2021 Undergraduate Honors and Awards
Northwestern University's Julia Borland, a third year studying social policy and economics, received a $10,000 award from Projects for Peace to help incorporate environmental and food justice issues into a sustainable farming program.
As part of her practicum, Borland co-founded the Zumwalt Acres Sustainable Farm Apprenticeship Program, which invites ten college-aged students to live and work on a farm in Sheldon, Ill. The apprentices learn how to write grants, establish organic garden beds, conduct research on sustainable soil management and renewable energy and more.
Borland’s vision includes adding educational resources and opportunities that address political, social and cultural issues in farming. She’ll use the Projects for Peace award to help apprentices attend workshops such as Uprooting Racism in the Food System, by Soul Fire Farm, a leader in environmental justice in US agriculture. Several nonfiction books, including Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, and Leah Penniman’s Farming While Black, “will also be essential for informing group discussions on combatting discrimination and oppression in agriculture,” she said.
In February, Zumwalt Acres was awarded $7,000 through a North Central region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant. They also won the Delta Institute’s 9th Annual BOOST Social Entrepreneurship Impact Pitch Contest, a platform for early-stage entrepreneurs with innovative products and services designed to promote sustainable change in the Midwest.
Borland credited the flexibility and support of the School of Education and Social Policy's senior academic adviser, Nathan Frideres, who helped make the unusual practicum site during the COVID-19 a reality. “The material from school translates well to the work, she said. “But being on the farm feels so real; like we’re really making an impact.”
Borland was one of many SESP undergraduates who received awards and accolades this year. Read about more of our outstanding students below:
Maayan Abouzaglo received the Stephen L. Suckle Israeli Scholarship Fund of the Dallas Jewish Community Foundation.
Mari Gashaw, who founded the Black Mentorship Program for Black undergraduates, won the SESP Alumni Leadership Award. Gashaw, who \studied social policy and completed the Civic Engagement Certificate, was involved in the SESP Leadership Institute and worked for For Members Only and in the office of Multicultural Student Affairs. Gashaw traveled to the Middle East with NU Perspectives, studied abroad in Germany, and has been involved in a number of social justice activities and other extracurriculars while at Northwestern. “At times, Mari is unconventional, but what leader is known for their adherence to the arbitrary norms and stipulations enforced upon us by society?” asked undergraduate Taylor Bolding, who recommended Gashaw for the award. “Leaders are visionaries that can incite change around them, and Mari is no exception. Their leadership abilities are best displayed through their kindness, care for others, and drive for the self-development and self-improvement of themself and others.”
Emily Lester received an Undergraduate Language Grant which provide $5,000 towards the cost of intensive summer language study either in the US or abroad.
Tamara Kissoon, received an Alumnae Undergraduate Research Grant for her proposal to “Local Youth Organizing in Guyana.” Kisson is studying social policy and international studies.
Alumna Dara McGreal (BS16), a high school algebra teacher in Maryland, is a finalist for Fulbright (IIE) U.S. Student Awards which support a year of study or research, or projects in the creative or performing arts, or teaching in more than 155 countries worldwide. McGreal, mentor, adviser and member of the instructional leadership team, will teach in the Netherlands.
Tommy McHugh, who is studying learning sciences, won the first-place award in the Grand Finals of the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) Undergraduate Student Research Competition for his work on assistive/accessible technology.
Joanna Sherman and Ray Solorzano were selected as convocation cochairs for their dedication to the school and community.
Camryn Smith, a second year studying social policy and entrepreneurship, was named one of five new Little Joe Ventures Fellows at The Garage, an award designed to support promising entrepreneurial-minded undergraduates. She hopes to transform the beauty and wellness industry for Black women by “creating more inclusive, knowledgeable, and accessible spaces.”
Josha Thomas, a member of Claudia Haase’s LifeSpan Development lab, was named an Alumnae of Northwestern University Undergraduate Research Scholar.
SESP honors recipients -- seniors who successfully complete SESP’s honors thesis program include Adina Barg, Sophie Boorstein, Rohan Xavier Gupta, Akie T. Kadota, Rachel Kwak, Madeline Lane, Julia Lowenthal, Alka Meresh, Desmond O’Keefe, Lauren Reynolds, Simon Su, and Madeleine Ward.
Graduating seniors who participated in the SESP Leadership Institute included: Melissa Batz, Jhadin Beaco, Miyeko Cannon, Nancy Contreras-Alejandre, Elizabeth Curtis, Caty DeBroux, Andrew Duarte, Jessy Feng Han, Gabriel Gamboa, Daniela Garcia, Mari Gashaw,Jenna Hart, Faith Irvine, Rachel Kwak, Alex Macedo, Lesley Meza, Ryan Millman, Saul Osorio, Gabby Rios and Raymond Solorzano.
Students who completed Civic Engagement Capstone Projects include: Carina Aceves, Nala Bishop, Lauren Black, Jasmin Flores, Michelle Kwan, Han Sol Lee, Chloe Lim, Sarah Lumberg, Kenzie Misso, Ryley Boddeker-O’Connor, Bobby Read and Camryn Smith
Daniela Hernandez received the inaugural P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale Undergraduate Summer Research Grant in Social Policy for Children and Families. Hernandez will use the support to produce a short documentary film documenting how gentrification has affected three Latinx immigrant families who have lived in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood for three generations, and whose children attended Thomas Drummond Montessori Magnet School.
Several SESP students and an alumnus were named semifinalists in The Garage’s Venture Cat competition, including Abigail Swallow, Julia Falinska, and Jacob Jordan (BS20). The three will participated in a five-week Pitch Prep Program that provides access to professional graphic design services, pitch coaching and industry-specific advisors.
Brenda Aceves, Alonso Cisneros, Mikenzie Roberts and Jennifer Wang received the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship which funds US undergraduates for study abroad.
Salma Barhoumeh and Valeria Rodrigues received a Summer Internship Grant Program Award from The Alumna of Northwestern University. Barhoumeh will intern with the Bluhm Legal Clinic on Wrongful Convictions in Chicago, Ill. Rodrigues, a second year double majoring in social policy and psychology, will be interning with the City of Evanston in the City Manager’s office.
Awards from Northwestern’s Office of Undergraduate Research:
- Adina Barg, Sophie Boorstein, Kendall Gail, Rohan Gupta, Akie Kadota, Madeline Lane, Lauren Reynolds, and Madeleine Ward received 2020-21 Academic Year Undergraduate Research Grants (AYURG) to study everything from athletic shoe culture to the impacts of COVID19- and the Black Lives Matter movement on Black-owned businesses.
- Akie Kadota tied for first place in the Understanding Our World panel at the Undergraduate Research and Arts Expo for her project, “The Effect of Remote Learning on Secondary Ensemble-Based Music Education."
- Academic Year Undergraduate Research Assistant Program (AYURAP) grants were awarded to Annie Bandler, Faye Berger, Hannah Caplan, Anastacia Chineme, Hayden Harb, Camila Hirani, Han Lee, Iris Lin, Mikenzie Roberts, and Leah Ryzenman.
- Ella DeBode won a conference travel grant.
- Sasha Benson and Zindeh Scere were named to the Emerging Scholars program, which helps students who identify as first generation, lower income, people of color, and/or marginalized get started in research and/or creative activities in the arts, humanities, journalism, and social sciences – basically, research that doesn’t take place in a lab environment.
- Expo Oral: Julia Borrelli, Kendall Gail, Akie Kadota, Leo Sainati, Liam Warner-Shifflett and Jade Zhang,
- Expo Poster: Adina Barg, Anjelique Bomar, Sophie Boorstein, Ella DeBode, Madeline Lane, Han Lee, Julia Lowenthal, Alka Meresh, Lauren Reynolds, Paige Smyth, Simon Su, Kaloyan Valchev, and Madeleine Ward.
- Summer Undergraduate research grant: Trin Collins, Annie Goss, Daniela Hernandez, Tamara Kisson, Leah Ryzenman, Lauren Walcott and Charlotte Wong.
- Summer Undergraduate Research Assistant Program (SURAP): Samantha Anderson, Chelsea Angwenyi, Joselyn Chavez, Owen Elton, Sara Ibrahim, Neva Legallet, Abb Nudell, Emma Stein, Jamison Stout, and Juila Younn.
For more information of fellowships, visit Northwestern's Office of Fellowships. Information on research grant funding can be found at the Office of Undergraduate Research.
To be added to this list, please email Julie Deardorff, director of communications, with updates.