Alumni Directory Display

MK graduated from Ursinus College in 2015 with a degree in environmental studies and biology and minors in peace and social justice and applied ethics. At Ursinus, MK was a part of the Bonner Leader Program, through which she worked very closely with several community-focused environmental organizations. MK also had the opportunity to conduct ecology research in Costa Rica, volunteer in Jamaica, and study abroad in Cape Town, South Africa during her college career. Upon returning from Cape Town, MK interned with the Institute on Science and Global Policy (ISGP). While at ISGP, MK helped plan and facilitate an international conference at Cornell University titled Food Safety, Security, and Defense: Focus on Food and the Environment, which allowed her to connect her interests and gain experience in the field of international aid and agricultural development. After graduating, MK moved to Hong Kong where she worked as a Visiting Service-Learning Tutor at Lingnan University’s Office of Service-Learning. MK is beyond excited to continue working with students in an academic setting through her fellowship with The Rwanda School Project and to share her passion for agriculture and environmental sustainability.

Madison is from Frenchtown, NJ and graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in Public and International Affairs with a minor in Global Health Policy. Growing up in a rural community, she has been interested in the field of development since a young age, specifically in health and agriculture. At Princeton, this interest was expanded to the international sphere when she interned at Mpala Research Centre in Kenya. Although she was working on an ecology project studying the local zebra population, this experience launched her interest in rural development. Following this experience, she worked with Community LIFT to research the impact of grassroots-based, community-member-led development in Memphis, Tennessee through qualitative survey collection. This project solidified her interest in leveraging investments to make positive social change. She also has strong competencies in grant writing, having worked in a government-capacity building with Emerging Public Leaders; research, having helped in drafting Rural Investments to Protect Our Environment’s white paper; and R, having assisted in the first analysis of International Care Ministries’ Uganda program. During her academic career, she mentored middle and high school students through a digital exchange program, worked to promote reproductive health on campus, and was a teaching assistant to a junior seminar that examined democracy and development promotion through USAID. Madison is excited to work with ILRI and continue to deepen her knowledge of agriculture development.

Lauryn Spinetta is a recent graduate of Princeton University (’22), majored in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. During her time at Princeton, she served as the captain of the Women’s Club Soccer team and as a Peer Health Advisor. Lauryn tells others that she is from Austin, Texas but has roots spread across the world, having moved twelve times growing up in support of her father’s military service. Born overseas, holding 3 citizenships, and earning her FAA private pilot’s license, and having traveled to over 15 countries and counting, Lauryn is irrevocably infected with wanderlust. During the summer of 2019, Lauryn volunteered at Levolosi Health Centre in Arusha, Tanzania, spending 3 months assisting medical professionals in the labor and delivery ward. The following summer, she joined the Rubenstein Research Group and began research into the interaction between wildlife and livestock in Mpala, Kenya. This experience contributed to her junior-year independent work and her senior thesis addressing the social and developmental environments of Plain Zebras in Ol Pejeta, Kenya. Lauryn also served as a clinical research intern at Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons as well as an intern with the Cardiac ICU at Dell Children’s Hospital in Austin, where she co-authored two articles and an abstract from her research to improve the quality of cardiac care and patient outcomes. In her last semester at Princeton, Lauryn was a part of the EEB Field Study Abroad Program at the Mpala Research Centre and the Turkana Basin Institute in Kenya. After a successful Princeton in Africa fellowship, Lauryn plans to attend medical school and pursue a career dedicated to the service of others. In her spare time, Lauryn is a voracious reader and loves to fly planes and go hiking. She is very excited to spend a year working and exploring Rwanda.

Alumni Update:

Monique has recently transitioned to a Senior Analyst in the DAI Sustainable Business Group. Her work focuses on implementing innovative social investment programs on behalf of corporate clients, several of which are in West Africa.

Fellow Bio:

Monique graduated in 2015 from Hamilton College in New York where she majored in World Politics with a minor in Economics. Her academic focuses were Africa, international development, and economic sustainability. Her senior thesis was a comparative case study of Chinese and American development models in Africa, specifically Ethiopia and Ghana. Monique spent the fall of 2013 in Cape Town, South Africa studying human rights and multiculturalism and conducting independent field-research on poverty in a local township. This past summer, Monique interned with Calvert Investment Management in Bethesda, Md., where she assisted with corporate sustainability research focused on gender and diversity. Monique also has had past work experience with the Child Labor Coalition and the UNESCO Chair & Institute of Comparative Human Rights in 2013 and 2012 respectively. At Hamilton, Monique was a member of the Varsity Softball team, worked as a Peer Presenter at the Career Center, a Research Assistant in the Government Department, and was the treasurer for the on-campus group Liberty in North Korea. Monique will be fulfilling the role of Communications Officer for the African Cashew Alliance in Accra, Ghana starting in June 2015 as a 2015-16 Princeton in Africa Fellow.

Allie is originally from Minnetonka, MN and recently graduated from American University in Washington, DC with a degree in International Development with an emphasis on African Studies and Economics. During her time at American University, Allie took advantage of the city’s multitude of opportunities, interning for the Africa Division of the Department of Agriculture and the Africa Program of the Woodrow Wilson Center. She also spent two semesters abroad in Paris, France and Arusha, Tanzania, where she engaged with rural communities and conducted trainings in sustainable agricultural practices. In her free time, Allie enjoys hiking, painting, kayaking, and gardening. She is absolutely “nuts” about her placement with the African Cashew Alliance and is excited to learn Ghanaian dance and drumming while in Accra.

Fellow Bio:

Emily Stehr ’08 is an intellectual and cultural history from Piedmont, California. She also earned certificates in neuroscience and French, and is excited about putting her French to use in the DRC. As an undergraduate, Emily worked with Engineers without Borders on a project in Ethiopia for two years. During her time at Princeton she also worked for the West Windsor First Aid Squad as an EMT for four years and was a member of Cottage Club. She is definitely looking forward to meeting new people in the DRC and learning as much as she can about the incredible history and culture of the country.

Alumni Update:

After her fellowship ended, Helaina spent one more year in Rwanda working for Eos Visions, an educational travel and capacity building company. In May 2012 she joined the U.S. Foreign Service as a Political Officer and in August 2012 she moved to Abuja, Nigeria for her first assignment at U.S. Embassy Abuja, where she served as a Political-Military Officer. She returned from Nigeria in August 2014 to begin training for her second assignment. She is currently living in Washington, D.C. and participating in long-term language and functional training at the Department of State’s George P. Schultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in preparation for her next assignment with the U.S. Foreign Service. She is preparing to move to Buenos Aires, Argentina in May 2015 to serve a two-year tour as Vice Consul at U.S. Embassy Buenos Aires.

Fellow Bio:

Helaina Stein ’10 is from Katonah, NY and graduated from Tufts University with a degree in international relations. On campus, she co-funded and co-led RESPE: Haiti, a student research and development initiative in northern Haiti.

Helaina was also a member of Sigma Iota Rho, the IR Honors Society, and participated in the Institute for Global Leadership’s Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship 2007-2008 colloquium. While at Tufts, she interned for the U.S. State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees, Migration and Educate! Helaina studied abroad in Geneva, Switzerland, where she also interned for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty at the UN Human Rights council. Next year in Rwanda; Helaina looks forward to learning some Kinyarwanda, traveling around the land of a thousand hills, and contributing to meaningful education initiatives.

Fellow Bio:

Léa majored in the Woodrow Wilson School with a certificate in African Studies. Originally from Walsrode, Germany, she studied abroad in Egypt and spent her summers reporting political news on the radio, studying Kiswahili in Tanzania, and conducting research in rural Kenya. Since graduation, Léa has been exploring the treatment of gender-based violence in crises as a Labouisse Fellow, through placements in Australia, Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina. She loves accents and music to dance to like no one is watching. In the DR Congo next year, she is looking forward to learning more about the security field and eating delicious fish at the shores of Lake Kivu.