Whitney Mostafiz ’08

This summer I first participated in the "Gateway to Dentistry" program at UMDNJ in New Jersey, where I got hands-on experience and involvement with dental equipment and clinics to get a closer look at what dental school and the profession involves. After this program, I was involved with research at NYU dental school's Biomaterials department, where I am analyzing images of enamel structure taken on an electron microscope. Using a computer program, which I developed an image editing and analyzing protocol, I map out different aspect ratios on different layers of enamel on first molars, and ultimately hope to understand the 3-D pattern/structure of enamel crystals. Lastly, I was studying and took the DATs.

Damian Maldonado ’08

This summer has been a ton of fun for me! I went to California with my family in June. We went to Disneyland and Universal Studios. It was my first time on the west coast. The scenery was pretty cool, but the traffic was horrible. Back home in Texas, I worked at the same places I did last summer, Johnny Carino's and Gap. It was my second summer with Johnny Carino's. I have been with Gap, Inc., for over two years now. The employee discount is just too awesome to give up. In what little spare time I have had (when not working), I have been able to hang out with some friends from high school, spend time with my family, and relax. This summer hasn't been as hot as previous summers in my city. My summer has been awesome, but I'm ready to go back to Brown. Junior year, here I come!

Christian Martell `10

This summer I spent a month studying abroad in Mexico at El Instituto Technologico de Estudios Superiores en Monterrey through a program called the Mexico Language Program provided by the National Hispanic Institute. It was a great experience for me. I was enrolled in an advanced Spanish course, along with a Mexican culture course. It was complete cultural immersion, and although I live on the border between Texas and Mexico, this was an experience like no other. I truly know what it feels like to live in another country, and the month also provided me with a sneak-peak at what college life would most likely resemble.

Besides graduating, packing my bags and leaving to Mexico for a month, I have also held a brief internship at a Houston law firm. I was able to get some insight into the field of law to see whether or not I may be interested.

After this event, I was able to staff a different program by the National Hispanic Institute. I served as a head coach for the South Texas Young Leaders Conference, a debate camp for high school freshmen. That week left me wanting more hours of sleep, but it also provided me with a chance to get to know a great group of kids. My job was to teach them what I know about effective communication, public speaking, and persuasion techniques, but they taught me much more in return. That week was an eye-opener and I can truly say that I am much more ready to start at Brown this fall, because of what I saw in those six days. Those kids gave me their all even when I did not ask it from them, and now I know that that is exactly what I want to do when I set foot on campus. My vision is clear now and I owe it to the culture shocking, legally fun, refreshingly inspiring summer I have had.

Erin Brown ’07

I spent my summer teaching Literature, Math, and French with The Higher Achievement Program in Washington, D.C. Higher Achievement is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1975 to give middle school children from underserved public schools in Washington, D.C. the kind of academic and social opportunities to help them gain acceptance into top area high schools. Scholars in the program spent six weeks in the summer taking classes with me and other summer teachers from 8am to 4pm, and they will go on to receive 15 hours of academic mentoring, as well as participate in enrichment activities after school during the next school year. It was an amazing experience to see these kids working so hard to build the knowledge, behaviors and attitudes that they will need to escape the poor quality of the D.C. public school system and eventually attend college.

Sherrie Khadanga ’09

During this past summer, I have worked as a resident advisor in the SPARK program, which is part of the Summer and Continuing Studies at Brown. The SPARK program is designed for rising 7th, 8th, and 9th graders who have demonstrated outstanding ability in science. As an RA, I worked with the students, helping them in class and escorting them to various trips whether it was going to laser tag or seeing the Museum of Science.

I truly enjoyed working with this program. The students had such a zeal to learn and were quite eager to take a class that would foster their interest. I was a class RA for an Echolocation class as well as an introductory Physics course and it was interesting to see the students'''''''' enthusiasm. While at times I was exhausted from the various activities and class, the kids always seemed to have some type of "second wind" and were constantly taking advantage of their resources by asking their professors questions or begging the RAs to go to the library.

Whether it was going to Mystic aquarium or traveling to the Museum of Science in Boston, there was never a dull moment. I loved working at Brown during this summer and working with middle scholars. I couldn''''''''t imagine spending my summer any other way!

Leora Fridman ’07

I have been interning at the New Yorker magazine, in the Photo department, and at Local Initiatives Support Collaborative (LISC), a community development nonprofit intermediary. I have also been waitressing at Max Brenner, a chocolate bar in Manhattan.

Joshua Marland

I spent the summer enrolled in a new master's program in Urban Education Policy at Brown. Our classes were taught by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform staff. We conducted research for local non-profit organizations as well, mine being Brown/Fox Point Early Childhood Center. The inaugural cohort spent a lot of time reading, discussing, and stressing about time and responsibilities. I just wanted to write to let people know there's another new program on campus and to expect a lot from us.

Matthew Soursourian ’08

I'd say I enjoyed the standard (read: generic) Brown student's summer: In June I traveled to Argentina and Uruguay with the Brown University Chorus and extended my trip for a week with Almaz Dessie '07. We met up with Esther Kolni and Jess Vosburgh, both '07. I came back to Brown at the end of June to start working with Professor Cynthia Garcia Coll on her research on immigrant youth in Providence.

I've also been doing a volunteer internship with AIDS Project Rhode Island working with their HIV prevention efforts and redesigning the brochure for the AIDS Speakers Bureau. In addition, I agreed to write an article for my high school's alumni magazine about their summer enrichment program at which I used to teach. Other than that, I've been working for a catering company and babysitting on the East Side. To sum it up: traveled to an economically challenged country, researched with a professor, volunteered at a non-profit, and babysat to pay rent. Remarkable? Hardly. Contrived? Admitted.

Ana E. Van Gulick ’09

This summer, I worked as an intern/research assistant in an experimental psychology lab at Syracuse University, The ReCall Lab (Research on Cognition in Adulthood and Late Life) under the direction of Dr. Paul Verhaeghan. I tested subjects for several studies on working memory and participated in some research analysis and presentations with Dr. Verhaeghan as well as Dr. Elke B. Lange, Dr. John Cerella, and graduation students.

I also did research and experiment design for an experiment on priming and stereotypes regarding word frequency in our semantic networks. The hypothesis we were looking at was that explicit stereotyping (in racism, sexism, and ageism) might be a result of the frequency of word associations in our everyday language networks rather than a result of an actual implicit personal belief. I was the primary research assistant for searching current literature in the area and presenting findings, as well as finding and balancing stimuli and writing the program.

I worked with Dr. Verhaeghan and Dr. Shelley Aikman on this experiment, which will hopefully have its first subjects (and results) during this coming fall semester at SU. After finishing my freshman year at Brown, I wanted to spend my Summer at home in Syracuse, but I also knew I was very interested in studying cognitive science and that I wanted to get some lab experience. This was a great experience for me and I'm sure it will help me with my coursework and research at Brown this coming year.

John Wooster '07

The weekend following Commencement, my firm welcomed the Congress for the New Urbanism to Providence. The real estate development firm that I work for during the academic year, Cornish Associates, hosted a successful (though rainy) four-day conference addressing some of the most pressing issues in contemporary urban development and the future of New Urbanism. The 1500+ participants were from across the globe in many different disciplines.

Throughout June and July I fulfilled my camp counselor desires by being a resident adviser for the 2500 or so students that visited the campus. Best moment: mud sliding on Wriston Quad. During the day I performed research on tax increment financing for the Harriet David Goldberg Fund. My research analyzed the possibility of using tax increment financing to fund infrastructure improvements in Providence. Basically, I read about how to refunnel taxes from a general fund to a more focused, project-specific allocation. Riveting, I know. Here and there I had a moment to continue work at City-State: the Urban Design Lab at RISD. We exhibited design schemes for the district that will be opened once Interstate 195 is relocated. This work is ongoing and will carry into the fall.

Zachary Townsend ’08

I have a Royce fellowship to use primary and secondary source material to chronicle and characterize the evolution of student activism at Brown since 1960. The project will culminate in a website that will narrate student-initiated activism at Brown. I spent most of my days in dark archives all over campus. Books I read include Stephen Breyer, Active Liberty, Niall Ferguson, Colossus: The Price of America's Empire, Samantha Power, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide.

Pratik Chougule ’08

I spent the summer working as a research assistant for former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy under President George W. Bush. He is writing his memoirs on his role in the war on terrorism.

Steve Johnson '07

I've been working as an intern with the Chicago Investment Group in the Trump Building on Wall St., New York. Though I've had a busy schedule, I found a new Science Fiction series that I really enjoyed this summer - Robert J Sawyer's Far-Seer, Fossil Hunter, and Foreigner.

Jeanne (Ronghua) Tong ’10

Working to save up for Brown. I work at a professional organizing company and a Chinese restaurant. On a full day, I start the organizing at eight, then go to the restaurant to work lunch, and then return to organizing, then go back to restaurant to work dinner until nine. I even remember dreaming that I was on the job; "Okay, okay... so [table] A3 needs their egg rolls, soup bowls for D1, E2 needs their check...AHHHH!"

Jon Wang ’10

I spent the summer working on an organic farm and wilderness preserve called Hidden Villa, located in Los Altos Hills of California. It is an environmental education summer camp as well as being a diverse, green agricultural operation. I was an agricultural intern for two months for the community supported agriculture program, which means that I cultivate, plant, harvest, and anything else related to the crops in our 8 acres of fertile fields so that every week, subscribers to the program receive a basket of our freshest goods.

Even despite the unbelievable heat, we tough it out so that local communities can have organically grown vegetables in an environmentally mindful atmosphere. I actually work with a Brown alum, Jason McKenney of the class of 94, as well as two apprentices (one from UC Santa Cruz, one from Thailand) and a number of other interns like myself, who range from "middle of high school" to "just about to go to college" in age.

Nadia Maccabee '08

"I am now completing my seventh week in Israel as a volunteer with Magen David Adom, the Israeli version of The Red Cross. Volunteering has been incredibly educational, a little frightening at times and lots of fun. I spent the first week of the trip in Jerusalem learning in a very intensive crash course in emergency medicine. We studied from 8:00 AM until midnight while being frequently tested on the skills we learned such as CPR and how to backboard a person with a spinal injury.

After the exciting and intense week, I was moved to the Southern desert city of Beer Sheva. Beer Sheva is the largest city in the Negev desert and is surrounded by several small Bedoin villages. Though I am pretty close to Gaza, I am, luckily, too far south to be threatened by the Hezbollah rockets in the North. I've been working eight to sixteen hours a day (doing the 11 PM- 7 AM shift and the 7 AM- 3 PM shift, sometimes back-to-back) transporting patients while taking patients' blood pressure and pulse, comforting patients, administering oxygen and helping prepare IVs.

In addition to many car accidents, heart attacks, strokes... on the ambulances in the desert we also see a good deal of heat stroke and scorpion stings. I have also seen a special robot and bomb squad investigate a bag containing potential terrorist explosives, waiting close-by in the ambulance in case the bag blew up (it didn't), and brought a woman to the hospital after she had a psychiatric breakdown due to seeing a Katyusha rocket fall in her hometown of Haifa.

During my weekends I have traveled all over the country except for the unsafe Northern cities (a promise I made to my parents) including Jerusalem, Eilat, Tel Aviv, Raanana, Kfar Saba and Mitzpe Ramon.

Taylor Barnes ’09

I had an amazing summer! I interned with the U.S. Department of Labor on their International Child Labor Project. The office funds projects abroad to end child labor, researches and writes a report to submit to Congress on the worst forms of child labor worldwide, and works closely with the International Labor Organization and the State Department office of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. The job was great, and so was just being in DC (best part - seeing Stevie Wonder perform at the Capitol on the 4th!)

Jeffrey Yoskowitz ’07

I spent the first part of my summer finishing up my semester abroad program in South Africa. Because it is in the Southern hemisphere, South African universities end at the end of June. So, I was writing finals and getting last minute Southern African travel in. I ventured to Swaziland and then returned to America. For the rest of my summer I moved into New York City and interned for a Brown Alumnus, Oren Jacoby. Oren Jacoby is the director of a film production company called Storyville Films and I served as a production assistant and researcher, working on post-production of a film based on Jim Carroll's book, "Constantine's Sword." In addition to doing archival work I accompanied the production team on a film shoot and helped in the editing process. And a trip to Oregon at the end of my summer will cap it off.

Jennifer Nykiel ’10

I've been working over 40 hours a week and reading.

Kam Kudelko ’07

This summer I spent the month of June volunteering at the Buduburam Liberian Refugee Camp in Ghana. I lived and worked on the camp with an organization called Children Better Way, dedicated to providing a healthier environment for children. I mainly worked with the HIV/AIDS department, informing the community during HIV/AIDS outreach, counseling HIV positive patients, and advising microloan recipient women.

I also recorded several oral histories as part of my thesis on the history of Liberian refugee families over the past thirty years. For the months of July and August I am in Providence working at the International Institute of Rhode Island where I am helping Liberian refugees again. I am carrying out a literacy project I designed to help each refugee write their own life story while improving their reading and writing skills. The stories will be published on the IIRI website to help the public better understand the refugees' histories. This project earned me a Summer Federal Work Study position, as well as an Americorps Scholarship for Service.

Having spent time at the camp many of the refugees came from, I have also been a resource for the IIRI orientation classes, helping the teachers understand the refugees' position, while giving the refugees a middle ground between Ghana and the US. At the Institute I also help refugees fill out documents to bring their families over, orient them to the US by taking them on trips to the grocery store and bank, and translate for some members of a French-speaking refugee family from Togo. I have also been recording more oral histories to contribute to my thesis.

Kam Sripada ’09

Waking up at 6:25 and returning home around 6:45 everyday is unlike any schedule I've kept before this summer. I opted to take physics over summer school at Loyola University Chicago, with class starting at 8am and lab twice a week.

After class, I took the L downtown to the Field Museum of Natural History as an intern in the Zoology department. In the process, I have become fully comfortable with Chicago's public transit system and become much better acquainted with the city I have always lived near but never in. I forced myself to visit new neighborhoods and now feel more able to authentically "represent" Chicago when I'm back on College Hill.

At the museum, I worked with a postdoc in the ornithology division of Zoology. His grant, supplied by the National Science Foundation, was entitled "Bridging Micro and Macroevolutionary Patterns: Population Genetics of Coevolutionary History." I wanted the chance to see molecular laboratory work to decide whether it might be a possibility for my own future (as a pre-med neuroscience concentrator). When migratory birds crash into skyscrapers downtown, the living ones are transferred to rehab, and the dead ones come to the Field.

With the help of a pair of gloves and many vials of ethanol, I shook, ruffled, and brushed the dead birds for lice and collected the parasites as potential research specimens. When extracting DNA from the lice, I first beheaded them under a microscope (to better allow the chemicals to enter their bodies) and then began a two-day process of drawing out and stabilizing their double helices. I went through hundreds of pipet tips and used carcinogens of a daily basis. I performed PCR (to amplify genes), ran gel electrophoresis (to check for purity), and sequenced DNA strands with the goal of developing a better understanding of coevolution between parasite and hos.

Andrew Krupansky ’08

I did some pretty interesting things this summer. First, I spent a month in china, working at an orphanage in Weifang (about halfway between Beijing and Shanghai) with 2 other brown students. Then I let off some steam in Hong Kong, went hiking through Thailand, traveled with friends around Spain (Barcelona, Mallorca, Malaga, Gibralter, Tarifa, Madrid), Morocco, and Portugal (Algarve, Lisbon).

I then spent a couple days in New York City before heading up to Boston to rehearse with my new band. In total I visited four continents (I had previously never traveled outside North America), passed through 16 airports, ate the most amazing food, made friends from all corners of the globe, and experienced far too many culture shocks to count. Basically this has been one awesome summer!

Jason Becker '09

At the urging of several friends and my family, I've come to realize that I should somehow inform the school about a meeting I was selected for and am currently taking part in. Right now, I am writing from Lindau, Germany where the 56th meeting of Nobel Laureates, and the 18th meeting dedicated to those who one the prize in Chemistry is taking place. There are 516 young students, primarily graduate and postdoctoral students, from 52 countries meeting with 23 Nobel Laureates who are discussing a range of topics from ethics to their current research. I believe I am the second youngest student to be invited, though I cannot confirm that officially.

My nomination came through the Siemens Foundation, who I have a relationship with through the Siemens-Westinghouse Competition where myself and a partner (also in attendance) place 4th in the nation in December of 2003. For more information on the meeting, I am turning to the webpage of this conference, www.lindau-nobel.de, and more specifically, their press releases, http://www.lindau-nobel.de/content/category/25/77/64/: Europe's future needs excellent research - with more women scientists" EU Commissioner Potocnik and Research Minister Schavan welcome 550 leading researchers Lindau/Germany.

In the presence of European personalities from science, commerce and government, the traditional Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau was opened. This meeting, which is unique worldwide, supports the transfer of knowledge between today's best researchers and selected young scientists from around the world. It takes place this year for the 56th time. 23 Nobel Prizewinners in Chemistry, Physics, and Medicine are taking part. 530 young scientists from 53 countries, out of 11,000 applications, have qualified to participate.

Central elements of the programme are science lectures, workshops in small groups and countless opportunities for personal exchanges between the young scientists and the Nobel Prizewinners.... Anyway, I felt it was my responsibility to somehow inform Brown University of my participation here as a member of the class of 2009. Hope that the summer is going well, it's quite hot here in Lindau, and air conditioning is sparse in Europe!

Samantha Harrington ’08

Besides taking economics at Brown Summer School, I am working on a start-up company called RoundOne.com founded by Danny Warshay ’87 and Sue Tremblay (a local Providence entrepreneur). We are working with a team of students, including other Brown students, in starting an entrepreneurial online media company for people like us.

I work with a marketing team, but we have a whole group, which includes technical developers from Brown and a writer from URI. We just sent out a press release about a new program we launched last week and we are quickly moving forward. I am also doing preliminary research for an anthropology thesis and will be in Denmark.

Jan Bruder Graduate Student

I just returned from a trip to Pompeii, Italy, where I spent 5 days with my sister, who is an archaeologist, documenting the multitude of forms and shapes of Roman house entries. We were trying to find out why the entrances of ostentatious houses often seem rather simple although one may think that the entrance is the first thing a potential guest encounters during a visit and thus might be expected to be lavish.

Ashley Chung '09

I spent my summer living with a host family in a small Russian apartment with Brown's Summer in St. Petersburg program. This was the first year of the program and my first time studying abroad, and to make things that much scarier, I landed in Pulkovo Aeroport without speaking a single word of Russian.

Yes, I flew 6,000 miles from my home in Southern California to a vast, overwhelming, and terribly beautiful city, where I couldn't understand the street signs or maps and everybody conversed in a language completely foreign to me. And even as I slowly overcame the language barrier with intensive Russian language classes at the Nevsky Institute in St. Petersburg, there was so much more to life here to which I adjusted, adapted, and eventually even grew to love...

Yes, now I can honestly say that I love the fact that the streets here are so wide that you can only cross through underground tunnels where Russian vendors sell pirated DVD's and freshly baked pastries. I can laugh at how the Russian drivers actually speed up when there are pedestrians crossing the streets in front of them. I now can't help but admire Russian women for their daring fashion sense (or sometimes, lack thereof) and their ability to stomp down mile-long prospects and avenues in stiletto heels. Boiling all of my water before drinking it or using it for brushing my teeth is just another daily ritual to me. And of course, I both revere and fear the wrinkled babushkas that snap at foreigners for taking photos in the museums and cathedrals.

All in all, everything here is bigger, more confusing, more overwhelming, and more exciting than what I've seen at home, and while I'm counting down the days until I come back to California, I know that I'll miss the colorful mansions lining the winding canals in Petersburg... that I'll smile when I remember seeing Russian couples kissing on the metro escalators and even laugh to myself when I remember seeing men staggering down the street with a beer in one hand at 9:00 AM on a Tuesday. And while I didn't buy a matryoshka doll or a fur hat to bring back to the states, I'm bringing back a new language and my experiences of an entirely new culture and lifestyle. And those souvenirs are never overpriced.

Emily Ellis ’10

I have been playing a lot of tennis and going to tournaments because I will be on the tennis team at Brown. I went to France for a couple of weeks with my friends and played one tournament while I was over there. Other than tennis, I have been reading, watching movies, hanging out with my friends and family. I am going to Cap Code this weekend to see my brother who is working there. I am also going to a Dave Mathews concert soon as well. And these are books I have read this summer, which I really liked: Into Thin Air, The Poisonwood Bible, The Perfect Mile, Freakonomics.

Katie Reisner '07

This past summer, I had the most engaging, exciting, and educational internship I've ever had, one that I hope many fellow Brown students will apply for in the future. I worked at the United Nations Information Centre in Washington D.C. ("UNIC" is the official acronym, but is not readily pronounced, a slight bureaucratic oversight). Though the UN does not technically have embassies, its information centers around the world do embassies' work--disseminating relevant information, observing on-the-ground activities, relaying local developments back to UN headquarters in New York, and establishing relationships with local figures.

Though the position is unpaid its benefits are remarkable. I was not responsible for any administrative or clerical work, very much unlike any internship experience I've ever heard of. Instead, every day I chose whatever struck my interest from a list of events going on in the city-- hearings, panel discussions, presentations, and speeches, at think tanks, NGOs, or on Capitol Hill. I went to as many events as I could fit into each day, and came back to the office to write reports on what I heard which then got sent to UN Headquarters, both in a memo for the top twenty UN officials there and in a more widely disseminated weekly newsletter.

I also periodically wrote articles for the UNIC-Washington website. Over the course of the summer, my office and other UN offices in DC together organized weekly presentations from the directors of various organizations within the "UN Family" for all UN interns. In this way, each of us learned a great deal about the real functions of the various UN programs that often go unnoticed amidst the immediate crises dealt with by the UN Security Council. I could not believe that I got to do what I had been doing this past summer in any sort of legitimate "work" capacity.

At school I try to make time to attend events like the ones I covered every day all summer, and when I do manage to make time, I attend events as a treat. This past summer I heard veritable celebrities of foreign policy practice and academia speak-- Madeleine Albright, Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton, Col. Larry Wilkerson, Senators Biden, Hagel, Obama, Reed, Chaffee, Durbin, Brownback--and a long list of other "celebs", and eventually mustered up the courage to ask questions at many of these events. I got a tremendous education-- about the UN itself, about current world issues from the Liberian timber industry to U.S. energy security, but perhaps more importantly about how different components of the D.C. policy community interact and relate to one another.

Moreover, because it was a tiny office with only about nine permanent staff members, the interns always had immediate access to the office's main work, and were kept well informed of new developments. This summer, as Ambassador Bolton's confirmation was debated, as comments from the UN Deputy Secretary Mark Malloch Brown incited controversy in DC, and as the UN dealt with the latest Mid-East crisis, the UNIC-DC staff kept its interns in the know about how these issues were dealt with and provided us with ample opportunity to contribute substantively to the attendant discussions and actions taken by the office.

By the end of the summer I was working on a larger briefing report summarizing the various policy prescriptions and debates over what to do in Iraq and helping a senior staff member analyze media coverage of the UN involvement in the crisis in the Middle East. I cannot overstate the value of this experience. Anyone interested in foreign policy and world affairs would be as thrilled about getting a whirlwind tour of the U.S. foreign policy community and an inside look at the UN.

Lillian Rose Ostrach ’07

I am President of the Brown Space Club (www.brown.edu/Students/Brown_Space_Club/) a club partnered closely with the Rhode Island Space Grant Consortium that is devoted to science outreach in the community and participation in the NASA-Johnson Space Center program entitled "Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program" (http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/). This NASA program challenges teams of undergraduates at universities across the country to come up with an experiment to fly in microgravity aboard the C-9 aircraft, the "Weightless Wonder."

The Brown Space Club proposed an experiment in October entitled, "The Educational Applications of Fluids in a Microgravity Environment" with the purpose of exploring the behaviors of fluids in a zero-g environment. The project consisted of 4 separate experiments involving fluid behavior and was designed to be highly compatible with elementary and middle school outreach activities. We worked quite hard throughout the academic year in order to properly research our experiments, build the experiment, and complete the required reports so that we could fly in July. On July 19-29, the flight team was in Houston, TX, preparing the experiment for flight aboard the aircraft.

The Brown team flew on Friday, July 28th, and tested the experiment in the microgravity environment and had an absolute BLAST. We are currently editing and analyzing our video data and compiling a suite of materials for outreach activities that we plan to begin in September. Additionally, we are beginning to complete our final report required by the RGO Program.

Ingrid O'Brien ’07

This summer I have been working on the Truth and Recruitment team at the American Friends Service Committee Chicago office. We go to the Chicago summer festivals to hand out information and talk to young people to make sure they know all the facts before deciding to join the military. We recognize that recruiters are under a lot of pressure and as a result put a lot of pressure on young people to join up without telling them the whole truth about life in the armed forces. Our goal is to make sure young people make informed decisions and are aware of all the downsides and alternatives to a career in the armed forces.

When we tried to do our work around the recruiters' table at the Taste of Chicago, which was well within our rights, the police made us move to a 'designated free-speech zone'. One of my co-interns was even arrested and is going to have a jury trial this fall. I also taught two mini-courses, one on English as a Second Language and one on Computers, to Spanish-speaking mothers at Carson Elementary School in southwest Chicago. I designed and taught the four-week classes myself.

Anna Hidalgo ’09

This summer I went abroad for the first the time. I traveled to Italy with the University's Brown In Bologna Program. I lived in a university owned apartment for 6 weeks, took intensive language classes and learned Italian, and traveled all over Italy. Afterwards I went to Germany to visit family. It was definitely the best summer of my life.

Carla M. Coley ’07

Originally from England, I took a leave of absence last year and studied at the University of Puerto Rico [to be closer to my family that now live there]. I returned to Brown this summer, about to start my senior year at Brown (Comparative Literature major)--though I spent early June in Puerto Rico working at a small children's day camp-- and have been taking two classes: one to brush up on my history [United States and the Third World-essentially the history of US foreign policy] and one because it was new and sounded cool [Literature in a Globalizing Age-comp. lit]. I've also been bouncing off ideas for my thesis and am starting some research in that field. Am off to New York in august to spend some time with my aunt, and enjoy the city. Overall, an exhausting, productive, but ultimately fun summer.

Jasmine Chukwueke ’10

I have been working the snack bar at a local recreation club near my house, which entails me serving food to a bunch of kids in summer camps. There is also the occasional family get together up in LA (I live in San Diego.) I was also a bridesmaid for the first time! That, I must say, was very exciting. Of course, training for the upcoming season of track and field, as well as yoga twice a week. Last, but certainly not least is hanging out with my friends as well all get ready for our first year of college! I hope every one else's summer break is just as great!

Andy Suzuki '09

I spent most of my time this summer working on my piano and song writing skills. I am currently recording my songs on my Mac, and I am hoping to have my first, preliminary demo by the end of the summer. To pay for the recording supplies, I split my time working in a Japanese grocery store in Port Washington, NY and tutoring a Korean woman in English.

Gabriel Lepine '07

This summer I worked at a structure finance hedge fund in New York City called XE Capital. My summer reading list included "Hedgehogging" by Barton Briggs, which was a very interesting read. It tells the story of Briggs, a thirty-year veteran of Morgan Stanley, and his trials of launching his own hedge fund called Traxis Partners. Additionally, the book gives many insights to investment principles and quirky anecdotes of the strange hedge fund world. I also read earlier in the summer "Barbarians at the Gate" about the 1989 leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco for $25 billion

Kyle Poyar ’10

First of all, my summer reading has included Ender's Game, Interview with the Vampire, Catch 22, Brave New World, Portrait of Dorian Gray, Freakonomics, Jarhead, and The Client. This summer I have worked a ridiculous number of hours (50-60 per week) between my two jobs. First as a barista at Seattle's Best Coffee slash bookseller within Borders and second as what I term a 'lot lizard' at my dad's used car business. Furthermore, I've also served as the personal aide for Raymond Ku, Democratic candidate for Ohio House District 98. To add academics into the mix, my high school Envirothon team finished first in the state of Ohio, which qualified us for the North American CANON Envirothon in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In the competition, which took place last week, our team finished 1st in the Oral Presentation and 5th overall, a position that earned each team member a $1,000 scholarship. In my spare time, which has been regrettably limited, I play golf, catch an art house flick with some friends in Cleveland, go to graduation parties, and try to squeeze in some Ultimate Frisbee. When I am not doing any of that, you can be sure that I'm on Facebook.

Laura Marshall ’07

After spending a year studying abroad in Kyoto, I wasn't ready to come back home to California - aka "the real world." So I hopped on a plane to Madrid, took a bus to the town of Salamanca, and stayed with my friend (and fellow Brownie) Shefali Lall ’07 for a few weeks, sharing her sagging box-spring bed up in the old apartment she shared with two other girls. She took me everywhere and showed me everything, thanks to her new-found "life over schoolwork" mentality.

We danced in smoky cathedrals-turned-nightclubs, wine-tasted our way through Portuguese bodegos, ate freshly-harvested mussels aboard old fishing boats, and got stuck in a village Cheese Festival in the middle of the Spanish wilderness because we missed the only bus back to Salamanca. I had the time of my life there. But by the time I finally flew home to San Jose, I knew that it was time for me to come down from the clouds - time to get serious, look for a job, find an internship, start planning my out my fall semester. Finding work was surprisingly easy.

My sister's friends - all high school seniors - were getting ready to quit their jobs at the local smoothie shop, so I applied in person and was hired the same day. It was actually the best job I've ever had - my manager, Joy, was the mother of two middle school-age daughters and had the patience of a saint; I got to sneak samples of fruit smoothies all day long; chatting with customers brought me up to date with all the town gossip. But most of all, seeing my co-workers - recent high school graduates - so excited to leave for college made me realize how much I wanted to return to Brown. I also spent time with my Japanese boyfriend - and former host brother - while I was back at home.

In a strange coincidence, he had decided to move to California to study at CalState East Bay for the next four years, so by the time I came home, he was already attending classes just an hour's drive from my house. Who would've guessed? Anyway, it's been a great way to keep practicing Japanese and to keep in touch with the rest of my host family in Kyoto! As relaxing as it was to spend some time at home and earn a little money, though, I took off at the end of June to pursue a UCLA summer journalism program in Washington, DC. The way I saw it, I only had one last summer to explore my passions and flesh out possible career paths, and so I jumped at the chance to try my hand at news writing. After spending 5 weeks with other UCLA students writing and re-writing make-believe news pieces, learning about media bias, and taking tours of FOX News and AOL, some of us decided to stay in DC to find internships. And that's where I am now - at a desk at IUCN, The World Conservation Union, researching the difficulties of stakeholder involvement in marine conservation.

Next week, I'll be honing my grant-writing skills and attending environmental conferences with the Senior Development Officer. The office is small, only 10 people or so, and luckily, everyone takes the time to show me the ropes, offer me advice, and share their life experiences with me. Many of them have worked in other countries, on other continents, some have traveled with the Peace Corps, and all of them fluently speak at least one foreign language. In short, this place is inspiring me in a way I never thought possible. As soon as I get back to Brown, I'm changing my concentration slightly from a politics focus in IR to the environmental/public health track - and I can't wait. I feel like this is what I'm meant to be doing.

Jason Lambrese '06, ’10 MD

This summer, I spent the month of July working as a Resident Advisor in Barcelona. I lived and worked with a group of American high school students who were there taking Spanish language and culture classes. The kids were great but let's just say that I was very quickly reminded of what it is like to be a 16-year old guy. I lived on a floor with 20 male students who never gave me a dull moment. In spite of all of the craziness, we also were fortunate enough to be able to take the students on different excursions throughout the city and surrounding region. I had spent a semester studying in Madrid, but only during my experience this summer was I able to explore the rich cultural offerings of Barcelona and Cataluña.

Jessica Rotondi ’07

I spent the majority of my summer behind a microphone, keeping tapes rolling as a Brown University sixty years in the past was brought to light in the memories of alumni who shared their stories with me over cups of tea and crackling phone lines. When I was not interviewing alumni, you could find me in between the stacks of the archives at the John Hay Library, immersed in old editions of the Brown Daily Herald and 1940s yearbooks.

The result of my research was an oral history project conducted under the guidance of Professor Spoehr of the Education Department as part of the Undergraduate Teaching and Research Assistantship Program (UTRA). The project’s title is “Navy Blue and Brown: World War II Comes to Brown University.” The little world on top of College Hill could not help but be shaken by the War.

It was a time when the Brown Daily Herald printed announcements for dances alongside discussions on lowering the draft age; when “acceleration” meant taking summer courses in Engineering and Photography in between swimming sessions and dates downtown. In the words of Jane Cottam (O’Brien), Class of 1944: “War was part of your life, just like the courses you were taking.” I will continue this oral history project through the fall while writing my Honors Thesis in Expository Writing, a book based on the stories of the alumni that I have interviewed. Their voices tell the history of this period of flux, a story of students with a realistic attitude towards war, mobilizing alongside the nation while still finding time to make memories of “normal” college life.

I hope that the fusion of personal history and archival record will result in a nonfiction work that will allow subsequent generations to vicariously experience the thoughts and fears of a past generation of Brunonians.

I would love to hear recollections and stories from more alumni. Members of the Classes of 1941 through 1946: Please contact me at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , or by telephone at (978) 360-5522. Thank you!

Ariel Werner ’09

This summer, I am working as an intern at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, a non-profit in Dupont Circle (Washington, DC). The Foundation is a middle-minded institution dedicated to promoting a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that brings peace and security to both peoples.

My duties involve contributions to the Foundation's bimonthly "Report on Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Territories," research for Geoffrey Aronson, our resident expert on the Israeli settlements, my own research on the history of the Zionist movement, and administrative assistance for Ambassador (ret.) Philip C. Wilcox, Jr. I have also had the opportunity to attend briefings at non-profits and government agencies around DC.

Natalie Smolenski ’07

I spent this summer interning at my local public radio affiliate, KERA 90.1 in Dallas, Texas. I've been researching, writing newscasts, and producing stories. My journalistic focus is Arab and Islamic issues.

Benjamin Schneider ’08

I started my own one-summer-business hauling brush and junk in my little hometown of Grinnell, Iowa. It has certainly been the best summer job I've ever had. I've had a lot of fun meeting people (I am good friends with Shorty who runs the brush dump) and I love being my own boss, so I can feel free to spend twenty minutes talking to Shorty when I am bringing a load to the dump. The work is challenging and different every time, ranging from hacking stumps out of the ground and carting them off to removing perfectly good furniture and appliances from an old woman’s house with simply too much clutter. I was able to sell some of the latter on eBay. I call the business "Woody's Removal Service".

Jeff Lugowe '07

So I've been enjoying a two-part summer nicely divided into two vastly different yet on the whole complimentary halves. For 5 weeks until late July, I interned at FinAdvice, a management-consulting firm with offices in Zuerich, Prague and Linz, Austria, where I landed on account of my German-speaking abilities.

My duties there were myriad and considerable. My chief responsibility was researching, creating and delivering a multimedia presentation that highlighted strengths and weaknesses of 16 leading European energy firms as candidates for investment in a new coal-fired Power Plant in Poland. I became intimately acquainted with the nuances of Power Point, to say nothing of learning a thing or two about blending self-effacement with proactiveness and confidence in my dealings with my bosses.

These challenges are sufficiently great in an American office - just imagine scurrying to learn an entirely new set of rules in German. Since late July, I've been an intern at Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH) in Warsaw, Poland. As a jack-of-all-trades for the leading LGBT rights group in fervently Catholic Poland, I'm confronted daily with hurdles both societal and legal that dwarf those that have been a source of lifelong frustration at home. Our organization has, for the six years it's existed, been the regular target of sustained and coordinated attacks - not all of them verbal. The then-mayor of Warsaw (now President of Poland) helped enshrine this official hostility a year ago in June when he declared illegal a March of Equality on the grounds that however admirable an ideal tolerance may be, the propagation of homosexuality presents a grave threat to public morals. KPH has fought on, buoyed by polls that show that half as many Poles surveyed in 2005 consider homosexuality to be an illness as held this view in 2000, when the organization was founded. I'm helping coordinate a project that's received generous funding from the European Social Fund (an arm of the EU that supports NGO work) whose goal is to compare and contrast the phenomenon of Anti-Semitism and homophobia in Poland. Apart from this, I'm doing live interpreting, translating KPH's website from Polish into English and expanding contacts with international LGBT organizations.

Kimberly Roman ’07

Well, for the first part of the summer, I was finishing up my semester abroad in Seoul, South Korea. Upon returning to the States, I immediately came to Brown to work on an UTRA. The UTRA consisted of doing research and qualitatively analyzing interviews conducted throughout the school year on bicultural students. The research was two-fold; to get a better understanding of ethnic identity and how it relates to acculturation, and ethnic identity in bicultural adolescents and educational outcomes.

Rebecca Russo ’08

This past summer, I spent five weeks working as a division head for entering 6th graders at Camp Ramah in the north woods of Wisconsin. I then spent seven weeks in New York City, interning for two non-profit international development organizations. The first was Global Goods Partners, a new non-profit organization dedicated to alleviating poverty and promoting social justice by creating sustainable access to the global market for community based organizations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The second was American Jewish World Service, where I interned in the service department, which coordinates various types of volunteer opportunities and trips in the developing world for people of all ages and diverse backgrounds.

Sebastian Gallese ’10

What have I been doing this Summer? Trying to befriend President Ruth Simmons on Facebook.com. College is all about connections.

Alexander Ebin ’07

I'm a rising senior concentrating in music, and I've been spending this summer learning German and studying singing in Europe. At the beginning of July I was in Berlin for two weeks at the Goethe Institute taking an intensive German course. Since then, I've been in Salzburg, Austria at a program run by the University of Miami studying singing. The program trains young opera singers and collaborative pianists by giving voice lessons, musical and dramatic coaching, master classes, German courses, and the opportunity to see performances of the Salzburg Festival, one of the most important music festivals in the world. I've been having a great time studying here in this amazing city. Spending the summer focusing on music performance is a great complement to the academic curriculum of Brown's music department. Also, being in a German-speaking country and being immersed in the language has been great for my German, which I've been studying the past two years at Brown.