John Robert Lewis Scholars & Fellows 2023-2024
Scholars
Abdulaziz is studying Political Science and African American & African Studies. A proud Minnesotan and student leader, he served as the University of Minnesota’s student body president, representing the needs of over 35,000 undergraduate students. Outside of school, Abdulaziz worked in executive offices at the local and state levels of government and helped organize a state-wide political campaign. Informed by his experiences in a state that sparked a global conversation on systemic racism, Abdulaziz plans to pursue a career in public service grounded in expanding access to justice.
Abdulaziz Mohamed
Woodbury, Minnesota ∙ University of Minnesota
Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Alton Coston, III is a Senior at William & Mary studying Public Policy and Africana Studies. Passionate about mitigating educational inequity, Alton’s mission is to advance educational opportunity for all marginalized people across the globe by igniting communities through transformative sociopolitical education. During his matriculation at William & Mary, Alton has served in numerous leadership roles including Student Assembly’s Undersecretary of Multicultural Affairs and President of the African American Male Coalition. In addition, Alton is also a Jackie Robinson Foundation and Truman Scholar.
Alton Coston III
Richmond, Virginia ∙ William & Mary
Ignacio Gutierrez is a sophomore at Dartmouth College studying government modified with economics and philosophy and double majoring in Latino studies. A dual-citizen who was raised in an agrarian Mexican border town community, Ignacio witnessed firsthand the socioeconomic injustices present along the border between the United States and Mexico. Ever sensitive to these injustices, he has made a commitment to community activism in the Sonoran desert a personal priority. His interdisciplinary education is oriented towards advocacy for strong democratic institutions in Mexico and the repealment of unfair immigration, labor, and asylum-seeking policies in the United States.
Ignacio Gutierrez
San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, Mexico ∙ Dartmouth College
Jackelinne "Jackie" Claros Benitez is a proud first-generation college student from The Bronx and the daughter of Salvadoran immigrants. She attends Dartmouth College, pursuing Sociology with a double minor in African & African American Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Claros Benitez hopes to work with those victimized within prisons and wishes to pursue research as a professor. Her research areas include (inter)generational trauma, mental health, and racial demographics. She is an Associate Fellow of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship–focused on encouraging minoritized individuals to pursue PhDs. She is also an Executive Officer of the Undergraduate Research Association and the Community Relations Student Director of the First-Generation Office
Jackelinne Claros Benitez
Bronx, New York ∙ Dartmouth College
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Katherine Owojori is a first-generation Nigerian-American activist, academic, and community organizer. Katherine’s experiences with organizing and activism span a wide range of issues, including, but not limited to, advocating for anti-racist and radical education, police accountability, civil rights, and criminal justice. Katherine is a Soros Justice Fellow, an active member of Black Lives Matter: Los Angeles, serves as a Student Director for USC’s Prison Education Project, and more. As a changemaker and movement builder, Katherine continues to be in pursuit of justice by advocating for civil rights and against criminal injustice for communities of color.
Katherine Owojori
Los Angeles, California ∙ University of Southern California
Luz Escobar Zapata is a student at Villanova University studying Peace and Justice with a minor in Africana Studies. Luz is a proud Nicaraguense and has lived most of her life in St. Rose, Louisiana. Her passion for creating beloved communities, studying Latinas in social movements, and Latina empowerment has led her to creating the Corridor Latina Coalition, an organization whose mission is empower, protect, and educate Latinas living in Cancer Alley, LA. As an ambassador for Poderistas, and an Obama Chesky scholar for Public Service, she will get the chance to study Latinx history and Latinas in social movement in Mexico City.
Luz Escobar Zapata
Destrehan, Louisiana ∙ Villanova University
Nelson Lin is a senior at Brown University studying Public Health and Neuroscience. The son of immigrants from China, Nelson is passionate about advocacy for Asian communities in America through health research and community organizing. During his time at Brown, Nelson has co-authored policy reports on anti-Asian hate incidents alongside Stop AAPI Hate, conducted community engaged research on issues such as Asian immigrant health and substance use, and co-led the Brown/RISD Asian/American Political Alliance. Through his work, Nelson hopes to build healthcare systems that support and heal communities in the pursuit of Asian American liberation.
Nelson Lin
Freehold, New Jersey ∙ Brown University
Rodney Wells is a proud native of Jacksonville, FL. He is a sophomore at Florida State University studying Political Science, and his top aspirations include becoming a civil rights attorney. Rodney is active in student government, a member of his university’s Council on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, and spearheads the Garnet and Gold Voting Initiative. He has previously served as a National Democracy Fellow for the NAACP, Redistricting Intern for the ACLU of Florida, and a Congressional intern through the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Rodney centers his efforts around his commitment to fighting and advocating for marginalized communities and is motivated by a strong sense of social justice and politics.
Rodney Wells
Jacksonville, Florida ∙ Florida State University
Fellows
Alejandra Salemi is a Doctoral student in Population Health Sciences at Duke University. She is passionate about the intersection of public health and religion and wants to further explore how religion is a social determinant of public health. She is a recent graduate of Harvard University, with a Master of Theological Studies with a focus of Religion, Ethics, and Politics and also holds a Bachelor and Master of Public Health from the University of Florida. She is a proud immigrant from Bogotá, Colombia. She is a candidate for ordination in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Alejandra Salemi
Durham, North Carolina ∙ Duke University
Annie Li is a Marshall Scholar pursuing an MPhil in Theology (Ecclesiastical History) at the University of Oxford. Her research interests center on 20th-century American religious history, specifically the Civil Rights Movement, Asian American church history, and liberation theology. She graduated summa cum laude from Emory University with a BA in History and Sociology in 2022. Annie's undergraduate thesis examined the participation of Chinese American Christians from San Francisco in the Civil Rights Movement, from 1963 to 1966. Previously, she served as founding Editor-in-Chief of Emory's Christian thought journal, supported Fair Fight's development and voter protection efforts during the 2020 election, and mobilized churches in Atlanta toward racial reconciliation with OneRace Movement.
Annie Li
Belle Mead, New Jersey ∙ University of Oxford
Arianna Chen is a first-year student at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. pursuing a career at the intersection of civil rights and educational justice. A New Jersey native, Arianna is a recent Fordham University graduate, where she was an English and Political Science major dedicated to grassroots student activism and research promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in higher education. This passion for student access and success has inspired her work at several educational organizations such as Let’s Get Ready, Behind the Book, and the Obama Foundation.
Arianna Chen
Wayne, New Jersey ∙ Georgetown University Law Center
Grace Han (she/her) is from Queens, New York, and is a proud daughter of immigrants. Grace’s commitment to the work of civil rights is demonstrated through her work as a Research Associate for the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and as a current Humanity in Action Fellow. Grace received her B.A. in English and International Studies from Vassar College, where she attended as a QuestBridge Scholar and as a first-generation, low-income student.
Grace Han
Queens, New York ∙ Vassar College
Ibraheem Hamzat is a medical student at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Ibraheem is passionate about cardiothoracic surgery, addressing healthcare disparities, and increasing education quality in marginalized communities. He has served as chapter co-President of the Student National Medical Association and has been named a Schweitzer Fellow. Ibraheem established an afterschool program at his old elementary school. He believes his mission in life is to create systems that elevate children's physical and psychosocial wellbeing– systems that integrate resource-deprived children into intimate and previously inaccessible social networks so that they may attain their highest human potential.
Ibraheem Hamzat
Chicago, Illinois ∙ University of Chicago
Ivan Quintana was born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico and immigrated to the United States in search of opportunities. As a first-generation college graduate from Arizona State University (ASU) and Mesa Community College (MCC). At ASU he double majored in Public Service and Public Policy and Criminology and Criminal Justice. As an AmeriCorps alum and current TRiO Program Specialist, Ivan has endeavored to increase college access and completion for all Arizona students. Last year, he was appointed as a student representative for the LatinX Advisory Council for the Arizona Department of Education. In his spare time, he enjoys podcasts, cooking, hiking, and spending time with loved ones.
Ivan Quintana
Tempe, Arizona ∙ Arizona State University
Jennifer Margaret Puac is a second-year graduate student at Columbia University in New York. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, she resides in the Bronx and travels to and from the city to study and provide services in Occupational Therapy for communities in need. Jennifer’s main objective is to provide underserved and marginalized communities with accessible and affordable quality care and resources, not only in healthcare, but in all necessities in life, to ultimately bring them closer to social and economic inclusivity. Born and raised in an immigrant household, she utilizes her experiences to address policies that are not holistic, nor equitable enough, for communities impacted by injustices. This has moved her to lead Columbia’s Coalition of Occupational Therapy Advocates in Diversity Chapter, and take part in Columbia’s Anti-Racism for Medical Education Coalition.
Jennifer Puac
Brooklyn, New York ∙ Columbia University
Katie Wysong is a Master of Public Policy candidate at the UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy. She hopes to promote economic justice in the Bay Area through work in local government and advocacy. Prior to starting at Goldman, she worked with various faith-based non-profits and progressive organizations to promote their policy interests and pursue justice. She served as a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism working on economic justice, labor rights, gender equity, and gun violence prevention. She received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.
Katie Wysong
Berkeley, California ∙ University of California Berkeley
The Reverend Terrance L. Thomas has the knowledge of Black culture coupled with the anointing of God that places him in the forefront of modern ministry. As a native from the Southside of Chicago, Rev. Thomas knows the Bible and he knows the community. The love he has for the people and his commitment to preaching God’s Word makes him a voice to harken to. Currently Rev. Thomas is the pastor of Bethel AME Church in Champaign IL, the oldest Black church in the county and the Executive Director of Building Community Life Center, a faith-based non-profit that focuses on improving the lives of those in the Central Illinois area. With an undergraduate degree in Inner City Studies with a minor in Sociology from Northeastern Illinois University (2007) and a Master of Divinity from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary with concentration in African American Church Leadership (2017), Rev. Thomas is committed to developing the cultural awareness, political intelligence, and spiritual disciplines of those under his care both on the church and on the community. Currently, Rev. Thomas is pursuing his Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral and Community Leadership at Payne Theological Seminary.
Rev. Terrance L. Thomas
Champaign, Illinois ∙ Payne Theological Seminary
Tawreak Gamble-Eddington graduated in 2021 from Union College with honors in History and Political Science. He completed an MPhil in Race, Ethnicity, Conflict at Trinity College Dublin, where he was is a George Mitchell Scholar. Ty was a campus leader at Union, serving as President of both the Black Student Union and Union Pride and helping found a My Brother’s Keeper program. He was also awarded the university’s top prizes for service, contributions to campus diversity, and accomplishments in political science. Currently, Ty is pursuing an MPhil in Politics (Comparative Government) as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University before getting his JD from Yale Law School.
Tawreak gamble-eddington
Springfield, Massachusetts ∙ Oxford University
