Meet our 2020 summer interns!

Meet our 2020 summer interns! We were thrilled to connect with interns from around the world this summer via Zoom! For the summer of 2020, we ran a virtual internship program due to COVID-19 and had three main goals – making connections, promoting awareness and education, and coming up with ways that we can advocate for important causes we are passionate about both individually and as a group.
This program included several sessions throughout July and featured a variety of speakers on topics connected to the work of Temple of Understanding, including Women’s Rights, Ecological Justice, Sustainable Development, Interfaith Education, Social Justice, Human Rights, Peacemaking, Disarmament Affairs, and Humanitarian Affairs. During each session, we had an incredible panel of speakers who shared their work, insights, and experiences with us. Both the speakers and the intern group sparked important, engaging, and thought-provoking conversations. We asked questions, shared resources, and collaborated on ways to advocate for causes we believe in and action steps we can take. We were very grateful for our time with every person that joined us for these sessions, and we look forward to continuing these discussions!
Cindy Peng
Hi! My name is Cindy Peng, and I am 19 years old. I live in Columbus, Georgia. I am a rising freshman at Wellesley College, potentially majoring in International Relations, Middle Eastern Studies, and Sociology. Joining TOU, my particular interests are Interfaith...
Yaxuan Shi
Hi everyone! I am Yaxuan Shi, and I just turned 18 this month. I was born and raised in Jinan, Shandong Province in China. Currently, I am a high school rising senior at Santa Catalina School in California. I have always been passionate about the law and the...
Yaas Farzanefar
My name is Yaas Farzanefar, and I am a rising sophomore at UC Berkeley studying Political Science and Gender Studies, with a minor in Human rights. I was born in Iran and have lived both in Iran and California. Being raised in two vastly different cultures, I grew up...
Thomas Falci
My name is Thomas Falci, and I am from Westchester, NY. I am a rising sophomore at Claremont McKenna College dual majoring in International Relations and History with a Data Science sequence. Through extensive research about the Sustainable Development Goals, I have...
Tejashwini Prashar
Hi! My name is Tejashwini Prashar. I am 19 years old. I am a second-year student at University College London (UCL), studying History, Politics, and Economics. Gross income inequality is a current and historical global staple in our communities. To narrow this gap, we...
Slade Huang
Hi Everyone! My name is Slade Huang. I am an 18-year-old international student studying in the US, originally from Hong Kong. My particular interests in connection to TOU and the UN are primarily interfaith understanding and intangible culture preservation. I was...
Seiyeon Choi
Hello! My name is Seiyeon Choi, and I am 18 years old. I am from Seoul, South Korea, and I will be a high school senior this fall at Brooks School. I am interested in Human Rights and Women’s initiatives. The stories of North Korean defectors first led me toward the...
Rahima Khatun
Salutations, I am Rahima Khatun. I am currently 19 years old and am a second-year undergraduate student studying the realms of political law and international relations in New York City. My interests mainly lie in the areas of women’s rights and initiatives in Global...
Neha Govindaraja
I am Neha Govindaraja, and I am 18 years old. I am currently studying Bachelors in Law from National Law University, Trichy, India. In addition to working with NGOs based on child advocacy, my interests lie in working on the areas of women empowerment and development...
Naman Anand
Greetings! My name is Naman Anand and I am a 2nd Year Undergraduate Law student at the National Law University, Punjab in India. My tryst with International Law and the United Nations began when I joined my school’s MUN Club in 2014. Since then, I have worked with the...
Myra Karavelioglu
My name is Myra Karavelioglu. I am an 18-year-old from New Jersey, USA. Having lived in both Turkey and America has given me a major insight into the influence of religion and culture in politics as I have grown up comparing the two countries. This attention I gave to...
Mina Mohammadi
Hey there! My name is Mina Mohammadi. I am 19 years old and an incoming sophomore at New York University studying Journalism and Data Science along with a minor in Middle East Studies. My family is originally from Iran, but I was born and grew up in New York. I have...
Matias Zuter
Hi! I am Matias Zuter. I am 18 years old, and I´m from Córdoba, Argentina. I am currently studying my first year of Law. For the last 5 years, I have been working towards a more inclusive and higher quality education. I also believe that education is responsible for...
Kia Fatahi
Greetings! My name is Kia Fatahi. I am a 20-year old undergraduate student at Fordham University where I am studying International Relations (specializing in Diplomacy) with a recent interest in Economics and Trade Development. As a boy who grew up in a Japanese...
Kamilla Bakirova
My name is Kamilla Bakirova. I am an 18-year-old student at St. John’s University from Brooklyn, New York, and I am majoring in Biology. My interests mainly pertain to women’s rights, particularly in their access to health resources, education, sustainable water, and...
Isha Gupta
Hey! My name is Isha Gupta, and I am 18 years old. I am an incoming freshman at George Washington University in Washington D.C. where I plan on studying International Relations. In high school, I spent most of my time in Model UN and running my non-profit. I have...
Hanna Mirgorodschi
Hello! I am Hanna Mirgorodschi. I am 22 years old and come from Bremen, Germany. This month I am graduating from the University of St. Andrews, with a bachelor’s degree in Social Anthropology and Sustainable Development. My degree subjects truly capture my interests:...
Han Oo
My name is Han Oo. I am 21 years old. I am a rising senior studying Psychology at Fordham University Lincoln Center in New York. I am originally from Yangon, Myanmar. I am most interested in the Temple of Understanding’s work in Women’s Initiatives. By being a part of...
Grace Hudson
Hello everyone! My name is Grace Hudson. I am 20 years old, and I am studying a joint degree in International Relations and Psychology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. I am from Oregon in the United States and Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. I am so...
Feipeng Li
My name is Feipeng (Penny) Li, and I’m from Shanghai, China. I am 18 years old and a rising senior in high school. I spent my junior year as an exchange student in Washington DC, where I took classes at a local high school and stayed with my host family. I am...
Christal Kihm
My name is Christal Kihm. I am a 20-year-old undergraduate student from France and studying International Development in London. My interests lie at the intersection of issues pertaining to gender, race, and conflict. I am particularly interested in women’s rights in...
Chelsea Egu
Hello! My name is Chelsea Egu. As a dual citizen of Nigeria and the U.S., I have grown up with a more nuanced and global perspective of politics. Subsequently, this has led to my involvement in an assemblage of academic programs and projects centred on human rights...
Alykhan Pirani
My name is Alykhan Pirani, and I’m from Atlanta, Georgia. I am 18 years old and am a rising freshman at Columbia University where I plan on majoring in Human Rights and Political Science. Some passions I hope to further explore through the Temple of Understanding and...
Alexandra Dingle
My name is Alexandra (Alex) Dingle, and I’m from New York City. I am 19 years old and a rising freshman at Tufts University where I participated in the 1+4 gap year program, spending 6.5 months living with a host family in Pune, India and working at a school with...
Aisha Ayub
Hello everyone! My name is Aisha Ayub, and I am a rising sophomore Neuroscience Major at The Ohio State University. As a Muslim woman and an aspiring physician, I have always sought to benefit human lives globally, particularly in the realm of wellness. I look forward...