Fellows and Projects

The 2022-2023 Rich/Collins Community Leadership and Impact Fellows were the sixth cohort of fellows. Over the course of the spring semester, these 7 fellows successfully implemented seven different projects in the community. 

Charlotte Li ’24

Symposium Poster

To address the need for long-term relationships within the LGBTQIA+community. The Peer Mentorship Program was structured as a two-part conversationseries between students in the Waltham High School GSA and Brandeisundergraduates with one goal being to connect people through the power of sharedstories.

Jolecia Saunderson ’24

Symposium Poster

The Crown Initiative project was inspired by the C.R.O.W.N Act which standsfor Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair. The idea is to host sessionsthat connected hair to a multitude of fields in order to host and allow BrandeisUniversity and Africano’s members to engage with conversations and activities aboutblack hair and the multiple intersections it has.

Jovita Bell ’25 & Victoria Adusei ’24

Symposium Poster

Our mission is to cultivate a space for Black & non-Black people of color togain exposure to different literary art forms by Black & Non-Black authors and artistsof color and to embrace our collective differences through discussion and communityservice. In this way, we are able to not only bridge the gap between these two spacesbut to also contribute to building accessible libraries for community members.

Harrison Lucas ’25

Symposium Poster

The Youth Health Initiative, which was a 7-week program partnering with theWaltham Boys and Girls Club (BGC) to facilitate the execution of this project. This projectsought to promote healthy eating, physical fitness and overall wellness among middleschoolers in the Waltham community as the organizations mission perfectly aligned withgoals.

Maria Ioanna Manolioudaki ’26 / YMCA of Greater Boston

Symposium Poster

The Disability Aware Youth Project aimed to raise awareness of disability andpromote inclusion and diversity in our community. The Disability Aware Youth Project tookplace over three weeks and included three sessions. Our community partner was StanleyMiddle School, and our participants included the middle school students and the BrandeisUniversity volunteers.

Yang (Wilson) Wen ’26 / Boys and Girls Club of Worcester

Symposium Poster

BGC Worcester Music Program was a community service project that waspurposed to help expand the musical interests, specifically in violin and music theory, of theBoys and Girls Club of Worcester. These goals were achieved through weekly one-on-onetutoring sessions mentored by students from the Brandeis-Wellesley orchestra. BGCWorcester Music Program is a project aimed at making music tutoring more accessible tothe youths in the Worcester area on a platform provided by the Boys and Girls Club ofWorcester.

Fellows Spotlight

Jordyn Seri sitting in a chair.

As part of the Rich/Collins Community Leadership and Impact Fellowship, Jordyn worked with the Waltham Partnership for Youth to organize a networking event and public health documentary screening at Waltham’s McDevitt Middle School.