Current Bryan Fellowships
2023 fellowships
BOAT (Bringing Occupational Accessibility in Teams)
Saadhvi Mamidi
Aparna Venkatraman
BOAT (Bringing Occupational Accessibility in Teams) is a social impact venture dedicated to increasing workforce readiness among local disabled populations. BOAT equips job seekers with professional resources, encourages disabled youth to pursue entrepreneurship and empowers future generations of leaders by increasing accessibility in the workplace. Currently, over 44.2% of disabled individuals between the ages of 16-65 are unemployed. Further, people with at least one disability who are also part of another marginalized group, tend to experience more significant employment gaps while bearing with intersecting systems of oppression. For companies all over the US, this represents a waste of innovation. Through the release of a podcast, a work-tech platform and a clothing drive, BOAT hopes to increase accessibility in the workplace and encourage job seekers to reach their goals.
Bring Science Home (BSH) Initiative
Amber Amparo
Caroline Cochrane
Rylee Cooper
Ali Fahim
Bradlei Griffin
Jackson Peden
Khalilah Taylor
The Bring Science Home (BSH) Initiative is designed to add a new avenue of experiential learning among families, enhancing the course series created by the Spread Love Foundation (SLF) for students in Durham Public Schools. The existing SLF courses, ranging from topics in virology to hematology to microbiology, give young historically underrepresented minority students the opportunity to be introduced to an array of fields of science topics, inspiring them to pursue STEM-related disciplines and expand in knowledge. To support this sparked intellectual curiosity beyond the classroom setting, BSH allows students to complete easy-to-follow tangible scientific experiments with their families, such that they can apply what they learned in the course to a hands-on experience. These opportunities to bring science home and engage with families in a fun and accessible way will encourage familial support toward STEM-related opportunities for students in their journeys as lifelong learners.
moMUNtum
Patrick Kaper-Barcelata
Margaret Jenkins
Aditi Sengupta
Thomas Ketterer
Mikhal Ben-Joseph
Joshua Alexander
Founded in 2020, moMUNtum is a project dedicated to making Model United Nations (MUN) more accessible, equitable and impactful. moMUNtum empowers a network of individuals and organizations across the country to design, discuss and deliver positive change in the MUN world. They accomplish this objective through three pathways: 1) ideation and promotion of best practices, 2) education and training of MUN actors and 3) facilitation of reflection spaces. Thus far, moMUNtum has supported four major national conferences in improving the quality of their programming, trained over 500 students in the United States and India and hosted discussion panels for more than 1,000 students. In all their work, their goal is to bring more students to MUN and ensure that they are equally benefited and uplifted once involved.
The RAAM Effect: Rural Academics, Advocacy, and Mentorship
Mary Kathryn Schultz
Jacob Allred
Cooper Acord
The RAAM Effect seeks to increase resources and offset challenges rural education systems face through the implementation of STEM maker spaces, discussions with professionals and mentorship from college students from rural communities. Many North Carolina classrooms and students are underserved by existing policies affecting rural school districts. This negative impact leaves rural students eager to escape their hometowns as they seek success in urban America. By challenging this mindset, The RAAM Effect seeks to highlight the success in rural towns while building both academic and mentorship opportunities in schools.
Thrift-Flippedd
Ariel Halperin
Marissa Bewry
Aiden Mccoy
Naomi Major
Kylie Taczynski
Maile Maldonado
Abigail Coursey
Thrift-Flippedd is a student-run organization working to increase sustainability among UNC students, specifically in the world of fashion. They aim to intersect fashion and sustainability to create a self-sustaining cycle that promotes social justice, environmentalism and self-expression. They realize that fast-fashion has arisen due to overconsumption and the lack of accessibility to sustainable and affordable clothing options; to try and break this cycle, Thrift-Flippedd is hosting pop-up events, educational events and partnering with other organizations on campus to create a sense of community and try to make UNC and the greater Chapel Hill area more renewable.
Yes Ed
Gowri Abhinanda
Esha Agarwal
Yes Ed is an educational program that aims to increase the knowledge of consent and its importance when engaging in sexual activities. While there is a lot of conversation within the sexual education curriculum with topics like puberty or how STDs form, the importance of consent and the harms of a lack of consent are undercovered. Conversations about the importance of consent within public schools help ensure students view sexual violence as harmful, as this program will instill the value of consent.