Undergrads Named Block Student Associates
School of Education and Social Policy undergraduates Keya Soni Chaudhuri and Symone Harris have been named to the 2025-2026 cohort of Block Museum Student Associates at Northwestern University.
The role of the Student Associates is sweeping. They lead tours, serve as student advisors for museum staff, shape museum initiatives, and talk to guests about the Block’s art.
Additionally, students learn to research original works of art and meet with Block staff across departments to explore how museums work and why they matter. Each spring, student ambassadors collaborate with the curatorial team to recommend an object for the museum’s collection.
Meet the current SESP representatives:
Keya Soni Chaudhuri
Chaudhuri, from Los Angeles, is a junior studying learning sciences and journalism and majoring in Spanish. She Chaudhuri served as a Block Museum Student Associate last school year as well and describes The Block as “a magical place.”
“I love making, looking at, and talking about art,” she said.
“I adore spending time [at the Block] and at all museums because they are such intentional spaces of reflection,” Chaudhuri wrote for the Stories of the Block. While the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has a special place in her heart she calls all museums her "favorite kind of ‘Third Space.’"
Symone Harris
Harris is a senior majoring in human development in context on the pre-med track. She has been a Block Museum Student Associate since 2023.
“Since the beginning of my freshman year at Northwestern, I felt that The Block was a very special place, and I knew I had to be a part of it,” she wrote for Stories of the Block.
A native of Atlanta, she's happy to be part of a team that works to educate and stimulate conversations in our community about shared emotional and physical experiences through art,” she said.
In addition to Chauduri and Harris, previous Block Student Associates include:
- Meena Sharma; 2024, 2023, 2022
- Ipsita K: 2023, 2022
- Hyohee Kim: 2022, 2021
- Bobby Yalam: 2021, 2020