Announcing the Spring 2018 EdSurge Independent Fellows
EdSurge Independent is excited to announce the Spring ’18 cohort of EdSurge Independent Fellows!
This impressive and diverse group consists of 15 students from 5 countries across 3 continents. Between them, they’ve started at least 6 education nonprofits and businesses, have worked with some of the world’s most famous educational organizations, and have a dizzying breadth and depth of educational experiences. Among the group, 4 of them are currently teaching or lecturing a class, while also pursuing their studies.
Throughout the course of the semester, these Fellows will meet weekly to discuss some of the biggest trends and most pressing issues in higher education and beyond. They’ll meet with leading education experts, connect with mentors in the education space, and share their thoughts and perspectives with the readers of EdSurge Independent.
You can subscribe to our newsletter to receive content from the fellows here!
This community of students passionate about driving change in education will surely have a significant impact in the world in the years to come. Without any further ado, we’re pleased to introduce the Spring ’18 EdSurge Independent Fellows:
Adhi Appukutty
Adhi is a Junior at the University of Michigan, where he studies Business Administration and Community Action & Social Change. Being an undergrad for five semesters has made Adhi well aware of the benefits and shortcomings of education. As such, he is driven to better understand student needs and motivations and hopes to apply these learnings to create changes in the design, process, and learning in education.
On campus, Adhi collaborates with a Professor of Business and a Professor of Information on an independent research project that seeks to reverse the abysmally low completion rates of MOOCs. Additionally, he is involved in a consulting club, which works with socially conscious organizations to help them solve their most pressing business issues.
Adhi grows from reflecting on experiences. Whether he traveled to Nicaragua for a service learning project or interned for the largest brewing company in the world in New York City, Adhi constantly seeks new and exciting challenges. He is currently writing a book that hopes to provoke young adults to think more closely about their education experience as he challenges education norms and proposes actions to reverse shortcomings. Adhi is an avid writer on Medium, where he blogs about his various travel, professional, social, and personal experiences.
Kevin Rabinovich
Kevin is a student involved in the intersections of ideas, youth, technology, design, and education. Particularly, he is interested in solving problems in K–12 education using design. He is the founder (and now curator) of TEDxYouth@Columbia, South Carolina’s by-youth, for-youth organization that unites high school students around the power of ideas, through an in-school dialogue program that partners with 50 high school to get students talking about today’s biggest issues in a constructive, productive way.
He was also the founding co-president & creative director at Clemson University’s UNICEF Campus Initiative. In high school, he organized CodeDay Columbia, a 24-hour hackathon for high school and college students, and was the regional manager for 3 seasons. This past summer, he worked in NYC as a design & production intern at RadicalMedia and as the producer for Debbie Millman’s Masters in Branding thesis presentations. Previously, he was an intern for 52inc, truematter, and IT-oLogy — all in Columbia, South Carolina. He currently serves as an advisor to Student Space.
Elisa de Rooij Mansur
As a lifelong volunteer in educational institutions in Brazil, Elisa believes that the investment in early childhood education is key to breaking the cycle of poverty and improving standard and quality of life in emerging economies.
Elisa started her career in the infrastructure sector, working with company-wide changes, but soon committed to an entrepreneurial journey with the goal of leveraging entrepreneurship and technology to promote positive impact in her home country and abroad. As the co-founder of doebem, a nonprofit that fundraises to pre-vetted charities in Brazil, and an MBA candidate at MIT Sloan, Elisa divides her efforts between advocating for generosity and “doing good” and being an agent of change in the first years of formal education, including literacy.
She full heartedly believes that every child has the non-negotiable right of being able to make sense of words. Elisa is also a Draper University Alum and Brand Ambassador, Yunus&Youth Fellow, Global Shaper for the World Economic Forum and a One Young World Ambassador.
Marlette Sandoval
Marlette Sandoval is above all, a curious individual. Her hunger for knowledge and experience has led her to new heights as she summited Mount Fuji on a delegation to Kawasaki, Japan and has driven her to unprecedented risks at a revolutionary higher education institution.
She is a veteran dancer, an amateur poet, an organizational wizard. She has been a varsity crew captain, a board member of the Golden Gate Bridge District for Boy Scouts, an archery instructor, a four-time Best in Show winner for ceramics at the county fair.
Above all, Marlette knows that she has only come so far because she was able to stand on the shoulders of giants. Her curiosity led to discovery, and her discoveries to the conclusion that curiosity is nothing if it does not lead to creation. That is why she has dedicated herself to being a shoulder on which someone can stand.
She spends her summers organizing week-long leadership programs for hundreds of youth, and worked with her school on its accreditation essay to ensure its legacy can continue. Her goal in life is to make sure education does not remain static, and if she changes one person’s life for the better, she will know she has succeeded.
Abigail Elizabeth Cox
Abigail is a sophomore at Minerva Schools at KGI, studying government, politics, and society as well as how to design constitutions and societies. A Phoenix native, Abigail grew up volunteering at local animal shelters and family homeless shelters focused in improving childhood literacy rates in poverty-stricken homes.
When seeing the authority of the United States’ education department shift, Abigail became concerned with the future compliance of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as well as the future of public education- which Abigail herself relied on until the day she graduated from high school.
A believer in changing the way that we view the educational experience, Abigail is already helping to shape the future of education while living and studying in 7 cities during her undergraduate career. By immersing in different cultures and societies, she has a first-hand view of what practices and policies work.
Aiming to ensure the security of special education while finding a means to reduce the number of high school dropouts and increase the college enrollment rate. Education is the answer, and Abigail is ready to fight for it.
Luz Miranda-Valencia started teaching English as a Foreign Language to K-6 -students from private schools who needed tutoring or wanted to learn more in Lima, Peru, when she was 13. Peru is a Spanish-speaking country with high demand on foreign languages, so Luz taught world languages (English and German) at three prestigious universities –two private and one public- until she moved with her family to Sacramento, California, where her husband found a new job as a Lutheran pastor.
Luz is an American citizen born in Lima, Peru, who studied in Lima up to higher education. She has a Diploma in Pedagogical Sciences from ICPNA, a BA and a Licensure in Translation from Ricardo Palma University, and a Graduate certificate of the Master of Higher-Education from UNMSM. She also studied German at Goethe Institut in Munich, Germany. In Sacramento, California, she founded a Spanish Language Academy at a Lutheran church and designed and developed the curriculum to teach all levels and all ages.
Her younger student was 14 and her oldest, 90. She also had a job at Homeschooling to teach K-6 students. However, a new job came for her husband, so they had to move to Florida. Luz plans to pursue a Doctorate in Education and thinks on-line learning is the answer.
Sam Gyamfi
Sam Gyamfi is a Richmond resident and a second-year Chemical and Life Science Engineering student at the Virginia Commonwealth University. He is also the prospective President of Black Excellence at VCU, an organization whose mission is to organize an annual scholarship ball in efforts to celebrate student achievement and contributions in the community. He also works as the Membership Coordinator for the Engineering Student Ambassadors and owns “The Conscious Dreamer”, a blog where he discusses current issues and stereotypes. His favorite hobbies are writing poems and studying classical music.
Chas Thompson
Chas Thompson is a doctoral student studying higher education at the University of Arkansas, and has particular research interests in the history of American higher education and the experiences of LGBTQIA faculty, staff, and students.
With a background in both music and curating campus art galleries, Chas is also passionate about the intersection of fine arts and higher education and expanding access to quality arts education. Chas has attended and worked at educational institutions of all sizes and creeds, from leaving high school with a graduating class of 10, to attending a private, liberal arts institution with under 1000 undergraduate students, to working at a medium-sized state institution, to now working and studying at a large research institution.
Outside of the classroom, Chas enjoys writing music and teaching private piano and cello lessons to young musicians, walking his dog, and reading novels.
Veronica Lewis
Veronica Lewis is a student with low vision studying information technology and assistive technology, with the goal of inventing new tools and advocating for people with vision impairments, especially students. She lives in Virginia and runs a blog called Veronica With Four Eyes about technology, education, disability, and how these things intersect.
Angele Law
Angele Law is currently a first-year MBA student at MIT Sloan School of Management. She is the Co-Chair of the MIT Learning Analytics Conference, a Board Fellow at Fenway High School, and actively assisting Sathya Sai School of Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, with its sustainable fundraising strategy.
Prior to MBA, she was a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group, where she served corporates and non-profit clients in Greater China and South East Asia across social impact, technology, consumer goods and finance sectors. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she is particularly keen in solving the systematic challenges in Hong Kong’s education system. She was the youngest appointed member at the Commission on Youth, an advisory body for the HK government on all matters pertaining youth. She also advocated for the setup of a $40M+ Youth Development Fund to support start-ups by young entrepreneurs, and was invited by the government to draft the policies for this Fund.
Her long-term goal is to launch a network of schools in Asia that encourages students to explore their interests, maximize their strengths and pursue their dreams. It is only with passionate and self-motivated thinkers, dreamers and leaders that we can collectively solve the big problems of our era and make the world a better place.
Daniel Breitwieser
A half German half Brazilian, who has made Amsterdam his home (for now). He speaks six languages fluently to date. Whilst still being in the process of finishing his bachelor, he became Amsterdam’s youngest lecturer in 2017. As a young lecturer, entrepreneur, and public speaker he is currently on a mission to revolutionize career discovery and transform education to empower the new generation to do work they’ll love. Daniel has not only been the youngest lecturer at his university but has also received the highest evaluation out of all lecturer of the Programme.
Catalina Catana
Catalina explores entrepreneurship in all forms while studying International Business Innovation. She has co-founded Fypster, a startup aiming to transform education and revolutionise career discovery, has been a lecturer at her university teaching Speculative Design, has facilitated numerous workshops on the themes of Lean Startup, Design Thinking and Personal branding.
Most recently Catalina has given a talk where she shares how students should adopt an entrepreneurial mindset to shape their own learning journeys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiGiUzZ_0HE&t=259s. She truly believes in the potential of our generation — with possibilities to learn, develop, and grow all around us.
In her eyes, it is essential to share with the world what we believe in, and to advocate the change we want to happen. In this digitalised world, stories are the catalyst for impact. And storytelling is how Catalina, an assertive introvert, expresses her thoughts, visions and values.
Megan Simmons
Megan is a freshman at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City, where she is studying Political Science and Sociology. After moving from Fairfield, CT to Columbia, SC during the winter of her sophomore year, Megan became an organizer on the Hillary Clinton campaign, leading up to the South Carolina primary. This experience taught Megan the power of policy and politics, leading her to organizing a Young Democrats chapter in her high school and becoming involved in the inaugural SC Teen Democrats chapter.
Megan currently serves as the Director of Programming for Student Voice, where she coordinates and creates content, as well as produces and hosts the State of Schools and Week in Review Podcasts. Megan’s passions lie in civic education and engagement and fully believes in the words on Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Julia Winemiller
Julia graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with majors in Education and Psychological & Brain Sciences. She is currently an Educational Systems Research Fellow at SkipNV where she works with non-profits, school districts, foundations, and entrepreneurs to create more equitable systems of education in St. Louis.
She uses System Dynamics to understand our school systems’ complexity and has facilitated multiple Community Based System Dynamics projects related to education including access to Pre-K, teacher retention, and pre-professional teaching pathways. She is a co-founder of AlignEd, a nonprofit that connects and supports pre-professional educators. She hopes to be a middle school science teacher and fierce advocate for her students.
Gabe Baskin
Gabe Baskin is an Emory Scholar at Emory University where in his third year, he studies political science and sociology. Through his studies and work at JCC Ranch Camp, he has become passionate about issues of equity within education. He understands the importance of examining education from a sociological perspective to understand the manner in which education intersects with class, status, and power.
Gabe is also extremely passionate about food and nutrition in schools. Having witnessed the low-income students bifurcated from the rest of the student body through school cafeteria and free and reduced lunch policies at his own school, he hopes to research the issue further, and educate about the issues of food justice within schools. Gabe hopes to pursue a career of improving education through policy and politics. Outside of education, he enjoys the outdoors, basketball, and meaningful conversations.
Larissa Moreira (cohort leader)
Larissa Moreira is a 21-year-old social entrepreneur from Brazil, passionate about education and technology, currently in her sophomore year at Babson College. Daughter of a K-12 school teacher and a public school student herself, she learned in her early ages the numerous problems students and teachers face in the current educational system.
Because of her curiosity, she ended up participating in a lot of extracurricular activities, even though Brazil has no such culture of learning outside of school. After living incredible experiences, she realized it was necessary to make sure Brazilian students had access to opportunities to explore their passions, create their network and be recognized for what they are good at. Larissa then co-founded InspiraSonho (https://www.inspirasonho.com.br/), whose mission is to connect students to meaningful learning experiences outside of the classroom.
She has been recognized as a Brazilian Youth Ambassador by the U.S. Embassy in Brazil, National Youth Deputy by the Brazilian Congress, and awarded the Global Scholarship at Babson College, the most competitive scholarship in the school.
Noah Adelstein (cohort leader)
Noah Adelstein grew up in Denver, Colorado and is currently a junior at WashU in St. Louis studying economics and computer science.
He has worked for a handful of early-stage companies in Denver, St. Louis and San Francisco doing digital marketing work. He is also the co-owner of a baseball blog about the St. Louis Cardinals called Cardsblog and he does venture capital work for a decentralized fund called Contrary Capital.
He found an interest in education after getting involved with a Denver ed-tech startup called Stackup. After seeing some of the negative cultures that exist on college campuses, he has developed a passion for systematic changes to help college students more easily find and pursue their passions.
Noah also loves to read and write. He has read 60+ books in the last 20 months and written 60+ articles on Medium since last May. He is interested in fitness, health sports, and psychology.
In addition to sharing this incredibly impressive group of Fellows, we welcome you to join the EdSurge Independent newsletter. Once a month, we’ll share the best insights and perspectives from some of the most passionate and insightful student minds rethinking the future of education.
Whether you’re an educator/administrator who wants to better understand and serve your students, an entrepreneur/technologist who wants insights directly from potential users, or a student who cares deeply about education and wants to be a part of the movement to transform its future, subscribe today to the EdSurge Independent newsletter.
