When I arrived in Santa Cruz a year ago as a freshman from San Francisco, my world felt fairly small. Like most first-year students, I spent the majority of my time on campus, bouncing between classes, dorm life and getting used to my new life. I took the occasional bus ride downtown or trip to the beach, but I didn’t have much time to explore the wider community. While Santa Cruz was my new home officially, it didn’t feel like my place just yet.

At the start of my sophomore year, I decided to change that. As someone who has lived my whole life in the same neighborhood in San Francisco, I’m used to feeling deeply connected and involved in my community. Knowing I’d l be in Santa Cruz for the next four years, I wanted to understand the community around me – not just campus. I happened upon the perfect opportunity to further acquaint myself with the county when I was given the opportunity to intern at Lookout Santa Cruz through the UC Santa Cruz Humanities EXCEL program.

My first project as Community Engagement intern was to create a visual timeline of Lookout’s five years in the community – highlighting big moments, articles and happenings across Santa Cruz County. Building the timeline involved researching key moments in Santa Cruz County’s recent history and thinking about how Santa Cruz has changed – and where it’s headed next. As a history major, I find history to be grounding; Something that can help people feel connected to the world around them. As I worked through articles, I began to see Santa Cruz as not just a college town, but as a tight-knit community that has been shaped by its residents’ resilience, activism and care for one another. Learning about housing struggles, environmental movements, local journalism and community responses to change helped me to contextualize my surroundings – and this gave me a clearer picture of the place I was living in.

This year, with friends living off campus, and a job, I’ve finally had the chance to explore beyond the university-downtown, local cafes and restaurants, neighborhoods and community spaces. Working on the timeline for Lookout felt like an extension of this exploration – which gave me some historical grounding to complement my growing familiarity with the county. I no longer feel as disconnected from my community, I was able to learn why it looks and feels the way it does today.

The last slide of this timeline talks about what’s next coming next and Lookout’s new Changemaker membership level, is one that supports three initiatives as we go further into 2026 and beyond. I am excited to be a part of the future of where Lookout Santa Cruz is headed. Here are the three main projects that Lookout is focused on for the future:

  • Lookout en Español: Since early 2025, they’ve begun publishing an increasing number of near-real-time stories in Spanish, as the times demand that everyone gets the news of the day they need and deserve. Now they plan to make as much of Lookout bilingual as soon as they can.
  • Lookout for Teachers: They’ve built a well-used Lookout in the Classroom program throughout the county since their beginning. Almost 400 teachers now teach media literacy (and civics) using Lookout’s trustworthy, nonpartisan local news with their students. Students benefit greatly, and overworked, underpaid teachers get full free membership access to Lookout’s trustworthy local news.
  • Impact Reporting: The impact of their accountability reporting in Santa Cruz County grows each month, and they’ve captured it here. Dedicating more staff and time to their watchdog role in covering power and decision-making at every level in the county.

One of the most impactful parts of the project was getting to examine Lookout’s role in Santa Cruz’s growth and civic life in the past five years. Learning about how local journalism has supported the community, documented change and highlighted important stories was extremely inspiring. As an intern, it made me feel proud of being involved in an organization that plays such an important role in informing and supporting the county. 

Overall, this project helped transform Santa Cruz from a new and unfamiliar place, into a community that I feel more connected to. While I still have much to explore and learn, this opportunity taught me my new home’s history while also allowing me to find my own place within it. 

Galicia Stack Lozano is a student at UC Santa Cruz and an intern at Lookout Santa Cruz through the Humanities EXCEL program led by the UC Santa Cruz Humanities Division with strategic support from The Humanities Institute.