2007 SOL Participants

Frances Aunon is a rising sophomore from Burke, Virginia planning to major in Public Policy with a minor in Spanish and a certificate in Global Health. In her first year at Duke, Frances participated in Veto the ‘Squito, a fundraising effort to purchase insecticide treated bed nets as a means of preventing malaria for Dr. Sherryl Broverman's WISER School for Girls in Mahuru Bay, Kenya. Frances is a member of the Millennium Village Project, a campus organization providing support for a village in Kenya to reach the UN's Millennium Development goals in the coming years. She also serves as an Admissions Ambassador, giving tours on campus and hosting potential freshman students.

Frances will be spending her summer in La Carpio, Costa Rica working with Fundacion Humanitaria. She will be completing her SOL summer project with her classmate, Dana Freedman. Frances and Dana will be researching the dynamic between disabled and ill children and their families in the San Martin Clinic in Costa Rica and the socially, economically, and racially strained society.

Lindsay Bayham is a rising junior from St. Louis, Missouri majoring in Public Policy with a certificate in Global Health. Lindsay is Baldwin Scholar, one of 18 women in each class chosen to participate in a rigorous four-year program designed to support and empower undergraduate women academically and in campus leadership roles. She currently serves as co-President of the Students of the World documentary team. In 2005, she traveled with the team to Porto Alegre, Brazil to research and document sustainable transportation projects. Since arriving at Duke, Lindsay has also worked at the Social Science Research Institute and the Duke Interdisciplinary Initiative in Social Psychology Office as a research assistant.

Lindsay is looking forward to working with RESPECT Refugees Ghana in Accra, Ghana this summer. She will be studying how her host organization can better prepare its refugee clients to utilize primary care and mental health services in the US.

Dana Freedman is a rising senior from Miami, Florida majoring in Literature. She interned at Tew-Cardenas, LLP during the summer of 2005 and at Broad and Cassel, LLP during the summer of 2006, assisting on bankruptcy cases and related adversary proceedings. Dana spent the summer of 2003 honing her Spanish skills at the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain. She continued her studies of Spanish language, literature and art while participating in NYU in Madrid during the fall of 2006. Dana is currently serving as Chair of 2008 recruitment for her sorority, Pi Beta Phi.

Dana will be spending her summer in La Carpio, Costa Rica working with Fundacion Humanitaria. She will be completing her SOL summer project with her classmate, Frances Aunon. Dana and Frances will be researching the dynamic between disabled and ill children and their families in the San Martin Clinic in Costa Rica and the socially, economically, and racially strained society.

Mingyang Liu is a rising senior from the Bronx, New York majoring in Public Policy Studies with a minor in Chemistry and a certificate in Policy Journalism and Media Studies. Ming served as a Senior Editor for The Chronicle, Duke's Independent Daily Newspaper and Associate Editor of Towerview Magazine. Ming spent last summer in Beijing, China working for DreamCorps, where her volunteer team worked for six weeks renovating a neighborhood library and designing and supervising after-school programs for a local elementary school. Ming is active in Greek life on campus, serving as Vice President of Organization for her sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and as Director of Recruitment PR for the Pan-Hellenic Association. Ming is additionally fluent in Mandarin.

Emily Long is a rising junior from Savannah, Georgia double majoring in International Comparative Studies and Russian with a certificate in Global Health. On campus, Emily works as a member of the Career Advising Team for the Career Center, critiquing resumes and cover letters and assisting students in their internship/job searches. She is also a member of the Club Swim Team and the Public Relations Chair of the International Comparative Studies Major Union. In Durham, Emily has tutored high school students in the Partners for Youth program, and she currently coaches with Girls on the Run, helping elementary aged girls develop positive self-esteem and healthy lifestyle habits through the sport of running.

This summer, Emily will be working with MEND Central, Ltd. in London, England. She is interested in determining the MEND obesity intervention program's most effective methods in reinforcing healthy nutrition and exercise practices in children, how MEND can continue to assist its graduates, and how these methods can be adapted for implementation in the US and Canada.

Channing Mathews is a rising junior from Valdosta, Georgia majoring in Psychology with minors in Spanish and Sociology. On campus, Channing has worked as a student intern at the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, planning and implementing social events and designing resource guides for undergraduates. She is active in the Black Student Alliance, serving as the Invitational Weekend Chair, organizing events for the recruitment weekend for incoming African-American freshman students. During her spring break, Channing spent four days gutting houses destroyed by Hurricane Katrina with IMPACT NOW: The New Orleans Project. Channing was recently awarded the Mellon Mays Fellowship, which supports individuals in selected disciplines who demonstrate a strong commitment to increasing opportunities for underrepresented minorities and advancing cross-racial and ethnic understanding.

Channing is looking forward to working with Helping Empower Local People (HELP) in Charlotte , North Carolina . She will be researching whether the Latino population growth in Mecklenburg County has created tensions between Latinos and the African-American community and if so, the steps that can be taken to improve these relationships.

Adam Nathan is a rising sophomore from Saddle River, New Jersey pursuing a Program II self-designed major in “Engineering Applications to Business and Public Policy” along with a minor in Chinese. Adam serves as Vice President of the Duke University Union, the premier student-run programming organization at Duke. In the coming year, Adam will serve as Director of Public Relations for Duke Student Government and as Communications Director for the Undergraduate Publications Board. Adam works as a student representative for Undergraduate Admissions, helping to redesign admissions brochures and participate in the application evaluation process, among other tasks. Adam also volunteers for Engineers without Borders as a Design Team Captain working to build a US government grant-funded sustainable portable disaster relief trailer.

Adam will be spending his summer in Cape Town, South Africa working with the South African Education and Environment Project (SAEP). He will be evaluating how and in what ways SAEP has impacted its community.

Christian Sotomayor is a rising senior from Atlanta, Georgia, majoring in Public Policy with a minor in History and a certificate in Latin American Studies. This past summer, Christian was an intern for the State Department at the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica. While there, he worked to research and create an informational booklet on the Costa Rican legal system for US prisoners and translated and edited the Consular website in English and Spanish, among other responsibilities. Christian has also interned at St. Joseph 's Mercy Care Services in Atlanta, designing presentations on health topics and serving as a translator for Hispanic clients. Here at Duke, Christian was the Co-founder of STIR (Second-year Transition and Integration Retreat), a program that was born out of HLP's Enterprising Leadership Initiative class. Christian is active in the Latino Community at Duke and in Durham and active in the Newman Catholic Student Center.

This summer, Christian will be working with the Amani Children's Home in Moshi, Tanzania. He is interested in determining how the Amani Children's Home can build a sustainable microfinance program for the people they serve, based on scholarly research and existing programs in the area.

Christen Tingley is a rising junior from Penfield, New York, majoring in Public Policy with a minor in Economics and a certificate in Markets and Management Studies. This past summer, Christen interned at the AIDS Community Health Center in Rochester, NY where she created a marketing plan aimed at increasing the number of annual appeal donations. Christen was also a curatorial intern at the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, where she learned the art of exhibition design and collaborated with the Rochester Historical Society to display donated Civil War objects. Here at Duke, Christen is a member of the Duke Debate team and an editor for The Duke Journal. She also participates in GANO, teaching English language skills to Latino Durham community members.

Christen will be spending her summer in Turrialba, Costa Rica working for Focus Tours. Christen will be studying the best practices involved in developing a community-based eco-tour that connects the demand for educational tours in Costa Rica with rural women entrepreneurs, so that the businesses developed by the women act as a tool to alleviate poverty and build community infrastructure.

Varsha Vijay is a rising junior from Coralville, Iowa pursuing a Program II self-designed major entitled “Ecology and Emerging Diseases”. Varsha has spent the last two summers working as a research assistant in the Department of Psychology at the University of Iowa, executing data collection, compilation and analysis for a number of studies, among other tasks. Here in Durham, Varsha works for the University Box Office and served as a teaching assistant for the FOCUS program in the fall of 2006. Additionally, she is a Board Member for the Greater Cedar Rapids Foundation and participates in the Duke Democrats and Students Against Sweatshops organizations on campus.

Varsha will be spending her summer at the Ankarafantsika National Park in Madagascar working with Earthwatch. She will be researching how to communicate with Malagasy villagers about the detrimental effects of the feral dog population to the number of fossa (endemic predators) and their prey, lemurs.

Karmel Wong is a rising sophomore from Toronto, Canada planning to major in Psychology with certificates in Children in Contemporary Society and Documentary Studies. Karmel is highly engaged in the arts at Duke, volunteering with the Health Arts Network to bring arts activities to pediatric surgery patients, and Duke ArtsConnect, programming creative arts workshops for children in the community. Karmel is a member of A Cappella group Something Borrowed Something Blue, singing Soprano and managing publicity and choreography and a member of InterVarsity Fellowship at Duke. She has worked with several service organizations in China, including Lifeworks and China Care Foundation, providing care for special-needs orphans in Taiyuan, Shanxi.

Karmel is looking forward to working in Washington, DC with the International Children's Art Foundation. She will be evaluating the impact of the 2007 World Children's Festival by investigating whether children from the U.S. and other countries form more than one-time friendships during the festival and if so, with whom and through what experiences.

Matt Zafirovski is a rising senior from Lake Forest, Illinois majoring in Public Policy with a certificate in Markets and Management. Matt worked as a summer business analyst in 2006 with McKinsey & Company, where he drafted an overall strategic plan and marketing assessment for two client organizations. In Durham, Matt currently serves as a mentor for a Hillside High School student, coordinated through Duke's Black Law Student Association and is a member of the men's practice squad for the Duke Women's Basketball team. Matt is working on two independent study projects regarding niche marketing for a professional sports agent and organization innovation for a local restaurant. Additionally, he is currently training for a half-Ironman.

Matt will be working with the Golden Apple Foundation in Chicago, Illinois. He will be researching the factors that make a successful scholar in Golden Apple's teacher preparatory scholarship program.