- Social Innovation Fellowship
Award Year
Institutionalizing and Digitizing a Student-Run Organization
Brown Refugee Youth Tutoring and Enrichment (BRYTE) is a student-run organization that works in collaboration with the International Institute of Rhode Island and the Swearer Center for Public Service. Through BRYTE, Brown students tutor and mentor refugee youth and adults who have recently arrived in Providence. BRYTE is a young organization that has been growing at a fast rate. I have been working to institutionalize BRYTE by: 1) strengthening our connections with our community partners and other organizations on the Brown campus, 2) writing a strategic plan for the organization and 3) designing and creating BRYTE's website. My work from this summer will be carried on throughout the school year as I share what I have done with other BRYTE leaders and the BRYTE student volunteers.
BRYTE Press
Documentary follow refugees from Eritrea to R.I
Brown Daily Herald, March 30, 2009
Students ease refugees into American life
Brown Daily Herald, December 5, 2006
BRYTE Exposed
Brown Daily Herald, November 3, 2008
Brown students tutor refugees resettled in town
Brown Daily Herald, November 3, 2008
Personal Statement
As a student, inhabiting the "Brown bubble" is an easy but often deceptive reality. Bursting this bubble and seeing the lives, struggles and accomplishments of Providence community members has been an important step in my education and individual growth. I credit BRYTE, with the personal friendships I have developed with the individual I tutor, the people working at the International Institute of Rhode Island, and all the refugee families I have met as the needle that broke this bubble. My work with BRYTE, both during the academic year and over the course of the summer has thus been an essential component of my education as I struggle to understand the different obstacles facing refugees and Providence residents and how my academic studies and non-academic work can combine to find effective and innovative ways to create positive change. I am grateful for the way BRYTE has grounded me as a student and a person and am excited for the challenges and promises of the year ahead.
Awards/Recognition:
- International Institute of Rhode Island for the Jenzabar Foundation's Student Leadership Nominee