By Grace Garfoot 

“The wrong ICE is melting!” read the sign in Sophia Grossman’s hand as more than 500 students, faculty and Boulder community members gathered outside the University Memorial Center in response to a flyer she had made just days before. She had hoped to organize a protest. She had not expected a crowd this large. 

“I honestly blacked out, I don’t remember what I said,” Grossman said. “My friends told me it was good, so I trust them, but I didn’t realize everyone would gather and stare at us at the end, so I was really nervous. I was so grateful, but I almost didn’t know what to say.”  

Grossman, an aerospace engineering major at the University of Colorado Boulder, defines herself as an artist and a “stereotypical Boulder hippie mountain girl.” She only became politically involved in the last few years, driven by her relationships with international students and the defunding of a job she loved. Grossman turned that frustration into action, through art, community and the belief that peace is a form of protest. 

Her job with the Integrated Teaching and Learning Center was defunded during cuts to DEI programs around the country. As part of that job, she was sent to elementary schools within a 15- to 20-minute radius from Boulder to help with after-school engineering clubs. The program, along with the rest of the center, was cut. 

“Like many of us, Sophia felt the urgency of the moment, but instead of just talking about it, she acted,” Sophia’s father Eric Grossman said. “Watching her turn that vision into something that united and mobilized others has been incredibly powerful.” 

When she decided to mobilize, she drew inspiration from her passion for art and open, creative spaces. 

“Rave culture was one thousand percent my inspiration for the vibe I wanted to bring to the protest,” Grossman said. “I wore my sprouts, we had glitter on our faces, all of it. I love raves, mainly because of the community. It’s all about peace and love.” 

Grossman is pursuing minors in studio art and applied mathematics. She makes an impact on everyone she meets, whether through her academics or the tattoos she gave in her dorm freshman year. 

“I had Cannabuffs reach out to me first, because I gave the vice president a tattoo. I met so many people through that,” Grossman said. “He saw the flier on my story and reached out to ask how he could help promote it.” 

Jackson Cooper, the vice president of Cannabuffs, reflected on wanting to help Grossman, whom he described as someone who flows with positivity.

“It made me so happy to be able to help Sophia out with something so important and special,” Cooper said. “The cannabis community understands the fear of oppressive laws, and we feel that it’s important to stand for the safety of everyone.” 

Grossman calls herself an artist first and an engineer second and never considered herself an activist. She says organizing the protest was “super out of character.” 

“Art comes to mind first when asked what I’m passionate about,” she said. “Engineering is super cool, but my dream job is to be Bob Ross. I would love to paint in the mountains. That’s what I love doing.” 

With the political and cultural changes going on in the world, including the increased presence of immigration enforcement and the threat it poses to people in her life, Grossman’s sense of purpose has continued to grow. 

She helps teach elementary school kids coding with blocks and programing things such as small robots. She loves working with them and finds their influence incredibly positive.  

“That’s another reason I got more into politics,” Grossman said. “Our program is considered DEI because we go to underprivileged schools to teach engineering. We bring our own supplies to every program we go to, but our funding got directly cut when DEI got cut.” 

Artist, engineer, raver and now activist, Grossman maintains that peace and community are her driving forces. The protest she organized may have surprised even herself but not her mom. 

“Sophia embodies passion, drive, empathy, leadership and confidence,” Sophia’s mother Christ Bennett said. “She has a deep connection to what is right and wrong, and I could not be prouder of the way she has taken all these traits and used them to make a difference.” 

Edited by Leah Meyer