chair of the Homeless Coalition of Hays County bringing together over 20 local organizations to reach functionally zero houselessness.

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Liz Kufour
Central Texas Organizing Coordinator
Texas Young Advocates

Liz began working as the Central Texas Organizing Coordinator with the Texas Young Advocates Program Spring 2021 cohort in January. She was a member of the inaugural Texas YAP cohort in 2019 before being invited to the Youth Advisory Board in 2020. Of YI’s core areas, Liz feels closely connected to YI’s higher education work, and she intends to use her time at YI to expand her understanding of the intricacies of higher education in order to effect lasting and sustainable change within Texas. Liz is passionate about empowering marginalized groups and providing resources to underserved communities; thus, she sought to pursue additional employment through Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas as their PBIG Paralegal. At The University of Texas at Austin, she pursued a dual degree, earning a B.A. in African and African Diaspora Studies and a B.B.A. in Management. She intends to pursue a dual JD/MBA degree, focusing on public policy and social entrepreneurship in the near future.

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