US-Ireland Alliance Announces the George J. Mitchell Scholars, Class of 2011

Scholars include Purple Heart recipient, top collegiate cyclist, founder of health NGO

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The US-Ireland Alliance has announced the class of 2011 George J. Mitchell Scholars. The Scholars selected are:

• Stephen Dorner, a student at the University of Georgia who authored an amendment to the health reform legislation recently passed by the House of Representatives;

• Ibrahim Elshamy, a senior at Dartmouth College who has worked with rural students as well as in southside Chicago neighborhoods;

• Kyle Englund-Krieger, a physicist and Trident Scholar at the US Naval Academy who was honored as the nation's top collegiate cyclist;

• Joseph Graziano, a Public Interest Law Scholar at Georgetown Law School, who ran Beisbol y Libros (Baseball and Books) in the Dominican Republic after a career as a standout varsity baseball player;

• Fagan Harris, an alumnus of Stanford University who is leading an educational non-profit in Oakland, California, serving at-risk youth;

• Yongjun Heo, a Luce Scholar in Vietnam, who founded and leads Pemon Health, an NGO receiving funding from the Clinton Global Initiative, Wal-mart Foundation, and Project Pericles Foundation;

• Deirdre Mask, a lawyer with clerkships at the district and appellate levels, who is an award-winning author and teacher;

• Ryan Merola, an analyst with the NYPD;

• Steven Sifuentes, a senior at the US Naval Academy and recipient of a Purple Heart for wounds received during combat in Iraq, who mentors other Midshipmen in preparation to lead in combat.

The Saturday, 21 November interviews were preceded by a reception for 100 guests the night before at the Irish Embassy. The reception was hosted by the Embassy, the Northern Ireland Bureau, and the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

The Scholars were selected after a rigorous application process that drew almost 300 applications from over 150 colleges and universities across the country. The process culminated in a final interview before a selection committee composed of leaders from many fields. This year’s selection committee included:

• Ireland’s Ambassador to the US, Michael Collins;

• Desha Girod, Mitchell Scholar ’01, faculty at Georgetown University

• Mary Lou Hartman, president of Half-a-Bap Productions

• Matt Korn, computer industry veteran and internet innovator

• Maureen Murphy, Interim Dean of the School of Education and Allied Human Services at Hofstra University;

• David Pyott, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Allergan;

• Rachel Rebouché, Mitchell Scholar ’01, a leader at the National Partnership for Women & Families, and

• Christopher Schroeder, an internet pioneer who is CEO of an influential network of health web sites.

The Mitchell Scholarship program annually selects up to twelve young Americans to receive the highly competitive award to study at universities in Ireland and Northern Ireland for a year. The post-graduate awards are named after former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell who spearheaded the historic Good Friday Agreement of 1998, leading to peace in Northern Ireland. The Mitchell Scholars program recognizes outstanding young Americans who exhibit the highest standards of academic excellence, leadership and community service. The program links future leaders from the US with the island of Ireland. With Congressional leadership from the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Senator Susan Collins, Congressman Joe Crowley and Congressman Peter King, the scholarships are funded by the Department of State’s Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau; the Northern Ireland Department for Employment and Learning; Becton Dickinson, Bombardier Aerospace [NI] Foundation, Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, and all of the universities on the island.

Jennie LaMonte, Managing Director of the Mitchell Scholarship program said, "We are proud to select these outstanding Scholars as we enter the second decade of the Mitchell Scholars Program. They exemplify the ideals of leadership, scholarship, and service that are hallmarks of the program. These characteristics reflect Senator Mitchell’s legacy of perseverance, courage, patience, and understanding, all essential elements in his commitment to peace and reconciliation."

The class of 2011 Mitchell Scholars are listed below, with their hometowns, their US university affiliation, and their university assignment in Ireland and Northern Ireland (pending final approval from those universities), and a more complete biography.

Stephen Dorner, Alpharetta, GA; University of Georgia; Trinity College Dublin, Global Health

Stephen Dorner studies Microbiology and Environmental Health in the Honors Program at the University of Georgia. He plans to attend medical school in preparation for a career as a physician-policy maker connecting public health research with policy implementation. His passion for elevating the global baseline of health led him to Costa Rica and Nicaragua to work in health clinics and perform community needs assessments. In the summer of 2008, he spent three months in the Peruvian Andes studying the efficacy of the Peruvian National Stove Intervention Program in reducing women’s exposure to harmful indoor air pollutants and improving health. His international experiences inspired him to found UGA Without Borders, an organization that facilitates engagement in the global community through service and advocacy. As a congressional intern in the office of U.S. Congressman Hank Johnson, Stephen wrote an amendment to the health reform bill passed by the House of Representatives to direct attention to the neglected diseases of poverty – diseases that comprise 90% of the global disease burden yet receive 10% of health funding. Stephen is the recipient of several awards from the University of Georgia, including the William Moore Crane Leadership Scholarship in recognition of his outstanding leadership and community service.

Ibrahim Elshamy, Manchester, NH; Dartmouth College; Ulster University, Peace and Conflict Studies

Ibrahim Elshamy, a senior at Dartmouth, is majoring in Native American Studies and Middle Eastern Studies, is a Presidential Research Scholar and Truman Scholar. He studied in Morocco and Egypt on a Gilman Scholarship, and speaks Arabic. Through Dartmouth’s global service organization, the Tucker Foundation, Ibrahim tutored underachieving elementary school students in a rural Vermont school district, served as director of education outreach, and is now serving as the Foundation’s student director. He was president of the college’s Muslim student group during a conflict-ridden national lecture tour, and played a leading role in a collaborative, peaceful response that won a campus award. In 2006, Ibrahim met with the city school board in his hometown of Manchester, NH, to reexamine public policies, and drew the greater community into dynamic discussion via the Internet. This summer, Ibrahim lived and worked in the south-side Chicago neighborhoods with IMAN, a non-profit devoted to comprehensive community organizing, personal empowerment, and development. During a semester abroad, Ibrahim taught classes at a Cairo refugee organization and started a successful partnership between this organization and other concerned students. Ibrahim was recently awarded the Dean’s Prize as the student who "has contributed most significantly throughout four years to the quality of life on Dartmouth's campus."

Kyle Englund-Krieger, Hummelstown, PA; U.S. Naval Academy; Dublin City University, International Security & Conflict Studies

Kyle Englund-Krieger is a Physics major and a Trident Scholar at the United States Naval Academy. In a quest for greater understanding, he researches high energy particle physics and a state of matter that existed at the beginning of the universe called “Quark-Gluon Plasma.” At the International Conference on Strangeness in Quark Matter, his work was chosen as the best experimental results. Kyle also pushes the limits as a member and former Co-Captain of the Navy’s Cycling Team. Last year, he was selected by U.S.A. Cycling as the top collegiate cyclist in the United States. At the Naval Academy he was the Executive Officer for Plebe Summer, the second person in charge of training of 1200 new midshipmen. He was selected as the Brigade Midshipman of the Semester in 2007 for his leadership and mentoring skills. After graduation, Kyle will serve onboard submarines. In preparation for military service he has trained on three nuclear submarines and earned the Strategic Nuclear Deterrence Medal. He has studied development in Malaysia and has served on humanitarian efforts in Peru, Malawi, and Uganda.

Joseph Graziano, New York, NY; Georgetown Law School; National University of Ireland, Galway, Political Science & Sociology

Joseph Graziano is a 2007 Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Georgetown with a major in sociology and a minor in government. Joey is currently attending law school at Georgetown where he is a Public Interest Law Scholar. Driven by a blue-collar, service-oriented background and his father’s involvement in 9-11 as a New York City firefighter, Joey is dedicated to ensuring that the U.S. government honors its commitment to veterans by ensuring they are provided the federal benefits they earned through their service. Joey’s undergraduate thesis anticipated that soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan would experience high levels of negative stressors. To counter that, Joey began working with retired Lieutenant Colonel John Sharp to represent veterans before the US Court of Appeals for Veteran’s Claims. Joey has since founded the Academy for Veterans and has worked as law clerk at the National Veterans Legal Services Program. While at Georgetown, he was the starting third baseman on the baseball team, a four time Big East Academic All-Star, and the team’s Most Valuable Teammate. After graduating, Joey moved to a Dominican Republic barrio to run the non-profit Beisbol y Libros, which uses baseball to incentivize literacy for children. After law school, Joey anticipates being commissioned as an officer in the United States Marine Corps.

Fagan Harris, Baltimore, MD; Stanford University, University of Limerick, Sociology

Fagan Harris, a 2009 alumnus of Stanford University, received the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award, the highest honor given to an undergraduate. As a Chappell-Lougee Scholar, Fagan researched the use of social incentives to engage disadvantaged youth in service while fostering academic achievement. Fagan studied social issues and education as a John Galbraith Fellow, and continued that research in the townships of South Africa as a Mellon Mays Fellow. While serving as Student Body Vice President, Fagan founded a campus-wide civil service system and brought together disparate student interests to legislate and implement a public finance program for campus elections, opening the door for low income students to run for office in student government. Fagan also directed the University’s only disaster relief corps, raising thousands of dollars for projects around the world, and he was one of the principle organizers of the largest phone bank in the "No On Proposition 8" campaign. Fagan is currently spearheading an effort to design and implement a fellowship and internship placement program at College Track, a leading education nonprofit promoting college access for underserved youth. In the future, Fagan plans to lead large-scale social interventions that target low-income communities and to pursue a career in politics.

Yongjun Heo, Newburgh, IN; Swarthmore College; University College Dublin, Public Health.

A 2009 graduate of Swarthmore with a double major in Biology and Public Policy, Yongjun is currently working at the Institute for Population and Development Studies in Hanoi, Vietnam as a Luce Scholar. After his second year at Swarthmore, he travelled to Venezuela to assist a physician at a medical clinic in the Pemon indigenous villages of Uriman. His experiences led to his founding Pemon Health Inc., a public health organization committed to improving the health of the Pemon people through a college internship program that focuses on preventative measures to combat the causes of adverse health conditions. Yongjun has been awarded grants from the Clinton Global Initiative, Wal-mart Foundation, Project Pericles Foundation, and Swarthmore College. At the 2008 Clinton Global Initiative meeting, he was awarded a Clinton Global Initiative University Outstanding Commitment Award by President Clinton. In his final year at Swarthmore, he served as Student Council President. He was also a four-year sprinter for the Men’s Varsity Track and Field team and three-year counselor for a summer orientation program, which focuses on fostering dialogue about issues of race, gender, and class for incoming students. Yongjun plans to obtain a medical degree as well as a public health degree for his future career in the global health field.

Deirdre Mask, Chapel Hill, NC; Harvard Law School; National University of Ireland Galway, Writing

Deirdre Mask, graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College with a degree in Classics-Latin. She was an editor of the Arts Section of the Harvard Crimson, taught writing to adult-education students, and was head teacher of the Memorial Church Sunday School. After a post-graduate year in Oxford, Deirdre returned to Harvard for law school. There, she assumed leadership positions on the Harvard Law Review, taught a section of a constitutional law course at Harvard College (for which she won a university teaching award), and authored a prize-winning article on a racially-charged murder case in 1970s Boston. During this time, she was also a resident tutor of Adams House, where she served as a student mentor and pre-law advisor. As a law clerk for federal judges on the district and appellate levels in New York, Deirdre has worked on numerous cases involving national security, immigration, criminal law, race and gender discrimination, and prisoners’ rights. In addition, Deirdre's varied professional experience includes reporting on the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic on behalf of the United States Department of State in the Hague, acting as an in-house attorney for Yale University, working pro bono for the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, and helping a woman from Cameroon to gain political asylum in the United States.

Ryan Merola, New York, New York; CUNY, Brooklyn College; Queen’s University, Belfast, Violence, Terrorism & Security

Ryan Merola is an analyst with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) where he has served since he began as a New York City Urban Fellow in 2007. Prior to joining the NYPD, Ryan served with Congressman Edolphus Towns (NY-10), handling immigration and housing cases, and served as the Congressman's representative in several neighborhoods of his congressional district. Ryan graduated from the Macaulay Honors College at Brooklyn College, majoring in political science and philosophy. During his time at Brooklyn College, Ryan focused his studies and work on New York City, with an emphasis on the operations of the City's government and politics. He interned in various government offices and volunteered in several local political clubs while studying urban policy, New York City history, and conducting independent studies on the political debate surrounding the public referendums to revise the City's charter, as well as researching the changing nature of first amendment rights in New York City, post-9/11. While at Brooklyn College, Ryan was awarded the Harry S. Truman Scholarship and elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In addition to his studies and work in New York City, Ryan is a born and raised fan of the New York Mets and spends as much time as possible from the start of Spring Training through the postseason watching and attending Mets games.

Steven Sifuentes, Redmond, WA; U.S. Naval Academy, National University, Maynooth; Military History & Strategic Studies

Steven Sifuentes was born and raised on a Christmas tree farm in Redmond, Washington, and is a senior at the U.S. Naval Academy. In 2004, before attending the Naval Academy, Steven served a tour in Ramadi, Iraq as an infantry Marine with 2nd Battalion 4th Marines. While serving in Iraq, he was wounded by an Improvised Explosive Device and was later awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in combat. At the Naval Academy, Steven has held many leadership positions within the Brigade of Midshipman. As a Squad Leader, he took responsibility for the mental, moral, and physical welfare of the Midshipmen in his squad. In addition to being an Honors History major, Steven is dedicated to serving his peers by sharing his personal combat experiences. These efforts help prepare others to address situations they may encounter as future military officers. Building on his prior enlisted experiences, Steven will be commissioned as a Marine officer following his graduation in May 2010.