Ahn Wins Undergraduate Leadership Award
Graduating senior Kaylyn Ahn, one of the most decorated students in SESP history, received the Outstanding Undergraduate Leadership Award from Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy.
Ahn has dedicated much of her college career to advocating for survivors of violence. Her “quiet yet powerful voice has already impacted hundreds if not thousands of marginalized people and communities across the globe via her many and varied experiences locally, federally and globally,” instructor Nancy Rotering wrote in her recommendation.
Ahn, who missed graduation due to her internship with the World Bank in Washington, D.C., studied social policy and legal studies. She’ll pursue a master’s in public policy this fall on a Marshall Scholarship. She will also attend the Allstate Foundation National Youth Service Summit in September.
Read more in SESP magazine: “How trauma led to advocacy”
Ahn inspired and testified in support of a bill to close a legal loophole in Illinois sexual assault law, stemming from her own experience in 2021. Since the bill’s passage, police departments across the state have trained officers in proper enforcement, rendering thousands of previously unaddressed sexual assault cases eligible for prosecution.
She was named a Truman Scholar in 2024 and received a Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship in 2023. Ahn, who was recognized as a GLAAD 20 Under 20 leader, was appointed council member for Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s Academic and Economic Opportunity Committee and served as a youth advisory committee member for the National Organization for Victims Assistance. She successfully nominated her high school teacher, Rita Thompson, for the prestigious Morton Schapiro Distinguished Secondary School Teacher Award.
“My politics are personal because I am one of few who live to tell my story,” she said. “My advocacy is my means to strengthen the courage of those I love.”
Ahn was just one of dozens of SESP undergraduates who received awards and accolades this year. Read about more of our outstanding students in our annual roundup.
Addison Feldman (BS26) and Ally Peek (BS26) were selected for the 2024 Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service, also known as the Voyager Scholarship.
Lillian Fu won Best Presentation in Understanding Family and Relationships at Northwestern’s Undergraduate Research & Arts Expo for her talk, “Assent and Negation Language and Emotional Experiences in Marriages and Friendships.” Last year Fu won Best Presentation for “Acceptance Takes Practice: Emotional Acceptance and Parasympathetic Activation in Older Adults.” Next year she’ll begin working on a PhD at the University of California Irvine and working with Professor Susan Charles. “Lillian is not only a brilliant, creative young scholar, but she has been excellently trained by professor Claudia Haase in socioemotional processes, and how they related to health and well-being,” Charles said. “The combination of such exceptional talent and drive coupled with a strong foundation in the field of socioemotional aging is a gift to the laboratory.”
Center for Civic Engagement Student Fellows Anusha Kumar (BS26) won the Student Employee of the Year Award for Community Service, and Sara Peña Figueroa (BS26) won for Technology and Innovation. Peña Figueroa also received the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award.
Kumar won a Friedman-Kline Foundation Fellowship in 2024 from Northwestern’s German department to work on organic farms in Germany as part of the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms program this summer.
Aimee Resnick received the 2024 Future Industry Spotlight Award from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association for her leadership as an intern with the Colorado Department of Transportation. Resnick participated in several prestigious events, including the Harvard Public Policy Leadership Conference and the Clinton Global Initiative University.
Adrienne Scheide, also known on campus as the “Pink Beret Girl,” was the undergraduate student speaker for SESP’s 2025 convocation ceremony. Scheide won third place in the social and behavioral sciences poster session at the Undergraduate Research and Arts Symposium. She successfully nominated her high school teacher, Julie Stoffel, for the prestigious Morton Schapiro Distinguished Secondary School Teacher Award.
Senior Maya Vuchic, who co-chaired SESP convocation, was named a Student Laureate by the Lincoln Academy of Illinois for her work in community and civic engagement.
Senior Binhao Wu’s research on social identity and perception won Top Oral Presentation at the Chicago Area Undergraduate Research Symposium, one of the largest annual undergraduate research conferences in the country.
Mia Xia won Best Oral Presentation in Improving Education and Access at the Undergraduate Research and Arts Expo for “Equalizer No More: Chinese, Black, and Choctaw Education in the Age of Separate and Unequal Policies.”
Four SESP students received the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, a merit-based program that helps students with limited finances study abroad. They include:
- Idaya Chambers, a dual-degree student in SESP and the Bienen School of Music, studying music, learning and organizational change (Taiwan)
- Anthony Taein Chung (BS27), learning sciences and computer science (Australia)
- Matthew Nadir Jamil (BS27), social policy, history and political science (South Korea)
- Dahee (Joy) Kang (BS26), social policy, history and English (Ireland)
Chambers also received a Critical Need Language Scholarship and the 2025 Renée M. Chung Prize from Prep for Prep, which recognizes a graduating college senior who has demonstrated a commitment to a career in education. “My undergraduate journey has been anything but linear,” she said. “I initially pursued professional singing but realized I was more drawn to understanding how people learn, develop and navigate opportunities.”
Students who completed a senior honors thesis include: Maggie Flores, Lilah Goldberg, Jackson Gordwin, Annika Holliday, Luke Incardona, Hana-Lei Ji, Alexandra Kahn, Katherine McDonnell, Sarah Mouzai, Danielle Nevett, Adrienne Scheide, Maya Vuchic, Carly Winick and Binhao Wu.
SESP students are known for their leadership on campus. They include:
- Kaylyn Ahn: President, Northwestern Undergraduate Prison Education Partnership
- Jackson Gordwin: President, Northwestern Strive Club
- Rayyana Hassan: Co-president, Muslim-cultural Students Association
- Hana-Lei Ji: President, Supplies for Dreams
- Alex Kahn: Co-chair, Mayfest Productions (first to serve two years)
- Aimee Resnick: Founded the Northwestern Rotaract Club which grew from 12 to 200 members. She also founded the first Disabled Student Union on campus.
- Katherine McDonnell: Co-president and human resources director for Students Consulting for Nonprofit Organizations at Northwestern
- Adrienne Scheide: Founder, Rural and Small Towns NU
- Anna Truong: President, Vietnamese Student Association
- Binhao Wu: President, Psi Chi Honor Society