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Meet Our Students

Our students have amazing experiences doing research, exploring internships, and studying abroad. Get to know them!

Portrait of Marna Wal

Exploring Global Protest Culture
At a time of unrest in South Africa, Marna Wal had the opportunity to experience protest culture firsthand. While studying abroad at the University of Cape Town, Wal was immersed in a student movement organized around increased tuition rates. This unique social atmosphere gave her insight into the complicated political culture of post-apartheid South Africa.
Portrait of Julia Dworsky and Lauren Rickman.

Conference Confidence: Preparing Undergraduates for Academic & Professional...
The annual Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Conference provides a platform for students to share their academic work in a professional setting. It’s an experience that co-chairs of the event, Maryanne Williams Smoczyk and Danielle Dadras, believe allows for students to grow academically and professionally: “The College is placing emphasis on professionalization and readiness as a way to help students understand their potential in the work world.”
Portrait of Nayelli Guerrero.

Nayelli Guerrero: Undeclared to Unstoppable
Choosing a major is hard. When you’re interested in a variety of subjects, picking just one can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. For Nayelli Guerrero, whose interests include medicine, writing, history, and law, it’s no wonder she started off her college career as an undecided major. Now a sophomore, she has become a top-notch student who actively participates in important work in the community.
Portrait of Madeleine Buchholz

ONE More Chapter
Junior Madeleine Buchholz was looking for a way to make a difference with her interests in law and development. She found it at a U2 concert where she was introduced to the ONE Campaign. When she learned that UMN didn’t have a chapter, she decided to take matters into her own hands to bring this nonprofit to the Twin Cities.
Portrait of Erin Jones and Karah VueBenson

Research in the First Person
The Gullah/Geechee Nation has a unique, centuries-old American culture that is under threat. Geography undergraduates Erin Jones and Karah VueBenson traveled to visit Gullah/Geechee people face-to-face to learn from them about their struggles and how collaborative scholarship can contribute to their efforts to protect their land.
Portrait of JT Weaver.

A Thoughtful Approach to Dance

Recent graduate JT Weaver calls framing his dance major in a liberal arts context “game-changing.” His well-rounded education equipped him to explore ideas through movement and to create dance pieces that are thoughtfully crafted ideas of creative research. “The biggest takeaway from my time at the University is my level of awareness in all facets of my life,” Weaver says. “My years at the U instilled an approach to life that is highly thoughtful and perspective-driven.”
Portrait of Tigana Van Le

From ASPIRE to Inspire
Senior Tigana Văn Lê, is shattering expectations in his campus and real-life experiences. Through a 10-week internship in Washington DC, Lê worked on education policy and discovered the importance of using policy to help demographic specific communities. Through his involvement in the Asian Pacific American Resource Center (APARC), he has found his passion and how he wants to inspire others.
Portrait: Raven Ziegler

An Activist and a Scholar
A double major in political science and sociology of law, criminology, and deviance, Raven Ziegler hopes to effect meaningful international policy change. “Every marginalized community knows what will produce the most efficient change for them. Through collaboration, I merely act as a vehicle to build the structure of progression,” she says.
Portrait of Sophia Wright.

Weaving Music with French
Sophia Wright discusses how her majors in French and music work together in harmony. Wright applies her language skills and understanding of French culture and history to her studies of music and art. She draws connections between different art forms and time periods to create a clearer picture of Western history with the help of her French immersion background. By overcoming challenges in her immersion experience, Wright was able to excel in her other classes because of her French background.
Portrait of Lily Mahan.

French Immersion Taught Me to be Mindful
Recent graduate Lily Mahan talks about starting French immersion preschool at the age of three, what it was like to transition out of a full immersion program at the end of elementary school, and how knowing French affects her worldview. “I am who I am today because of my immersion experience,” she says. Lastly, graduating with a French major, Mahan talks about her future and how she hopes to live and work in France one day.
Photo of yellow and purple prairie flowers

Butterfly Effect
When anthropology and construction management major Jeremiah Cunningham noticed that the butterflies weren't stopping to feed among the grasses planted at the Xcel Energy substation where he was interning, he discovered something that will turn into a win for Xcel Energy and the butterflies.