Global Activities Scholars Program Students

Roxana grew up in the metro-Detroit area and graduated summa cum laude from Western Michigan University with majors in Spanish and Anthropology and a minor in English. She served in the Peace Corps in Panama from 2015-2017 in the "Teaching English, Leadership, and Life Skills" sector. There she worked with local communities and NGOs to design and implement sustainable youth development workshops, courses, and camps on topics ranging from sexual education and gender equality to civic engagement and leadership. Roxana joined the Global Activities Scholars Program hoping to gain more experience working with youth development-focused community organizations in Central and South America.

Catherine grew up in a small New Jersey beach town, but has called New York City her home for the past eight years. She graduated from Manhattan College in 2011 with her BA in International Studies and a concentration in Global Issues. Thereafter, she served in both administrative and fundraising capacities for several human rights and development focused NGOs, including Amnesty International and WaterAid America. Catherine's role as fundraising officer with WaterAid led her to Nicaragua for a content gathering trip, where she interviewed community members about their needs and experiences relating to water, sanitation, and hygiene education. Post WaterAid, she spent seven months teaching English abroad in Saraburi, Thailand. Catherine is thrilled to be a part of GASP, and looks forward to advancing her community development and engagement skills within a new global setting. She hopes to continue working with global communities through a human rights-based approach to development throughout her future career.

Celina was born and raised in California and has spent time living in Costa Rica, Argentina and Mexico. She graduated in 2014 from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology. She has worked with Latino day laborers in California and sex trafficking survivors in Mexico, focusing her research on the intersection between migration, trauma, and resilience. Celina loves her local field placement with American Indian Health and Family Services, and is interested in working with indigenous populations within the context of mental health. As a Global Activities Scholar, Celina hopes to continue to explore the relationship between complex trauma, mental health, and resilience within an international setting. She is also looking forward to exploring Michigan and experiencing winter for the first time!

Katie grew up in West Virginia and graduated from University of Vermont with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Wildlife Biology. For three years following college, Katie worked in community outreach and programming for MLS WORKS, the philanthropic arm of Major League Soccer in New York City. Between 2011-2016, Katie was living and working in Chiang Mai, Thailand and throughout Southeast Asia. She was the Program Director for Chiang Mai Rock Climbing Adventures / The Progression Group. In this role she oversaw the design and delivery for outdoor adventure, experiential education and personal development programming for youth and adults. Katie is excited to receive an MSW while remaining engaged internationally in the Global Activities Scholars Program.

Kelly Kundrat grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and graduated from Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia with a BA in Political Science. She then continued her education with an MA in Public Anthropology from American University in Washington DC. Kelly publicly defended her thesis with distinction on the role of racial and cultural identity struggles within the violence in Sudan and South Sudan as expressed by members of the DC Sudanese diaspora. Given her passion for social advocacy and elevating the voices of individuals directly affected by crises, Kelly traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia twice to work as an organizer and reporter for the civil society forums on Sudan and South Sudan. During her work for non-profits in DC, she produced educational materials and pieces on torture, the effects of solitary confinement in the age of mass incarceration, and alternatives to immigrant detention. She also organized public vigils, rallies, and congressional meetings and briefings. Kelly joined the Global Activities Scholars Program to gain skills working with refugees and asylum seekers. She hopes to delve into the most effective methods used by social workers and other clinical personnel to provide support, services, and care to immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers within a global or international framework.

Larissa Siregar grew up in Southern California and received a BA in Psychology and a Minor in Spanish from University of California, Riverside. With an interest in community development, she worked with various national and global agencies on education projects focusing on the importance of critical thinking and facilitating collaborative processes to build capacity, rather than imposing one’s biased ideas of need. After graduating, she worked with Americorps’ University East-Side Community Collaborative (UECC), a project started to increase academic achievement in communities facing challenges of violence and increasing drop-outs. Following this service, Larissa gained intercultural skills while pursuing her TESOL certificate in Thailand in preparation for her Peace Corps service in Sierra Leone, West Africa. she also went on to work with a non-profit in Tanzania and then on a USAID funded project in Liberia through Peace Corps Response. Living in rural villages, she learned about the realities community development from the lens of the community members and saw the successes and challenges of the organizations that sought to provide services. As a Global Activities Scholar in the MSW program, Larissa hopes to gain further skills to help agencies, which focus on working with marginalized communities, reach their intended outcomes.