Savannah Carroll (Arizona State University, 2008. Age 21)
Savannah, who grew up in San Antonio, TX, is a Political Science and African American Studies major at Arizona State University.  She is committed to helping underprivileged youth and wants to ensure that all citizens have access to a quality education. Savannah is the Political Actions Chair of ASU’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.  In this capacity, she is responsible for organizing Motivate, Organize, Vote, Educate (M.O.V.E.) Week at Arizona State University to raise awareness about social and political issues that impact minority communities.  Savannah is Secretary of ASU’s Black and African Coalition and served as a Project Associate for State of Black Arizona under ASU’s Building Great Communities Initiative. She is also a tutor for the America Reads Program and volunteers at the Valley Christian Center. She will be interning at National Caucus of Black State Legislators.

Jane Charles-Voltaire (Wesleyan College, 2007, Age 22)
Jane is a recent graduate of Wesleyan College, where she studied Romance Languages.  At Wesleyan, Jane was extremely active within the student of color community.  She was very involved with Ujamaa, Wesleyan’s predominant black identity student group, and served as co-chair last year.  In this capacity, Jane helped to coordinate a variety of activities on campus, including events to raise awareness about Black History Month.  She has also worked with a variety of youth organizations that serve children from underprivileged communities, including mentoring, tutoring, and organizing theatrical productions. Jane will be spending part of next year living and working in Haiti and plans to attend law school to pursue her goals in challenging social injustices throughout the world.  She will be interning this summer at the Legal Action Center.

Frankie Chen (Harvard University, 2007.  Age 21)
Frankie, who grew up in a Chinese immigrant family in the Bronx, New York, is a Psychology & Cognitive Neuroscience major and a Latin American Studies minor at Harvard University. Frankie served as a Head Student Liaison to Harvard's Race, Culture and Diversity Initiative and is currently Editor in Chief of Diversity and Distinction, a journal focused on issues of pluralism and multiculturalism. He is also Chief Editorial Assistant at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and has worked and researched in Mexico and Costa Rica. Frankie worked at the Asian American Justice Center last summer and will be at the Human Rights Campaign this summer.

Adriana Cortes (California State University-Fullerton, 2010. Age 18)
Adriana grew up in a family of farmworkers who immigrated from Mexico. She recently completed her first year at CSU-Fullerton, where she is studying sociology and political science.  She is interested in learning how to mobilize and educate communities about the need for positive social change. Adriana is one of the co-founders of Voices of Today and Tomorrow, a magazine that focuses on social justice issues internationally and locally. She also is a member of the Latino Voter Education Fund, a group that conducts bipartisan voter registration drives, NonViolent Youth Leadership Alliance (NYLA), and the Third Wave Feminist Activist Group.  Adriana has also been volunteering at Orange County Human Relations for the past four years.  She is interning at USSA this summer.

Stefanie Crespo (University of South Florida, 2007. Age 21)
Stefanie received a degree in Political Science from the University of South Florida in 2007. As a young, Latina, college-educated woman, Stefanie hopes to share what she has learned about the history of Latin American countries and their people and to make a difference for her community someday as an elected official.  During college, Stefanie served as a Student Senator. In this capacity, she was able to help to lobby for interests concerning the university at the state capitol as well as serve as the voice for students in her college during Senate meetings. In 2006, Stefanie interned for Lesley Miller’s campaign for Congress and coordinated fundraising events for the campaign. Through her sorority, Stefanie helped organize a Soul to Salsa workshop on campus to explore the cultural ties between African and Latin American communities.  Stefanie plans to attend law school and practice immigration law.  She is interning at the New Democratic Network this summer.

Kandace Davis (Appalachian State University, 2008. Age 21)
Kandace Davis is studying Sociology at Appalachian State University in North Carolina.  As a minority student leader on campus, she has worked to combat the apathy among young people.  She is currently a Student Government representative for the university’s admissions board. In this capacity, Kandace is part of an appeals board for admissions cases and helps in implementing diversity recruitment initiatives. Kandace is also an advisory board member of Appalachian State University’s Black Student Association. During her freshman year, Kandace organized a fashion show on her campus to raise money for the University’s Diversity Scholarship fund. She is interning at the Center for American Progress this summer.

Nicolas De Castro (Syracuse University, 2006. Age 23)
Nicolas is a first generation American who received a degree in Political Science and Spanish from Syracuse University in 2006.  Being raised in an immigrant family helped Nicolas to realize his strong commitment to finding a broader and more constructive solution to immigration reform. During college, Nicolas was an active member of the College Democrats and also served as a board member of an Inter-Fraternity Council. After interning with the Service Employees International Union, Nicolas was offered a full-time position as a Voter Registration Coordinator for SEIU.  He also volunteered for Andrew Cuomo’s campaign for Attorney General and Dan Maffei’s congressional campaign.  Nicolas is interning at the Third Way Foundation this summer.

Jacob Decker (Thomas Cooley Law School, 2008. Age 28)
Jacob is a second-year student at Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing, MI. Jake received his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Nebraska.  He spent seven years working as a Legal Assistant and helped defend late stage death penalty appeals. He also worked as an executive assistant for a direct mail fundraising company that focused on progressive candidates. In 2004, Jacob worked as a field organizer for Howard Dean. He also volunteered on the campaigns of Jon Tester and Barbara Boxer. He will be interning at Ballot Initiative Strategy Center this summer.

Romeo Domdii Cliff (University of Tampa, 2007. Age 22).
Romeo received a degree in Government and World Affairs from the University of Tampa in 2007. Originally from Cameroon, Romeo came to the US as a foreign exchange student for high school. During college, he helped charter and served as president for an NAACP chapter. He was also president of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and the Vice President of the Black Student Union.  He also helped coordinate the Golden Legacy Series—University of Tampa’s first annual celebration of Black History Month. Romeo is very passionate about politics and has aspirations to be a future leader of Cameroon. He has worked on a congressional campaign and interned for Senator Bill Nelson.  He is interning at M&R Strategic Services.

Sammie Dow (North Carolina A& T University, 2009. Age 20)
Sammie is currently studying journalism and mass communications at North Carolina A & T University.  He believes in the potential for young leaders to affect the political process on the local and national level. Since arriving on campus, Sammie has worked with the student government association in many different capacities. He is currently the Publicist for SGA and is responsible for composing speeches and written comments for student government representatives. He is also the Student Senate Finance Chairman for the SGA.  He will be spending the summer at USSA.

Amy Dowley (Vassar College, 2008. Age 21)
Amy Dowley is studying Geography and Political Science at Vassar College. She possesses a deep commitment to solving environmental, humanitarian, and social problems that exist in our society. She has conducted fieldwork for the Poughkeepsie Farm Project as well as served as a volunteer for the Student Conservation Association for Fire Education Corps.  Amy also helped coordinate a Vassar College Chapter of Democracy Matters to plan voter registration drives and other events that raised awareness about the importance of campaign finance reform on her campus. She is interning at Food and Water Watch this summer.

Maria Escobar (Florida State University, 2008.  Age 21)
Maria's family came to the U.S. from Colombia six years ago for political reasons.  Maria is currently President of the Colombian Student Association at FSU and treasurer for the Progressive Student Assembly.  She has organized many events on campus to raise awareness and empower the Latino community.  She is passionate about immigration reform and deeply influenced by her own experience as a recent immigrant.  She will be working this summer with Jobs with Justice and the Student Labor Action Project. 

Andres Gallegos (Pomona College, 2008. Age 20)
Andrés, a junior at Pomona College, is pursuing a degree in History with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean.  As part of the Latina/o Leaders Coalition of the Claremont Colleges, he recently helped organize a city wide march against anti immigration measures. He also served as the Chicano/Latino Student Liaison for Pomona College. He helped to organize social events, lectures, and speakers for Latino students as well as communicate their needs to the Dean of Students. Since 2004, he has been an executive board member of Empowered Latina/o in Action, a student group that puts on educational, social, and political events to increase Latino visibility and raise awareness of Latino issues. Andrés has also an active member of the Workers Support Committee and the Queer Resource Center. Last semester, Andrés was an intern for the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles. Andrés is working with Media Matters for America this summer.

Mary Rose Go (Scripps College, 2008. Age 20)
Mary Rose is an Asian American Studies major and Music minor at Scripps College. Raised in Hawai’i, Mary Rose has a passion for racial and economic justice.  In 2006, she participated in Katrina on The Ground, a program that allowed her to survey and provide support for communities devastated by the effects of Hurricane Katrina.  Back on campus, she co-founded and directs the 5-College Student Solidarity Committee, which sends students to New Orleans over spring and summer breaks. She also founded and currently serves as President of a Filipino Club at Scripps as a safe space for Filipino students to discuss community and political issues. Last summer, Mary Rose participated in the Ayala Foundation Filipino- Americans Youth Leaders Fellowship Program. This provided her with an opportunity to live in the Philippines and intern with the Children’s Hour, researching, analyzing and compiling data about marginalized children in the Philippines.  Mary Rose is interning at the Sierra Club this summer.