Hello, GSP Alumnx!
Welcome to the Winter-Spring 2024 Alumnx Newsletter! We're excited to provide you with highlights from the winter term, including:
- Four Alumnx Spotlights featuring Declan Shannon, Chloe Halprin, Shubham Mishra, and Sarah Oguntomilade
- A GSP Alumnx Love Story: A Submission from Aidan Sova and Ena Humphries
- A Student Spotlight and Community Reflection from Rising PF Sydnee Chamberlain
- Updates from the GSP Office
- Winter 2024 Semester Programming Highlights
So keep scrolling!
And don't forget to follow us on social media! In addition to following our Instragram page, you can request access to our GSP LinkedIn Group to stay up-to-date on professional development opportunities, international travel accommodations, and personal achievements in global social justice and travel.
Alumnx Spotlights
Declan Shannon '19
Fast Facts:
- B.S. in Materials Science & Engineering
- Active in GSP for three years
- Served as a CG Facilitator and an Advisory Council Sustainability Committee Co-Chair
Declan considers his time at GSP to be a core memory and integral part of his Michigan experience. His fondest memories of GSP include Chai Chatters, late night studying, and conversations in the 4th and 5th floor lounges. You might’ve even caught him attempting to cook a meal at 2 AM in the 10th floor kitchen!
Declan feels incredibly fortunate for all that he learned in GSP and thankful for the wonderful community he found here. During his time in the program, he met friends from around the world, many of whom he still keeps in contact with today. He still goes on Zoom calls with fellow GSP alumnx from around the world. He described his experience as "transformative," and is happy to continue supporting GSP students as a member of the alumnx community.
Declan is currently pursuing a PhD in Materials Science & Engineering at the University of California Santa Barbara. Eventually, he hopes become a polymer materials engineer.
Chloe Halprin '22
Fast Facts:
- B.A. In Spanish and English; minor in sociology
- Active in GSP for three years
- Served as a CG Facilitator and an Advisory Council Community Connections “ComCon” Co-Chair
After graduating in 2022, Chloe taught English in Spain for a year and is currently a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Mexico. She is pictured above enjoying pollo pibil, a traditional Mayan dish, at the restaurant Ix Cat Ik in Valladolid, Yucatán, Mexico. Chloe credits her GSP experiences in adapting to post-grad life abroad and immersing herself in other languages, customs, and traditions!
Chloe recalls fondly the many people from a variety of backgrounds she met in GSP, including friends with whom she is still close today – she even took a post-graduation trip with GSP friends. She also enjoyed helping Nita with chai chatter and coordinating Community Connections Committee events. She especially cherishes the 2019 GSP trip to India, which allowed her to get to know Benjie and Nita and see the country in a unique, amazing way.
For Chloe, GSP made the large university feel smaller, and she is grateful for the community she built here.
Shubham Mishra '24
Fast Facts:
- B.S. in Computer Science
- Active in GSP from 2021-2022
- NGO partner: We Help War Victims
Congratulations to Shubham, who graduated in May! For now, Shubham is taking a well-deserved break before he moves forward in his career as a software engineer.
He recalls living with GSP roommates from six different nationalities and getting to know people throughout the community with significantly different backgrounds from his own. He especially values the dialogue experiences he gained in GSP and learning the difference between "hearing people speak and actually listening to what they're saying."
He calls working with We Help War Victims "a privilege" and believes now, more than ever, it is crucial to remain informed about global social justice issues. GSP helped gain confidence in knowing the right thing to do and building valuable skills for talking about difficult topics. GSP also helped him realize that any positive change – even hearing people out in dialogue and giving affirmations – adds up to an important whole.
Sarah Oguntomilade '24
Fast Facts:
- B.A. in International Studies; B.Ed. in Secondary Education and Teaching
- Active in GSP from 2021-2023
- NGO partner: Apne Aap Women’s Collective
- Served as a CG Facilitator
Congratulations to Sarah, who graduated in May! During the past academic year, Sarah has remained an active alum community member. She performed her original spoken word pieces at the GSP Culture Show and, building on her extensive work in prison reform/abolition, she assisted the Dialogue Facilitators in facilitating a dialogue on the annual Prison Creative Arts Art Exhibition of incarcerated artists.
For Sarah, GSP affirmed the value working together. She reflects, "I think we live in a society where it is ingrained in us that ‘we don’t owe anyone anything’, we are indoctrinated into this idea of an individualistic utopia where if we all work hard, put our heads down, and ignore our neighbor - we’ll be alright. When, in reality, we owe each other everything and our best work can only be done in community."
This summer, Sarah, will tour Michigan alongside a group of U-M students and formerly incarcerated artists, performing a play created inside and outside prison walls called, With Love, From Inside. In August, she will begin a position as a Theatre Teacher at Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina. She hopes to continue to create theatre that "bridges cultural divides and spark dialogue around the stories of those most marginalized."
A GSP Alumnx Love Story
Aidan Sova and Ena Humphries are engaged!
Aidan introduced Ena to GSP in Fall 2018 when he joined the program as a transfer student. Much of their early relationship was spent in North Quad, watching movies in Aidan’s 4th floor single or grabbing a bite to eat in the dining hall.
Inspired by Aidan’s experience in the program, Ena joined GSP in Fall 2020 and continued as a Collaborative Group Facilitator, Advisory Council member, and GSI. Aidan remained an active alum and gave the keynote address at this year's symposium (see below).
Aidan and Ena deeply value the opportunities for global connection, collaboration, and impact that GSP allowed them during their time in the program.
Tell Us your GSP Love Story
Many GSPeeps find love in our community or recruit their significant other to join the program. Sometimes, this love turns into a life partnership. Were you and your life partner in GSP together? Tell us your story!
Student Spotlights
Sydnee Chamberlain '26
First-year GSP student, Sydnee, is studying economics and looks forward to returning next year as a peer facilitator. She loves being a part of a community that embraces so many different cultures and that includes many of her closest friends.
Her favorite memories from this year include spending time in the 4th floor lounge with friends and attending the GSP Culture Show, with its multicultural dance performances and cuisines.
Sydnee plans to join the Alumnx Mentoring Program and is eager to connect with and gain insights the alumnx community! She is particularly interested in learning more about policy, economics, and law.
More Student Spotlights on the GSP Blog
As you may remember from our fall newsletter, we piloted a General Member option for GSP returners. Unlike the PFs and SPLs, General Members don't have a specific leadership role. However, they are required to enroll in ALA 470, attend all GSP Signature Events, and participate in three additional community events. Each semester culminates in a GSP Blog post.
Furthermore, this year ALA 470 students authored blog posts reflecting on their fall-term GSP experiences as their final assignment, with the option to have their pieces published.
Take a moment to read the General Members' and other ALA 470 students' published articles below!
Program Updates
GSP’s Statement on the Pursuit of Peace, Liberation, and Human Rights
On May 6, the GSP office issued the statement below on our website and social media. We hope this statement conveys our program's longstanding values and commitments.
The Global Scholars Program (GSP) affirms the inherent dignity of eachperson and stands for peace, liberation, and human rights.
We are committed to an applied, global social justice-based education that includes the use of dialogue, a communicative practice of peace which honors individual dignity and the diversity of our communities, including ourdiverse social identities and our many perspectives and lived experiences. We join in dialogue out of mutual respect and a desire to learn. We strive tobe brave in making space for, sharing, and listening to each other's stories.
We work to build knowledge, practice skills, and foster relationships that prepare us to help bring an end to domination and dehumanization in all forms and to strive for a world where all enjoy dignity, all are free, and allmay live in peace.
Our program stands with students and all those - near and far - working toward these goals and exercising their universal human rights, which include but are not limited to freedom of opinion and expression; freedom of peaceful assembly and association; and freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. We also affirm their freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention, freedom from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, and allother protections of their universal human rights.
We acknowledge that our community members here, near, and afar are engaged in this important work for peace, liberation, and human rights inways that we know and do not know, and we are indebted.
Save the Dates
The Global Scholars Program will be celebrating its 15th year anniversary this fall with special festivities hosted by the Special Projects Leads:
Fri, Nov 22: Dinner & Anniversary Culture Show
Sat, Nov 23: Football gameday gathering
We hope you can join us as we celebrate our collective achievements and look ahead to a future of continued global impact.
Help us start planning! Tell us if you are interested you are in attending (or if you already know you are unavailable) and share your celebration ideas.
Winter 2024 Semester Highlights
Peer Facilitator Retreat
For the first time since the pandemic, rising Peer Facilitators in ALA 212 returned to the Holley Family Village for an off-campus, overnight retreat! Students had the opportunity to gather with GSP staff and faculty in January to bond and begin building their foundational facilitation knowledge and experience.
GSP Global Engagement Symposium 2024
We held our annual GSP Global Engagement Symposium back in Rackham for the first time since the pandemic! This year's symposium featured two new NGO partners, Amnesty International-Ann Arbor and Generación Clima, which is based in Mexico City, Mexico and was founded by former GSP GSI Patricio Provencio.
Check out this year's Global Engagement Project posters and remarks from Alum Keynote Speaker Aidan Sova.
About this year's Global Engagement Symposium Keynote Speaker: Aidan Sova is the Trustee and Treasurer of the Ann Arbor District Library, making him the youngest-ever Black person elected to any office in Ann Arbor.
Sova is a Product Solutions Consultant at Google. Prior to Google, he led the Big Ten Academic Conference as Executive Director of the Association of Big Ten Students and worked as a Human Rights Commissioner for the City of Ann Arbor. He is also an Emerging Leaders Council Member for Legal Services Corporation (LSC).
Sova has served on the Grow Jackson Board of Directors, the State of Michigan’s Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, and the Growing Michigan Together Council work group on infrastructure.
Sova is a recipient of the City of Jackson’s Youth Citizen of the Year, the State of Michigan’s Youth Volunteer of the Year, Jackson Black Excellence, and the University of Michigan’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Service Awards.
Aidan is an alum of the Global Scholars Program and, as a member, worked with NGO partner ALPHA Education. He is currently studying part-time as a Master of Liberal Arts student at the University of Pennsylvania.
GSP Gala 2024: GSProm
In alignment with this year's new membership structure, the Signature Event Leads coordinated the annual Spring Gala in celebration of the end of the year. This year's theme was "GSPProm," a nod graduating seniors who missed their high school prom in 2020.
This magical evening featured a multicultural dinner with catering from Ahmo's Gyros & Deli, Tmaz Taqueria, Everest Sherpa, and several other restaurants served alongside an array of mocktails (Jaljeera, Sangria, and Hocus Pocus). The gala was filled with memorable moments including GSP staff thank you's, student leadership recognition speeches, a time capsule, dancing, and karaoke.
Student Leader-Hosted Events
Throughout the semester, GSP student leaders organized many fun community-building and educational events that serve GSP members and the broader community.
Students gathered for weekly Chai Chatters as well as holiday celebrations, including the Lantern Festival, Mardi Gras, and Passover. In addition, student leaders hosted two food tours, inviting community members to enjoy (again or for the first time) Chinese and Cuban fusion cuisine.
Other events included a North Quad capture the flag, ice skating, Valentine's Day care package-making, and more!
Student Leader-Hosted Events
Following a townhall discussion on the ongoing violence in Gaza and student activism, students expressed their interest in knowing more about the conflict.
The GSP Student Organization (GSPSO) worked with GSP community members to organize three educational events: 1) a peer-facilitated internal dialogue about the University's endowment and divestment, 2) a teach-in on Christian Zionism in Palestine guest-hosted by U-M Ph.D. student Amir Marshi, and 3) another teach-in on settler colonialism in Palestine guest-facilitated by Dr. David Zeglen, a U-M Lecturer. Both teach-ins were open to the public and drew dozens of attendees.
The flyers from the teach-in series can be found below.
Alumnx Panel Recap
On February 4, 2024, GSP held a virtual panel featuring successful GSP alumnx. Current GSP members connected with alumnx working or in graduate programs in investment, technology, health sciences, and public policy. Our esteemed alumnx also shared advice on how to leverage the dialogic and intercultural communication skills developed in GSP for post-graduation opportunities.
Read about the panelists below.
Allan Zhang ‘13
Second-year MBA student at Yale, interested in investment banking in renewable energy and climate tech sectors.
Corinne Hauck ‘15
Graduate student at Wake Forest University, pursuing a degree in Nurse Anesthesia.
Amber Browder ‘19
Master’s in Public Health from the University of Miami, currently a Senior Research Assistant at The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.
Michaela Minnis ‘22
Global Child Health Policy Assistant at the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Stay in Touch!
As we close out another incredible academic year this Spring 2024, we bid farewell to our departing GSP students as they embark on new adventures. We encourage our most recent alum to stay connected through the GSP Alumnx Network.
If you are interested in remaining involved in the community, please consider joining the GSP Alumnx Matching Program. This initiative pairs alumnx with current students to provide career and academic guidance. If you would like to participate, please fill out the form below.
We deeply appreciate your continued engagement and hope you know that that GSP is here for you, too!
