Kenny Ajayi grew up in Kenya, watching the effect of World Bank policies on the local economy. This early interest grew into a fascination with development economics, and she now describes the Bank as "a leading institution in defining modern development policy." Kenny, who plans to complete a second major in International Relations, is fluent in French and has studied in Paris. She has also traveled extensively and worked in Africa, including an internship with the Women's Initiative for Self-Empowerment in Accra, Ghana. There, she organized an economic empowerment program for abuse survivors that included microfinance, vocational skills and counseling components. At Stanford, Kenny rows for the nationally ranked women's varsity crew team and serves as a Peer Academic Advisor for the Undergraduate Advising Center. She is active in the Stanford African Students' Association and also tutors second and third graders in reading.
Minh-Tuyen "Mindy" Do - 2005, Human Biology; Economics minor - Department of Justice
Mindy Do believes that gun violence is the most important problem facing Californians today. "For some, gun violence has become so commonplace that it is a laughing matter," she says. "This is not acceptable." Mindy dates her interest and involvement in public safety to the years she spent growing up in Los Angeles, her extended family surrounded by gangs and crime. From a young age, Mindy fought to change her situation, spending two summers working for Los Angeles City Government. Her projects with the Mayor's Volunteer Bureau and the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment encouraged local participation in the solution of local problems. Mindy, who speaks Spanish and Vietnamese, also applies this problem-solving strategy internationally. She has worked as an English teacher in Vietnam through Volunteers in Asia, and serves as Financial Manager for the Stanford Association for International Development (SAID). Mindy, whose future plans include law school, recently appeared in the musical, "Little Shop of Horrors."
Gregory Laughlin - 2006; undeclared - The Congressional Research Service
Gregory Laughlin believes that "the actualization of knowledge into informed decision should be the goal of most research." This Kansas native is a champion of applied research, and has found that this attitude fits right in at the Congressional Research Service. Recently, Greg has devoted his free time to founding and establishing a company, an as-yet-unnamed start-up. The sole employee of this enterprise, he searches public domain databases and contacts people who have unclaimed property in state treasuries-a task requiring that he read, make sense of and synthesize state and federal unclaimed property laws. Though he plans a major in Political Science, Greg has taken a diverse set of classes, studying everything from theory of popular music to the psychology of dispute resolution. He also serves as the Awareness Coordinator for the Stanford Project on Hunger and skis for the Stanford team. Greg works as a part-time mail clerk for the Hoover Institution and hopes someday to hold a research position at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
Julie Lein - 2006; undeclared - Cable News Network
In high school, Julie Lein worked for three years as a staff writer at the Connecticut Post, the state's most widely circulated newspaper. At Stanford, Julie has continued to be involved in journalism and media, writing for the Stanford Daily and managing public relations for the Stanford in Government program. She is most interested in politics, political journalism and "how news happens." Indeed, she eventually plans to work in or around national politics in Washington D.C. Julie speaks French and fluent Russian and intends to major in International Relations. On campus, she helps to lead Stanford's Bursting the Bubble student group, which organizes nonpartisan current events discussions. Julie is also a Haas Center liaison and twice an organizer for the popular and widely attended annual Community Carnival. She has recently taken up kickboxing.
Anna Mumford- 2005, Feminist Studies & Urban Studies; M.A. International Comparative Education - National Labor Relations Board
The 1999 Seattle WTO protests were Anna Mumford's first exposure to "the voice and the power of organized labor." Standing in a football stadium, surrounded by a chanting crowd of 10,000, she knew immediately that labor activism would be her vocation. Anna currently works as a labor organizer for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 715; she coordinates a campaign to unionize Stanford's temporary dining and janitorial workers, supervising 6 interns and administering programs that provide services like ESL for workers. As an organizer, Anna builds on an extensive experience with labor and advocacy at Stanford. Coordinator for both the Stanford Labor Action Coalition and the Student Initiated Courses Program, she fasted for workers' rights in early 2004 and taught a class on labor activism. Anna, who speaks Spanish and Portuguese, has also served on the Board of the Peninsula Chapter of Amigos de las Americas and as a Cabinet Member for the ASSU.
Shirin Sharif - 2006, Public Policy & Political Science; Psychology minor - U.S. Government Accountability Office
Shirin Sharif plans to make her career in Washington D.C., though her precise career path-lobbyist, political journalist or civil servant-is yet to be determined. Shirin was eager for the opportunity to apply her classroom learning to the real-world work of the U.S. Government Accountability Office this summer. On campus, Shirin has worked to amass preparatory experience for this and future ventures onto the national political scene. Her coursework at Stanford, where she studies toward the unusual and difficult double major plus minor, has focused on economics, social psychology and American government. Shirin also serves on the Stanford Judicial Affairs Panel, where she evaluates and rules on Honor Code and Fundamental Standard violations. A former Assistant News Editor for the Stanford Daily, Shirin was recently promoted to Features Editor and Senior Staff Writer. Shirin also works as a research assistant in the Psychology Department; she investigates naïve realism and the effectiveness of persuasion. In her free time, Shirin tutors for Ravenswood Reads and practices Pilates.
Heather Mackintosh Sims - 2005, International Relations; Economics minor - United States Trade Representative
Heather Mackintosh Sims already knows that she wants to be an international trade lawyer. Noting the "clear disconnect between the perfection of the neoclassical model and the reality of trade," she was eager to contrast her extensive academic experience in economics with the daily work of the United States Trade Representative. Having previously interned in the State Department's Office of Economic and Business Affairs, this Glen Ellen, CA native jokes that she is now nearly fluent in the "alphabet soup of acronyms" used by the interagency trade-literate. Awarded both the Boothe Prize for Excellence in Writing and the President's Award for Excellence in the Freshman Year, Heather is an active member of the Debate Team and the Stanford Democrats. A Spanish-speaker, she has also studied in Santiago and at the Stanford in Washington program.
Felix Su - 2005, Public Policy; Biological Sciences minor - American Public Health Association
Felix Su passionately cares about the health of the underserved. He performs HIV outreach and needle exchange for runaways, IV drug users and prostitutes on the streets of San Francisco. He has also volunteered at the Kathmandu children's hospital. In his own dormitory, he serves as the trained resident Peer Health Educator, providing counseling, paraclinical medical information and first aid to fellow students. More than anything else, Felix wants to "contribute to solving the dilemma of how much health care we can afford, and who will have access to that care." He has taken a number of philosophy courses, and his written work has been nominated for both the Hoffman Award and the Boothe Prize for Excellence in Writing. Currently, Felix acts as the Director of Project AIYME, which pairs Asian American eighth graders with Stanford student mentors and models healthy choices for at-risk youth. Cathelynn "Cathy" Tio - 2006, International Relations - The Carter Center Cathy Tio returned to her home state of Georgia for a fellowship with The Carter Center's China Village Elections project. Cathy believes that this project demonstrates how "informal cooperation between Chinese institutions and American institutions can effectively produce sustainable reform." Cathy, long focused on East Asian issues herself, has taken classes about China from nearly every Stanford department that offers one, including History, Sociology, Political Science and Asian Languages. On campus, Cathy also works as an assistant at the Hoover Institution and the Center for East Asian Studies, where her activities include the creation of a Chinese language-teaching computer program. A fluent speaker of Mandarin, Cathy plans to attend law school. She also serves as an officer and performer for the high-profile music group Stanford Taiko, which performs dozens of on- and off-campus concerts each year.