Civic Scholars at the University of Pennsylvania

Meet the Civic Scholars

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- --------- Class of 2011---------------------

--Class of 2012

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------------------------------ --------------- Class of 2011

Sami Ahmed

Sami is a Ghanaian Muslim whose exposure to extreme poverty in Ghana inspired him toward community service.He served as president of the Muslim Youth Group of Macon in high school and as president coordinated with his school’s Economics Club to invest in stocks, donating the profits to the Red Cross. Sami graduated from Stratford Academy at the top of his class. As a freshman at Penn, he was actively involved with “Project Downtown,” a program which sends students out across Philadelphia on Saturdays to distribute food, toiletries and clothes. He also helped in the design and implementation of a Disaster Safety Program for over 1500 Philadelphia middle school students through the Red Cross. Sami plans to continue to use his business acumen to serve the community. He has an additional interest in researching alternative energy sources.

Jayne Bernsten

Jayne has an impressive record of service to the Philadelphia community. She served as a four-year member of the Philadelphia chapter of City Year, including developing the City Heroes Alumni Board and planned and implemented many projects, ranging from lot clean-ups to after-school programs. Jayne was also a three-year member of Penn Charter’s Community Service Council and worked as a paid intern for the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Jayne logged over 250 hours of community service in her senior year of high school alone, all while serving as Editor-in-Chief of her school’s yearbook. In her first year at Penn, she tutored an eighth grader at Sulzberger Middle School as part of the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project. Jayne is planning on majoring in International Relations and had the opportunity this past year to travel Washington, DC with the International Relations department, where she learned more about social advocacy and government work.

Sorav Bose

A graduate of the Academy for the Advancement of Science and Technology, Sourav entered the Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management (LSM) last year. Having made annual summer visits to his parents’ native India, Sourav was inspired to help alleviate the country’s severe health and poverty problems. Back home, Sourav interned at the Public Health Research Institute, studying the variable sequences of gp120 protein of the HIV-1 envelope. He subsequently founded the non-profit, Niramoy, in his parents’ Indian village to create a local HIV education and research center. In high school, Sourav served as an EMT on the Leonia, NJ Volunteer Ambulance Corps and began work with the Howard Hughes Medical Foundation researching intervention strategies for public health emergencies. As a freshman at Penn, Sourav continued this type of work serving on the Medical Emergency Response team which provides medical services for the Penn campus and surrounding areas. This year, he hopes to work on a public health campaign in Philadelphia high schools.

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Bartell Cope

Bartell founded and coordinated the Family Shelter Supply Project (FFSP) whose original objective was to provide start-up supplies to a new homeless shelter in Santa Cruz. Bartell was instrumental in securing a $10,000 corporate gift to sustain the now-established shelter. As the FFSP matured, so too did Bartell’s calling to raise consciousness about the issue of homelessness in the area. Bartell served as student body president during his senior year and class president during his junior year and attended California Boys State. As a sophomore at Penn, he hopes to become a Big Brother through Big Brothers Big Sisters and also would like to tutor through the Neighborhood Bike Works program. Bartell sees himself working in the public sector, possibly in politics.

Ignacio Crespo

In high school, Ignacio led an activist campaign against excessive alcohol consumption (Vivamos las Fiestas en Paz) which, under his leadership, expanded to involve over 180 schools. Ignacio’s campaign included establishing open forums, training local high school teachers and managing communications between various media outlets, including nationally broadcast interviews. His work was recognized in the Municipality of Quito legislature as an “unprecedented student effort.” Ignacio also served as class president three of his four years in high school, and in 2006 served as president of the Ecuadorian chapter of Operation Smile. In his first year at Penn, Ignacio served as the Community Service Committee Marketing Director in the Wharton Latino Undergraduate Association, where he has learned more about fundraising and developing civic service rojects abroad. Ignacio is interested in pursuing a dual degree in the College and Wharton and studying finance and international relations.

Rose Espinola

Rose is a National Hispanic Scholar who enrolled in the Wharton School last year. A Ventures Scholar and recipient of her high school’s Renesselaer Medal, Rose brought a sustained record of community involvement and civic awareness, including serving as a student representative on the Broward County School Board Diversity Committee and as the Community Service Chair of Youth Leadership Broward. Over her four years at Fort Lauderdale High School, Rose served as a tutor with Student Tutoring and Resources (STAR) and founded and coordinated STARlit, a long-term and intensive math tutoring program for at-risk students with disabilities. Her work with STARlit was recognized as an outstanding community service project by Broward County. As a freshman at Penn, Rose engaged in a number of civic service activities including tutoring elementary school students, social impact consulting for Big Brothers Big Sisters, and creating a curriculum for presentations on higher education for immigrant students and their parents.

Megan Hess-Homier

Following her 2006 graduation from high school in Montana, Megan spent a year contributing over fifty hours per week of community service through City Year Philadelphia. Megan lived in West Philadelphia during her “City Year” and worked extensively with public elementary students as a math -and reading tutor. In her first year at Penn, Megan’s community service included work through an ABCS course she took on Urban Education, volunteering at Sayre and Parkway West High Schools, and helping out with the Young Heroes program, which engages youth in community service and awareness projects. Meg looks forward to pursuing an Urban Studies major with an English minor.

Allison Huberlie

During her high school career, Allison devoted considerable time and energy to the work of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), an organization that supports abused children in the judicial process, as both a volunteer and researcher. She was able to couple these ambitions as a debating captain; she was nationally ranked at debate throughout high school. Allison continued her commitment to debate as a freshman at Penn where she volunteered weekly for Perspectives Debate, a non-profit which promotes debate teams in Philadelphia’s public schools. Through Perspectives Debate, she combined administrative work with direct service to students and travelled to tournaments on the weekends with her students. Allison is interested in Urban Studies and plans to pursue it as a major or a minor.

Brian Mertens

Brian graduated as co-valedictorian of his high school class and assembled a diverse and compelling array of experiences relevant to the Civic Scholars Program prior to joining us at Penn. He interned at Options Recovery Services, a public non-profit drug and rehabilitation clinic in Berkeley, CA, sustained his service as an English tutor over three of his four years in high school, and served for two years as editor-in-chief of his school’s newspaper and three years in a similar capacity for his school’s literary magazine. Additionally, Brian was a peer educator on homophobia through the San Francisco-based Ally Action organization and has served as a voting delegate to the California State PTA convention. In his first year at Penn, Brian worked with Prevention Point, a needle exchange program in North Philadelphia, and also contributed to Relay for Life’s work. Brian hopes to pursue a Health and Societies major and is also considering a Political Science minor.

Anushka Nadarajah

Anushka’s Sri Lankan background makes personal the connection to tsunami relief she undertook in high school; Anushka spearheaded a group of students raising over $160,000 for the cause. Her initial fundraising supported the rebuilding of three villages, and her continued efforts supported education for girls there. Her accomplishments resulted in recognition as Northern NJGirl of the Year in 2005 by Girls Inc., and she received the St. Lawrence University community service award. In her freshman year at Penn, Anushka was regularly involved with tutoring sixth graders at Huey Elementary School through the Community School Student Partnerships program. This year she hopes to pursue her interest in urban studies and health through her coursework and other service projects.

Jeffrey Ng

Jeffrey participated in the New York Police Department Law Enforcement Exploring program from 2003 to 2008, achieving the level of Captain and cultivating his interest in constitutional law. Jeffrey was also an active volunteer in NYC Parks Department community service, in both maintenance and recreational programs. The salutatorian of his high school class, Jeffrey is interested in pursuing Political Science major with interest in civil rights. This past year, Jeffrey was a Penn Chess tutor in North Philadelphia and also joined Bridges for Integration, a program aimed at bridging the cultural gap between immigrants and non-immigrants.

Mark Pan

As a high school senior, Mark had already produced a body of work in urban homelessness research (inter-city homelessness migration), including presentations to 500+ person audiences addressing his advocacy work. Mark was heavily involved with the American Cancer Society and various religious affiliated service missions (including outreach to El Salvador and Tijuana). Mark served as senior class president at Bellarmine and was a four-year member of the wrestling team. In his first year at Penn, Mark hit the ground running in terms of civic service and took active roles in programs such as National Student Partnerships, Early College Prep, Guiding Youth to Careers, Fair Share Housing Center, US Public Service Academy, and Students for Democratic Education & Human Rights. He was also elected to the Undergraduate Assembly. Mark hopes to pursue his interest in Urban Studies and Urban Education.

Samuel Ribnick

In high school, Samuel served as a council member and executive board member of the District of Columbia Youth Advisory Council and interned at the office of his local City Council representative, gaining a youthful perspective on urban politics. He also spent time in high school playing the piano and working at a local organic farmer’s market. As a freshman at Penn, Samuel was actively involved with tutoring at Shaw Middle School through the Community School Student Partnerships (CSSP) program and joined CSSP’s executive board last spring. Samuel is interested in exploring Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies.

Allison Roland

During high school, Allison founded her school’s chapter of the Outside the Dream Foundation to raise funds for Ugandan children, educate American youth about the crisis in Uganda and network Fieldston’s efforts with the larger organization. In July 2006 and July 2007 she traveled to Uganda, participating in various community service activities. From that Allison also co-founded the group Students for Africa whose calling is to assist AIDS orphans and children-soldiers in Uganda, placing them at top boarding schools in the country. She also interviewed and recruited students to work on Fieldston’s SHAPEfund to provide economic assistance for children’s service organizations. Allison became involved with the Community School Student Partnerships program during her first year at Penn and is currently working with the Ronald McDonald House and College & Career Pathways. Allison is a prospective Psychology major and would also like to continue studying French.

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Samantha Braun

Samantha’s civic engagement interests lie in politics, and she has spent the last four years working in public officials’ offices and government organizations in New York City. Most notably, she worked in a Councilman’s office providing services to the constituents of Manhattan’s East Side. During her time there, she served as an advocate for constituents’ quality of life issues with New York City departments and researched solutions for affordable housing concerns. As she enters her freshman year at Penn, Sami continues to be interested in learning how governments can be most effective both at the national and local levels.

Shriram Chauhan

Throughout high school, Shriram supported various volunteer efforts in Detroit, including work at a school for disabled children each summer, tutoring, and organizing his high school’s AIDS Walk team. Shriram then supplemented these experiences by attending two civic engagement camps which delved into the heart of the problems that plague the Detroit community. He continues to be dedicated to service learning and organically incorporating education with direct interaction, and he sees the Civic Scholars program as the ideal springboard to a career of civil service. Shriram hopes to eventually start his own nonprofit.

Kalla Gervasio

Early in her high school career, Kalla was involved in various one-time service projects such as volunteering at homeless shelters and food banks, but it was not until her father passed away from a rare form of cancer during her sophomore year of high school that she developed a strong passion for civic engagement. As an avid sports fan, she wanted to combine her love for basketball with service and thus organized a charity basketball game to raise money for Alex’s Lemonade Stand at her school. This has become an annual event and is named in memory of her father. Kalla plans to continue her service through Civic Scholars and other programs at Penn, where she will be pursuing her interest in urban health.

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Melanie Lei

Melanie’s community service began in local food pantries and clothing banks, but it later expanded to work with the elderly and mentally disabled. Her experiences working around issues of urban poverty her junior and senior year of high school galvanized her interest in civic engagement. Melanie has organized homeless simulations, created a documentary, and taught a year-long creative writing course at a shelter, where she learned not only about the many faces of homelessness, but also about making a true and beneficial impact in her community. Melanie comes to Philadelphia and Penn with the same passion she had in her hometown, eager to learn and make an impact.

Jeremy Levenson

For the past four years, Jeremy has consistently participated in a variety of his high school’s service activities, including Habitat for Humanity, Pie in the Sky (a project benefiting AIDS patients), and elementary schools among others. He also served as co-head of his school’s organization dedicated to community service. Two years ago, Jeremy had the opportunity to volunteer at Camphill in Botswana, an organization dedicated to building a community for physically and mentally disabled youth and looks forward to going back to volunteer in Africa. At Penn, Jeremy is excited to join a community of people dedicated to similar goals and aspirations of making a difference.

Paul Lyandres

Paul participated in various activities throughout high school from student government to one-on-one mentoring. In 2006, he founded the College Bound Organization with the mission of providing students with a more comprehensive understanding of the college application process. Throughout his two years as founder and president, Paul held numerous events, reaching out to over 1,000 students and raising over $3,000 in scholarships. As a college student himself now, Paul is excited to gain new perspectives on the world while also having an impact on other students and within the community during his time at Penn.

Katie McCabe

Katie has an extensive history of community service in the greater Philadelphia area especially at St. Edmond’s Home for Children - a summer camp for mentally and physically handicapped children where she served as a volunteer, counselor and eventually a group leader. She also has participated in a service trip to Costa Rica, where she worked to clean up local schools, reforest local farms, and paint community murals. On a separate trip to Florida, Katie lived with a family from Honduras and learned about the services being provided at a recently established community center for new immigrants. Katie is excited about continuing her involvement in the Philadelphia community and combining these experiences with her academic studies at Penn.

Shane McWilliams

From beach clean ups to state-wide healthy lifestyles initiatives, Shane has been active in a wide range of community service activities since he was young. Most recently, Shane served as Florida 4-H State Council President during his senior year of high school – a position in which he provided leadership and service assistance to a quarter of a million students around the state of Florida. In addition to participating in many advocacy groups, Shane also created and led projects such as the Operation Military Kids Christmas Gift Drive and a musical outreach program to African American children living in poverty. Shane hopes to major in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics with a concentration in politics.

Kathryn Mezzanotte

Kate developed an intense passion for community service during high school, often seeking out projects that coupled raising awareness with direct personal involvement. In addition to working with West Philadelphia elementary schools and Operation Smile, Kate also founded a chapter of an AIDS awareness group named AIDS Alive. In the summer of 2007, Kate participated in a medical mission to Peru which fueled her current interest in global public health. As the head of Student Outreach Services this past year she led a year-long project fundraiser to buy and fully stock a mobile clinic/ambulance to operate in southern Uganda. Kate plans to deepen her knowledge and experiences in the realm of international health at Penn.

Haywood Perry III

Haywood has been an extremely active citizen in Prince George’s County, where he served as Chairman of the Youth Commission and Student Board Member on the Board of Education. In these roles, he advocated on behalf of 130,000 public school students, contributed to the development of the system’s budget and capital improvement plan, lobbied and testified before fellow lawmakers, and hosted youth forums. Haywood also interned with the Maryland State Senate and US Congress and served as an executive member of the state and county student government associations. He now looks forward to investigating the collaborative roles that the political, business, and education sectors play in supporting and enhancing communities.

Nicole Schwartz

Nicole’s community work has focused on her passion for diabetes education and policy reform. In high school, she worked with the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) to organize a health fair in an underprivileged area in San Antonio. While at LULAC, Nicole contacted U.S. Representative Ciro Rodriguez to discuss the 2007 American Diabetes Association Standards of Care and minimal health requirements for diabetics nationwide, which led to him presenting a related bill to Congress in February 2008. Nicole also created “The Diabetes Bulletin,” a newsletter quarterly distributed throughout the national Santa Rosa Hospital system based on her interviews with diabetics and their most common questions. While Nicole is still interested in diabetes education, she looks forward to learning more about other social issues through the Civic Scholars program and her time in Philadelphia.

Tyrone Thomas

Tyrone fervently believes that every individual has the civic responsibility to be involved in service and advocacy. During the summer of 2007, he participated in a rally of 20,000 supporters in order to oppose the injustice surrounding the JENA 6 - a group of young men accused of attempted murder. He has also served as an Executive Board Member of Youth United Way of the Mid-South striving to approve and allocate funding to groups or initiatives in need, in addition to his participation in a variety of service organizations, including Imagine Memphis, Bridge Builders and The Memphis Challenge. Tyrone is eager to link his passion for service, business, and Latino culture during his time at Penn and within the greater Philadelphia community.

Elizabeth Walsh

A native of Louisiana, Elizabeth was moved as she watched Hurricane Katrina affect every aspect of life for her community and participated in many relief programs in her state such as Habitat for Humanity. Throughout high school, Elizabeth was also disturbed by the denial of human rights in places around the world and subsequently became very involved in Amnesty International. With Amnesty, she raised money for a school in Uganda through a partnership with the Invisible Children Schools for Schools campaign. She has traveled to Honduras five times to work with community members, where among other things she worked with children at orphanages, translated letters for a sponsorship program, and planned a delousing project. As a Civic Scholar, Elizabeth looks forward to taking her interests to the next level as she studies the root of various societal issues such as poverty.