FREMONT — She was tackling civil rights issues when she was just 14 years old.

When she attended Fremont’s St. Joseph Central Catholic High School, Monica Ramirez started speaking about social issues through the Multicultural Club. She created the organization to increase cultural understanding among residents through immersion events and activities that raised awareness about discrimination and racism, she said.

“I don’t know that I understood that it was civil rights work that I was doing,” Ms. Ramirez said. “I actually started writing for the local newspaper and told the stories of the Latino and farm work community here.”

After she graduated high school in 1995, she continued fighting for the rights of immigrants across the country as a civil rights attorney before Ms. Ramirez found

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