|
Princeton in Africa placed 25 Fellows in 16 countries with 14 organizations for the 2009-2010 fellowship year.
The 2009-2010 class of Fellows is a diverse group: they hail from 3 different countries, speak 18 languages, majored in 9 areas, earned 14 different certificates, and participated in over 45 athletic groups and extracurricular activities during their Princeton careers. |
|
My Princeton in Africa fellowship was everything I could have hoped for and much more. The myriad of experiences makes my head swim, and it has strengthened my desire to help underserved populations worldwide.
— David Bartels 2006-2007 Fellow |
|
FIND A FELLOW |
|
2009-2010 FELLOWS |
|
2009-2010 Fellows Ahmed Abdulla ‘09 International Institute for Water and Environment Engineering, Burkina Faso
Ahmed is a chemical engineering major specializing in engineering management and entrepreneurship. An international student from the island nation of Bahrain, Ahmed is fascinated with languages and etymology. His interest in languages extends to Arabic Calligraphy. Ahmed is also a freelance 3D-modeler and an amateur astronomer. Ahmed has interned at banks and oil companies in Bahrain, as well as Princeton research laboratories in the School of Engineering. He is looking forward to spending a year developing 2iE’s carbon assessment strategy in Burkina Faso. |
|
Katherine Anderson ‘08 International Rescue Committee, South Sudan
Katherine is an anthropology major from Oakmont, PA (outside of Pittsburgh). She earned a certificate in African studies and studied Swahili at Princeton. Outside of academics, Katherine worked as the executive editor for photography for the Daily Princetonian and served as treasurer of the International Relations Council. Through the International Relations Council, she was also involved in the annual Princeton Model United Nations Conference and the Princeton Interactive Crisis Simulation. This past year Katherine worked with Tanganyika Christian Refugee Service in western Tanzania through PiAf. |
|
Invisible Children, Uganda
John studied political science at Princeton with a concentration in international relations. He is from Brooklyn, NY, where he returned after graduation to work for Raymond James as an assistant financial advisor. At Princeton, John played rugby, studied abroad in Cape Town, and held a summer internship at the International Action Network on Small Arms in London. John also taught English in Taipei, Taiwan, and Tianjin, China. John wrote his thesis on counterinsurgency strategy and looks forward to surveying victims of armed conflict in Northern Uganda. |
|
Byron Austin ‘07 mothers2mothers, South Africa
Byron is a comparative literature major from Morris Plains, NJ. After graduation, he had a short stint at a notable fashion magazine, yet spent more than 1.5 years at Bloomberg Finance, LP where he managed a small team in the client services department. Through Princeton, Byron was able to study abroad in Spain and Argentina in addition to volunteer for Child Family Health International in Oaxaca, Mexico. While in Cape Town for his fellowship, Byron looks forward to working at a NGO and tackling many issues that were addressed in his senior thesis in the real world! |
|
Lutheran World Federation, Burundi
Luwam is a politics major from Fairfax, VA. She also earned certificates in African studies and French language and literature. On campus, she was vice president of the Princeton Association of Black Women and small group leader for Manna Christian Fellowship. Luwam is looking forward to good conversations with locals and to learning about development from her colleagues while living in Burundi. |
|
Jasmine Clerisme ‘02 International Rescue Committee, Ethiopia
After leaving Princeton, where she was a politics major with a certificate in African American studies, Jasmine spent several years working in the field of healthcare administration. Though born and raised on Long Island, NY, she has maintained a strong connection to her family’s country of origin— Haiti. Jasmine has been actively involved in the development of a rural medical clinic in southern Haiti, volunteering onsite as well as raising funds back in the U.S. to support the clinic’s growth. Jasmine has worked in the Foreign Policy division of The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank based in New York City, and spent last year in Sierra Leone working with Africare and Sierra Rutile through PiAf. |
|
Wenli Cai ‘09 mothers2mothers, South Africa
Wenli is a psychology major from Memphis, TN (no, she doesn’t like country music and, alas, they never taught her to read minds). At Princeton, she was a member of Terrace Club, did nothing athletic whatsoever, and earned certificates in both neuroscience and creative writing. She also studied abroad in Melbourne, Australia, for a semester and got to feed a kangaroo. While in Cape Town, Wenli hopes to learn to drive a stick shift on the wrong side of the road, and maybe, just maybe, pet a (small, baby, tamed) lion. |
|
World Food Program, Benin
Adrienne is from Ithaca, NY and majored in the Woodrow Wilson School with a certificate in Near Eastern Studies. At Princeton, she participated in Raks Odalisque (Princeton’s belly dancing group) and several international relations and political groups. She also volunteered regularly in Trenton helping ex-convicts to prepare for the GED. She plans to pursue a career in international development and is looking forward to getting her start in Benin! |
|
Africare, Tanzania
Krista is a psychology major who was born and raised in Washington, DC. Her academic focus was social and cultural psychology. In her free time, she enjoys learning new languages (Swahili) and performing Middle Eastern dance with Raks Odalisque. Krista first traveled to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with her Swahili class in the summer after her junior year and she can’t wait to return. During her fellowship, she hopes to visit the friends she made last summer in addition to making new ones! |
|
Morgan Goheen ‘07 mothers2mothers, South Africa
Morgan majored in molecular biology while at Princeton. Born and raised in the small town of Hamilton, Montana, coming to Princeton was a big change—but a terrific one, at that. At Princeton, Morgan spent time working in a herpes virology lab, being a peer academic advisor and Butler Undergraduate Fellow, playing recreational soccer, and studying abroad at the University of Cape Town. Since graduating, Morgan returned home to Hamilton to work as a post-baccalaureate research fellow at Rocky Mountain Labs, a satellite campus of the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. At RML, Morgan studies the Chlamydia bacteria with a group of researchers working towards a vaccine. Aside from being in the lab, Morgan spends time coaching grade-school soccer players, playing with her dogs, and enjoying the outdoors as much as possible. Morgan is deferring from the MD/PhD program at UNC-Chapel Hill to participate in PiAf, and she is really looking forward to experiencing the public health side of infectious disease work during her time with mothers2mothers in Cape Town. |
|
Jessica Grody ‘09 International Institute for Water and Environment Engineering, Burkina Faso
Jessica is from West Hartford, CT. She majored in ecology and evolutionary biology with a certificate in environmental studies. At Princeton, Jessica sang with the Princeton Tigerlilies, Princeton’s first female a cappella group, and was a member of Tower Club. During the spring semester of her junior year, she studied abroad in Panama with the EEB department’s semester-in-the-field program. Jessica is looking forward to working with 2iE in Burkina Faso to help bring clean water to rural families, and she is hoping to improve her French as well. |
|
Komaza, Kenya
Clare is a politics major from Montreal, Canada. At Princeton, she was manager of the Facebook Agency, a student employee at the library, and a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma and Cloister Inn. She earned certificates in political economy and environmental studies. After graduating, Clare worked at Bain & Company for three years as a strategy consultant in Boston and London. Since completing the program, she spent three months volunteering and backpacking in Central/South America and worked for TechnoServe (business development consultancy) in Swaziland for three months. She is very excited to be in Kenya next year, and she is eager to learn, explore, meet lots of people, and start up some pick-up frisbee (if it’s not unbearably hot!). |
|
Callie Lefevre ‘09 World Food Program, Senegal
Callie is a history major from Philadelphia. At Princeton, she was co-coordinator of the Triangle Writer’s Workshop (she was a lyricist), class rep for the history department’s Undergraduate Academic Committee, and a director and actor in Sex on a Saturday Night sponsored by SHARE and Theater Intime Kids Initiative. Callie speaks French, Spanish, and Arabic, and spent summers abroad studying in Lebanon and Jordan. She is interested in journalism and public policy and spent last summer interning at Time magazine. While in Senegal next year, Callie looks forward to learning more about West Africa and the WFP, picking up some Wolof, listening to Afropop, and (of course) going to the beach! |
|
Emily Miller ‘09 World Food Program, Mozambique
Emily is an anthropology major with a certificate in music (viola) performance. At Princeton, she took part in the Princeton University Orchestra, STAND, and the Student Volunteers Council, and she spent last summer with Princeton in Asia, teaching English in China. When not at school she lives in Springfield, VA, though she has also lived in New York, Pennsylvania, and Maine. She hopes her time on the east coast of the U.S. will prepare her for a year on the east coast of Africa, working in Mozambique with the UN World Food Program. While in Maputo, she plans to pick up Portuguese (really quickly), to become even more fond of Afro-Portuguese music, and to learn a lot. |
|
Agatha Offorjebe ‘09 Baylor Pediatric AIDS Initiative, Botswana
Agatha is an ecology and evolutionary biology major from San Jose, CA. At Princeton, she was the captain of the track and field team, a Butler RCA, and a sexual health advisor. Agatha looks forward to an amazing year in Botswana! |
|
African Leadership Academy, South Africa
Etzerson is a French major from Queens, NY. A graduate of the class of 2007, Etzerson was involved in various campus organizations including the Black Student Union, Business Today, Princeton Student Television Network, and the Tiger Inn. In addition, Etzerson earned a certificate in Italian language and culture during his undergraduate career. Since graduation, Etzerson has worked as an analyst with Deutsche Bank’s Private Wealth Management group in New York. He looks forward to working with the African Leadership Academy and exploring the fields of social entrepreneurship and development in Africa. |
|
Julia Peppiatt ‘08 International Rescue Committee, Uganda
Julia graduated from Princeton in 2008 with a degree in politics and a certificate in African Studies. While in college, she wrote for a few different campus publications, volunteered with Oxfam International, and belonged to the Cloister Inn. She has spent the past year working as an English teacher in Can Tho, Vietnam, a small city in the Mekong Delta. There she didn’t quite get her fill of the heat, humidity, power outages, and slow internet connections, so back to the tropics it is! She is looking forward to returning to the African continent after studying abroad in South Africa in Fall 2006, especially because she hears nothing but wonderful things about Uganda and Ugandans. |
|
Jing Ren ‘09 International Rescue Committee, Sierra Leone
Jing is a Woodrow Wilson School major from New York City. At Princeton, she was a member of the Tigressions, an all female a cappella group, and the Cap & Gown Club. She is a pre-med student interested in global public health and has interned with the Children’s Hospital of NY as well as the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative in Nassau, Bahamas. Having traveled to Tanzania last summer on a Princeton trip, she is excited to return to Africa for a fellowship with the IRC and hopes her high school French will help her pick up some Krio. |
|
Abigail Smith ‘09 Plan International, Uganda
Abigail is a religion major from Houston with a certificate in Spanish. At Princeton, she was in eXpressions Dance Company and frequently choreographed. Abigail was also a member of the Cottage Club. She loves traveling and learning new languages, so she spent her junior year spring studying in Santiago, Chile. Abigail is pre-med and after her year in Africa she is planning on attending medical school for a joint MD/MPH degree. While in Kampala next year, Abigail hopes to pick up some new African dance moves and have a fabulous adventure. |
|
Mark Stevens ‘06 African Impact, Zambia
Mark is a religion major from Hartland, WI. At Princeton, he was an avid volleyball player, Aquinas member, Athletes In Action student leader, and Colonial Club member. He completed the Teacher Preparation Program to become a certified high school social studies teacher. Mark’s love for international travel was born at Princeton, starting with a trip to Rome with fellow classmates and culminating in his study abroad experience at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland with numerous excursions in between. Since graduation, he has been developing pre-college enrichment and community service programs for high school students in Wisconsin, Costa Rica, and Panama. Mark is excited to begin a new adventure embracing the culture and people of Zambia this fall. |
|
International Rescue Committee, Kenya
Beza is a Woodrow Wilson School major from Reidsville, NC. At Princeton, Beza was on the executive board of Pit Stop, an SVC project that tutors middle-school students in Trenton. Beza enjoys reading, writing, listening to music and most of all, traveling. She spent two semesters abroad while at Princeton, in Dakar, Senegal, and Cape Town, South Africa, and she has traveled to India, Namibia, and Ethiopia (where she is originally from). She is very excited to be living in Nairobi next year working for the IRC and hopes to do and see much during her fellowship. |
|
Whitney Williams ‘09 Baylor Pediatric AIDS Initiative, Lesotho
Whitney is a Woodrow Wilson School major from New York City. She also earned certificates in both Portuguese and Latin American studies. While at Princeton, Whitney sang with the Katzenjammers and campaigned against sexual assault as a member of both Speak Out and SHARE. During her summer breaks, Whitney worked with the International Media Agency, Media Vest Worldwide, and studied in Brazil twice. She also spent the spring semester of her junior year in Cape Town, South Africa. Whitney is so excited to spend a year in Lesotho, where she looks forward to gaining a wealth of practical public health experience. |
|
Ariel Wagner ‘05 International Rescue Committee, Liberia
Ariel graduated from Princeton in 2005 with a degree from the Woodrow Wilson School and certificates in both African and Latin American studies. Following graduation, Ariel spent two and a half years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, West Africa. Since her return to the U.S. in 2008, she has been doing a pre-med post-bacc and plans to begin medical school in 2010. Ariel loves West Africa and can’t wait to return for her PiAf fellowship. |
|
Mpala, Kenya
Allison Williams is an ecology and evolutionary biology major from Mt. Laurel, NJ. At Princeton, she focused her senior thesis research on the behavior and physiology of yellow baboons in Kenya and worked in the Altmann hormone lab analyzing stress hormones. Allison enjoys playing soccer and played for the university on the varsity and club teams. She also tutored children through several university programs and is a member of the Cottage Club. In Kenya next year, Allison looks forward to the research and work she will take part in at the Mpala Research Center and learning the local languages, eating the local food, and interacting with the people. |
|
Elizabeth Denniston ‘09 Kucetekela Foundation, Zambia
Libby is a politics major with a focus on international relations. At Princeton, she played squash and tutored in Trenton. She wrote her thesis on the Millennium Challenge Corporation—a new foreign aid agency created by President Bush—exploring the question of politicization of aid disbursement. Libby is spending the summer oyster farming in Duxbury, Massachusetts. She looks forward to working at the Kucetekela Foundation, tutoring Zambian students, and visiting Victoria Falls next year. |
