Nicholas Almendares
Amherst College
Nicholas Almendares is a native South Floridian, raised with both a strong Jewish and Hispanic background. After four years in the International Baccalaureate Program he enrolled in Amherst College and has just completed his second year. His current interests led him to politics and to an attempt to conquer many of the problems while maintaining his childish idealism. Besides that, Nicholas enjoys the study of philosophy (as daunting and thankless as it often is) and tends to approach issues from that perspective. But, besides all that heavy serious stuff, he also has a deep affection for poetry and a fondness for the arts in general: from the most "high brow" exhibit of Monet to the antics of George Carlin. He's also a big fan of games (Chess, Go, whatever strikes a fancy) just to relax and socialize. Nicholas is really excited about the program and looks forward to meeting everyone in the coming weeks.
Samantha Bent
Harvard College
Samantha Noel Bent was born in the Bronx, New York, and she was raised in Kingston, Jamaica and Miami, Florida. Currently a resident of Ft. Lauderdale, she is a rising senior at Harvard College, joint concentrating in Social Studies (political theory) and Afro-American Studies. She is deeply interested in cultivating practices and attitudes that promote democratic thinking and acting -- in all kinds of contexts, be they political, economic, social, or academic. This summer, she will be working at the Children's Defense Fund at their Family Income Division and Community Monitoring Project. She loves working with and engaging individuals of all ages. Her nickname, by the way, is Sam.
Stephanie Cabrera
Yale University
A rising senior at Yale University, Stephanie Cabrera is pursuing a sociology degree concentrating on issues of inequality and identity politics. She will be writing her senior essay on the specific stresses that African Americans and Latinos face in institutions of higher education, namely the burden of representation and the burden of responsibility. Stephanie's two main extracurricular activities allow her the opportunity to interact with a diverse group of people and to learn more about the issues she studies in the classroom. As president of the Pi Chapter of Sigma Lambda Upsilon/Senoritas Latinas Unidas Sorority, Inc, she works with a group of students to help bring cultural awareness to both the Yale and New Haven communities. She also serves as one of four Latino Ethnic Counselors, working to help freshmen adjust and to keep the other students informed of the specific issues affecting various Yale communities. Raised in the Bronx, Stephanie is an alumn of the Prep for Prep program, The Spence School, and a 1997 Milken Scholar.
Laura Coates
Princeton University
The youngest of three, Laura is originally from Worcester, Massachusetts but now resides in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has an extreme passion for jazz, the music of Motown, salsa, and theater and is desperate for the Knicks to win a championship! A rising senior at Princeton University, she is majoring in the Woodrow Wilson School of Policy and International Affairs and preparing for her senior thesis. Laura is interested in community development programs for low-income and fragile families as well as paternal participation in early development programs such as Head Start. This summer she will be pursuing both of these interests in Washington, D.C working for the National Head Start Association and the National Center for Strategic Non-Profit Planning and Community Leadership.
Sara Edel
Bowdoin College
A rising junior who hails from Winona, MN, Sara Edel attends Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME. Although she's undecided about her career plans at this point, she's leaning towards continuing her family's teaching tradition and thinks she might become a Sociology/Asian-American Studies professor. Besides majoring in Sociology, Sara is also a Women's Studies minor and has an interest in government--particularly international policy. In her two years at Bowdoin, she's been involved in a variety of organizations such as the Bowdoin Outing Club, the Korean-American Student Association, the Latin-American Student Organization, the Bowdoin Gay Straight Alliance, and the Bowdoin Women's Association. Some of her other interests include downhill skiing, traveling, swimming, dancing, and, when Sara's not working at the movie theater, she's at home, watching movies (I'll admit it, I really like those cheesy 80s movies).
Vanesa Estrada
Stanford University
Vanesa is majoring in Stanford’s interdisciplinary program in Human Biology, concentrating in social inequality and development and minoring in Latin American Studies. She spent time abroad studying issues of urban and rural development and the problems of inequality in South American countries such as Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. Vanesa’s interest in social inequality grew out of a summer of anthropological field research in New York City where she studied Nuyoricans (New York native Puerto Ricans), ethnic identity and the Puerto Rican Day Parade. She is now using this fieldwork in her Senior Honors Thesis. Her specific research interests are numerous and varied (race and ethnicity, working poor and welfare policy, spatial segregation, social capital and community building) and she hopes to pursue these interests in a doctoral program. She is currently working at the Urban Institute, a Washington DC social policy think tank, in the Metropolitan Housing and Community Policy Center. Vanesa was raised in Southern California and enjoys swimming, theater, and dancing.
Mellody Hayes
Harvard College
Mellody Hayes was born on September 20, 1977. Three years previous to her birth, her parents left the Mississippi Delta for a future in Southern California. In 1995, Mellody reversed their migration, leaving Compton, Carson, and Long Beach--the cities in which she spent most of her youth--to attend Harvard College on the East Coast. She interrupted her time at Harvard to teach in Dorchester, MA at the Epiphany Middle school, a tuition free middle school for low-income children. Work and life experiences of this sort have led Mellody to select Sociology as her concentration and social justice as her passion. Expecting to graduate in January of 2001, she looks forward to the possibility of continuing her work with the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) or doing Peace Corps in China. Mellody enjoys talking, reading, and dance of all kinds.
Sachin Jain
Harvard College
Sachin Jain, a rising junior at Harvard College, was born and raised in Bergen County, New Jersey. He is and always has been a diehard fan of the New York Yankees. As a government concentrator, most of his coursework so far has emphasized social policy; much of his time outside of classes, however, has also been spent thinking social issues. At Harvard, he is on the board of four student organizations--Harvard Project for International Health and Development, Harvard Student Pugwash, Exploring Policy in Health Care, and the South Asian Association--in addition to being a regular volunteer at the University Lutheran Homeless Shelter. Also, he is involved with on-going research in the Sociology department on the role of the Boston Ten Point Coalition in reducing Boston's juvenile crime rates. Sachin would eventually like to work as an academic physician studying the interaction between various social forces and health and is considering pursuing a joint degree in medicine and public policy.
Stephen Kerr
Williams College
Stephen Kerr was born and raised in Lexington, Massachusetts. In high school he ran track and cross-country and sang in an
a cappella group. He also sings a cappella in college. Stephen is currently a sophomore at Williams College, pursuing a BA in sociology. His main interests are in the sociology of leadership, mass movements, social stratification, and inequality. Outside of sociology, he has interests in community development, social policymaking and in international human rights. This June and July, Stephen will be doing community development work in Northern Berkshire County, Massachusetts, focusing on connecting local residents with jobs in the Internet start-up companies that are moving to the area. In August he will be interning at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City, focusing on international human rights. This summer he is also conducting research for his honors thesis, which will look at the process managing a positive self-conception by homeless persons. Next year Stephen will be studying abroad at Exeter College, Oxford University.
Christina Maimone
Washington University
Christina Maimone will be a senior at Washington University in St. Louis this fall. She is majoring in Social Thought and Analysis with a focus in socioeconomic inequality and minoring in computer science. She's beginning work on a thesis looking at democratic theory, social institutions, and inequality. This summer Christina is working at PBS Online in Washington DC on a web site for the Democracy Project. At school she is involved as a tour guide, peer advisor, residential computing consultant, and computer science teaching assistant. She will also be leading a group called Adequate Housing for America which works to help rehabilitate and build affordable housing in the St. Louis area. When she has spare time, she enjoys making quilts. Christina is from Dayton, Ohio, and she is very
undecided about what she wants to do in the future.
Sanetta Ponton
Columbia University
Sanetta Ponton is a rising Senior at Columbia University majoring in African American Studies. She is the Education Chair of the Black Students Organization as well as the newly elected Vice President of Policy for the Columbia College Student Council. Her interest in public policy stems from her experiences with inequality as a student, a woman, and a person of color. Frederick Douglass once said, “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” This remains her motivating force in affecting positive change not only on her campus, but eventually throughout the world.
Mini'imah Rashid
University of Pennsylvania
As a rising senior at the University of Pennsylvania, you may often hear Mini'imah Rashid claim the "City of Brotherly Love" as her home. She is, however, a native Californian born Valentine's Day to Adib and Zakiyyah Rashid. Her mother's teaching genes were passed down to her as she is committed to the betterment of urban education and educational equality. Some must knows: She is Muslim, which means she practices Al-Islam as a way of life. So if you hear her greet you with an "As salaamu alaikum" (Peace be unto you), feel free to reply "Wa laikum asalaam" (Peace be unto you). Mini'imah loves movies and ice cream. As of this present date, her favorite movie is "Say Anything" starring John Cusack and Dulce de Leche ice cream by Hagen Daaz. She is excited to be selected as a Galbraith Scholar and even though her mother has announced to family and friends that she has been accepted to Harvard, she is aware that her time here is a week long... so she's ready to make it memorable!
Daron Roberts
University of Texas-Austin
Searching for a drastic change from the small East Texas town of Mt. Pleasant, Daron opted to attend The University of Texas at Austin. For the past three years he has taken advantage of being seven blocks from the State Capitol by working for a state senator. Realizing that the number of free summers are quickly dwindling, Daron interned in Washington, D.C. with a non-profit law firm, backpacked through Europe, and led a college application workshop in his hometown. In May of 2001, he will graduate with a degree in Plan II and Government. For his Plan II thesis, Daron will examine the displacement of African-American educators caused by school desegregation in Texas. Daron is an active member of the Longhorn Chapter of the NAACP and a mentor for the College Bound Program. He was selected as a Harry S. Truman Scholarship Finalist and currently serves as Student Government President.
Anita Zuberi
Johns Hopkins University
This spring Anita Zuberi graduated from Johns Hopkins University as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and earned a B.A. in Sociology with a concentration in social inequality. For her honors thesis she researched the development and design of welfare-to-work programs since the late 1960’s, and the relative effectiveness of job search-first versus education-first approaches on lifting welfare recipients out of poverty through work in the long run. While attending Hopkins, Anita was able to further her coursework by working as a research assistant for Dr. Andrew Cherlin on Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three City Study. Through this position she explored the 1996 welfare reform and its impact on families and children. In addition to this research experience, she was the co-founder and coordinator of “Lit 101”, an after-school tutoring program for students in a neighboring middle school. Although much of Anita's studies at Hopkins focused on domestic social issues, she spent a semester abroad studying the social and political issues facing countries in Eastern and Western Europe. Additionally, she learned about the social system and welfare state of Sweden through an international summer program. Anita's parents are immigrants from Sweden and Pakistan, so these experiences not only broadened her social policy perspective, but also deepened her understanding of her own heritage. In the future, she plans to work for a couple of years in a social science field and then continue her education through graduate study in social policy – focusing specifically on issues of poverty, welfare, and social inequality.
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