Campus: Duke
Hometown: Glenview, IL
High School: Glenbrook South High School

Academic Interests: Documentary studies, women’s rights, criminal justice, African and African American studies, political economy, service-learning, international conflict studies.

Extracurriculars/Hobbies: Duke Mock Trial, Durham Giving Project instructor, Chronicle op-ed columnist, Duke Women on the Ballot co-founder, Community Empowerment Fund advocate

Background: As the eldest sibling to a very young sister, I’ve always been interested in the way young girls’ education impact future women’s lives– I’ve seen my sister grow from a toddler to a fourth grader, and the interactions she’s had with her school, her peers and her community has shaped the way she views herself. We’re only a decade apart in age, yet she’s grown up in a time when young girls are being supported and pushed even more than I was– I see the ways different programs in her school, her sports teams and even the language we use around her has affected her self-confidence and her view of the future in ways I know I didn’t experience as a young girl. Throughout my four years at Duke and beyond, I’m interested in exploring the ways women from different communities interact with their political systems, their schools and their families; I hope to create documentary projects linking different groups of women in different areas to one another through these interactions, and I hope to eventually go to law school and practice in a field related to women’s rights or minority rights in America.

What drew you to the Robertson Program?

The people. That is, I’d guess, the answer of many Robertson scholars, and the reason it’s so ubiquitous is simple: the Robertson Program draws a diverse, driven and bold group of people together, and there is nothing more inspiring than to be surrounded by passion. Although the interests of scholars range from engineering to anthropology, the community is knit together by the intrinsic excitement and energy that we share– watching other people relentlessly push themselves to do better keeps me motivated and empowered to do better myself.