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Student Awards: Outstanding Community Service

Elana Caparco
SIS, International Relations & SPA, Community-Based Research

Elana Caparco is a senior in the DIS Copenhagen Program. She is interning for BPC Action where she works on economics, education, energy, health, and housing issues. As a Community-Based Research Scholar, she served with Raising a Village Foundation. This led her to continue her education work through Teach for America and her externship with TNTP. She is the Deputy Director of Digital Media for Leading Women of Tomorrow, VP of Educators Rising, and a member of the First Generation Student Union. She has previously served as Deputy Director of AU Pride, as a research reviewer for Clocks and Clouds, as a volunteer for Capitol Hill Village, as a mentor for the SIS Diplomatic Core, and as a tutor for the PASS Program. In DC, she has interned with Senator Reed and Representative Langevin.Ìý

Edwin Santos
SPA, Legal Studies

Edwin Santos is majoring in Legal Studies within the PPL Scholars Program. He is also in the CBRS Program and the SPA Combined program seeking a Master of Public Administration. On campus he founded Latinos En Acción, which is a chapter of United We Dream—the largest immigrant youth network. Off campus, he has involved himself with different organizations centered around immigration issues, such as CAIR Coalition and KIND. Currently, he is an intern for the U.S. Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates. Edwin is a recipient of the Voyager Scholarship and the Pedro Zamora Scholarship. This summer he will be participating in the Henry Clay College Student Congress at the University of Kentucky and the PPIA Junior Summer Institute at UC Berkeley. After graduating, he plans to attend law school to become an attorney and support low income families in immigration law.Ìý

Scarlett Wedergren
KSB, Business Administration & CAS, Public Health

Scarlett Wedergren is passionate about improving public health emergency preparedness. She has volunteered and interned with the American Red Cross since 2019, serving as a National Blood Campaign Ambassador in recognition of her disaster preparedness and communications work. At Healthcare Ready, she directed the nationwide release of the organization's disaster mapping resource. She interned for the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate in 2022, streamlining how DHS communicates innovation initiatives with other governmental departments. Scarlett served as an AU Emergency Management Intern and volunteered with Housing Up homeless shelter to improve their preparedness capabilities. She is currently studying abroad in Nairobi, Kenya, working in a clinic that provides HIV, TB, and environmental health services. Scarlett is a member of AU Honors, Kogod Honors, and is a 2023 American University Truman Scholar nominee.Ìý

Johneé Rendia Wilson
SIS,ÌýGlobal Inequality and Development & CAS,ÌýAfrican Diaspora Studies

Johneé Wilson served as the Research Team Lead for the, an independent study on the evolution female sexual empowerment through a socioeconomic lens of African diasporic music and language. In 2022, as a Gilman Scholar, she studied abroad with CET in São Paulo, Brazil. Johneé is the recipient of the AU Matthew and Cynthia Warshaw Scholarship, Black Alumni Awards Book Scholarship, and SISU Davenport Scholarship. Winter 2022, she interned overseas with Dream Sports Africa to co-design resiliency models for youth leadership programs in Nigeria and is the founder Million Mats DC, a yoga-led initiative for underserved youth. Mali Collins, PhD, published her work in the MedHum Encyclopedia in 2021. After graduation, Johneé seeks to continue research in Brazil as a Fulbright Scholar and attend graduate school to prepare for a career at the intersection foreign service, design thinking, and creative storytelling. ÌýÌý

Stevie MarvinÌý
CAS, Economics & Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies

Stevie Marvin graduated in Fall 2022 and recently completed a zine that urges AU faculty members to center Critical Indigenous and Ethnic studies in antiracist curriculum development efforts through a research assistant position under Dr. Christina Juhász-Wood. Stevie was involved with AU's Asian American Student Union and Hawai'i Club since 2020 where they worked to bring attention to the political conditions that shape the lived experiences of the communities the clubs serve. They also previously worked at AU's Antiracist Research & Policy Center as the Community Coordinator for Campus Outreach. As an economics major, they are committed to exposing and resisting the oppressive underbelly of neoclassical economics and economics as an institution. They now work at the Economic Policy Institute as a Research Assistant where they support research that center racial justice and worker power. Ìý

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