Mike Rifino is a doctoral student in the Developmental Psychology program at The Graduate Center, CUNY. His interest in pursuing an academic career started when he was a LaGuardia student and participated in the Peer Activist Learning Community (PALC), a transformative activist research project organized with and for LaGCC students. Through reading critical theories and building solidarity with fellow PALC students, Mike cultivated a newfound relation toward learning, which ignited his quest to pursue an academic career studying the intersection of emotional development and learning. He is currently interested in the processes of emotional development and learning among community college students to better understand how transformations in both processes play a role in promoting student agency. Mike’s most recent presentation was accepted by the New England Educational Research Organization (NEERO) titled, “Mobilizing emotions to critically engage resistance and passivity within a peer-based learning community”. Mike Rifino is a former Futures Initiative fellow in which he Co-Directed their Undergraduate Leadership program, which serves as a site for CUNY undergraduate students to become leaders within their colleges and communities. Mike Rifino has taught General Psychology and facilitated the e-Portfolio lab for First Year Seminar in LaGuardia Community College.