Influential

W a s h i n g t o n

S q u a r e

N e w s

P r e s e n t s

INFLUENTIAL

D E C E M B E R

1 0 ,

2 0 1 5

Arielle Andrews Terri Burns Noah Geib Robert Jackson Sana Mayat

Mansi Prakash Haley Quinn Alyx Steadman Nina Vizcarrondo D a r r e n Ye e

LETTER from the

E DITOR

It is very hard to stand out at NYU. It is not enough to be the president of a club, or have an internship at Goldman Sachs, or run a newspaper. I won’t even get into how it seems like every student at this school has a startup or a nonprofit. To be among the most influential students at a university with an undergraduate population in the tens of thousands takes a lot.

Looking through the many, many nominations for this issue, this became very clear to me. There are hundreds of students here who have resumes that could extend pages. Narrowing it down to only 10 students, then, was hard.

The students who fill the following pages are impressive. They have devoted their college careers not only to academics, but also to serving their community. Their influence extends beyond the bounds of NYU and all around the world. Each of them has earned the title of influential, and deserve recognition for what they have done.

I must thank all of the writers who helped with this issue, because it would have been impossible to put this together without all of them. Thank you to Editor-in-Chief Valentina Bojanini, Deputy Managing Editor Marita Vlachou and Assistant Managing Editors Alanna Bayarin and Maddie Pazzani for all of the editing work they have put in.

If you are reading this in print, you can join me in thanking Creative Director of Special Editions Olivia Martin for the wonderful issue in front of you. If this is online, you can do the same for Digital Director Bailey Evans.

Thank you to all of the photographers, led by Multimedia Editor Christian Forte and Video Editor Calvin Falk, for going through the hellish process of organizing so many photoshoots.

And, lastly, thank you to everyone who appears in this issue for working so hard to make both NYU and the world a better place.

ARIELLE ANDREWS

CAS 2016

S A N A M A Y AT

CAS 2017

HALEY QUINN

CAS 2016

TERRI BURNS

NOAH GEIB

ROBERT JACKSON

CAS 2016

Tandon 2018

Tisch 2016

2 0 1 5 ’ s

MANSI PRAKASH

m o s t INFLUENTIAL

CAS 2016

A LY X S T E A D M A N

NINA VIZCARRONDO

DARREN YEE

Silver 2016

Steinhardt 2016

Tandon 2016

ARIELLE Andrews

Staff photo by Shawn Paik

“What is activism if you’re not ruffling feathers?”

N

YU saw the largest public demonstration in its history taking place at the steps of the Kimmel lobby on Nov. 16. Arielle Andrews, CAS senior and president of the Black Student Union at NYU for two years, was responsible for this. Right after the unrest at Mizzou and Yale in November, she began organizing the Blackout at NYU to emphasize how these incidents are not as far away from our campus as they appear. Whether standing in solidarity or organizing a protest, it is important to Andrews that she plans ahead so she can do the most to further education for both people of color and their allies.

“People want to see action immediately,” Andrews said. “I just don’t work like that, I need to think out a strategy. Whatever we do, there has to be meaning behind it. NYU isn’t isolated from the situation and I felt like we could use this as

a platform to make change here on our own campus.”

This philosophy has guided Andrews in her activism. During her tenure as president of BSU, she has organized two major events in addition to the recent Blackout: the NYU Die-In at Bobst and the Black Presence Campaign. On the morning of the Black Presence campaign, students began filling out “#Black _____ Matter” signs.

Andrews said the strength of the Black Presence Campaign was that it was spontaneous and outside the direction of the administration. But at the event, Public Safety officers and personnel from operations almost immediately tried to stop students from hanging these signs all over the first floor of Kimmel.

They told Andrews that she needed to obtain a permit.

“I was there, tears dropping, trying to articulate the importance of this,” Andrews recalled. “You get tied to your social justice actions.

What was on there was people’s narratives, it was more than a poster.”

Andrews is not opposed to pushback,

however. As she put it: “What is activism if you’re not ruffling feathers?”

She said there will always be people who miss the point. She wanted the Blackout to be an opportunity for the NYU community could step back and figure out the importance of these current events.

Monroe France, assistant vice president for Student Diversity and director of the Center for Multicultural Education and Programs, works closely with Andrews in her role as BSU president.

“She is without question a dynamic leader that is dedicated to advancing social justice and human rights here on campus and more broadly,” France said. “Under her leadership, BSU has grown in membership and has expanded the types of programs it offers to build community and raise awareness here at NYU.” During her time at NYU, one of Andrews’ top priorities has been to further diversity education on a student, faculty and administrative level. Andrews is one of many in our community who is trying to shape what that kind of education

will look like.

“I think too many people come here and the diversity aspect goes right over their head,” Andrews said. “It’s important to create a true welcoming environment. When you come to NYU, you’re educated on diversity.”

The desire to create community may be spurred by her having lived in 12 different places across the country and around the world. She understands what it’s like to arrive in an environment where everyone already has a social circle, a routine and an understanding of the turf. Members of BSU who attend their events and friends of Andrews alike recognize how tirelessly she works to foster an inclusive atmosphere.

“She likes to make sure that everyone around her is also setting goals and making steps to reach them,” said Mariah Rodgers, College of Nursing senior and close friend of Andrews. “Building a welcoming community definitely tops the list of things that Ari cares about.”

In addition to her work for BSU, Andrews is the Co-Chair of the Academic Achievement Program. She

chairs AAP rap sessions, where students dialogue about current events in their communities and around the world. CAS senior and co-chair Phylicia Ashley recalled how Andrews has led sessions since she was a freshman to foster discussion on issues that matter.

“Ari believes that the present work she does now means nothing if those after her are not able to be successful as well,” Ashley said.

“She is always ready to teach anyone who wants to learn.”

Andrews is altering the landscape of race relations in the United States, and plans to continue on this road after graduation. She is optimistic about the future, and recognizes the best method is to take charge and be active both inside and outside of institutions.

“I want to create legislation and policy that’s going to make sustainable change,” Andrews said. “Hopefully, with that, I can contribute to improving race relations.”

By GRACE HALIO Deputy Features Editor

TERRI Burns

“Maybe I’m the person who needs to go in these communities and stop that cycle.”

Staff photos by Christian Forte

T

erri Burns wants to talk.

With long braids falling across her shoulders, you can often find Burns, the president of Tech@NYU and a CAS senior, tapping away at her computer — though it’s more likely she’s talking to someone else while she’s doing it. Words come easily to her, as if she’s just genuinely excited to have a conversation about anything.

Burns just finished a Venmo internship, but she’s not slowing down — she’s starting work with a product management team at Twitter after she graduates, and even helped ring the bell for Square’s IPO at the New York Stock Exchange a couple weeks ago.

It’s a steep trajectory for someone who took a less-thantraditional route into tech — she wasn’t even interested in coding until the summer after her freshman year, but on a whim applied to a weeklong program at Google to learn more about tech. Now she’s leading New York City’s largest student technology organization.

“If you try and put in effort and surround yourself with good people, the tech industry — particularly at NYU — is amazing and super inclusive and really exciting and young and interesting,” Burns said.

To use a term she likes to throw around, Burns is pretty dope. One day, she and a few friends created “BEY TRADER,” a stock watching website that uses Beyoncé gifs to show the state of the stock market.

At a UN hackathon, she and her friends made “The Periodical,” an infographic webpage billed as “your guide to periods.” She clearly isn’t worried about conversations that might make some uncomfortable.

Her propensity for talking might be why she doesn’t shy away from the elephant in the room in the technology industry: diversity.

Burns knows because she comes into the industry as a black woman, the odds are stacked against her.

Looking at the numbers, tech is a bleak landscape: out of 118 leadership roles across Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Intel, just five are held by black women. But Burns doesn’t get discouraged by the numbers. Instead, she uses them as motivation and throws herself straight into the fire.

“Maybe I’m the person who needs to go in these communities and stop that cycle and break the mold and be a voice that can make it better for people in the future,” Burns said.

The issue of diversity — in both race and gender — is something Burns has written about extensively, hoping to attract more attention from a widespread audience.

“I actively choose to remain hopeful under the belief that myself and many of the incredible people also working toward equality and justice in technology and in America will make a difference,” Burns wrote for Model View Culture back in April.

Tech@NYU is intent on breaking these barriers, with an executive board led by two women of color — Burns and CAS junior Freia Lobo — and an abundance of diversity throughout the ranks. Lobo said this is a testament to the environment the group has fostered, especially with people like Burns at the helm.

“It’s harder to be what you cannot see, and I hope that more women and people of color are inspired to become leaders in technology from a young age because of incredible people like Terri,” Lobo said.

Ethan Resnick, former president of Tech@NYU and recent Gallatin graduate, said Burns’ effective leadership can be seen just

by looking at the results, like attendance and diversity data.

“Before I graduated, I saw Terri pull off some pretty heroic feats,” Resnick said. “So I really trust her and I’ve just tried to make myself available if she ever needs advice, but otherwise leave things in her hands.”

Resnick said the Tech@NYU diversity efforts are mutually reinforcing — a more diverse leadership is more aware, which attracts a more diverse audience.

He said Burns and Lobo address diversity both head on and through ripple effects.

Burns doesn’t limit her conversation to the issues that affect her directly — as a resident assistant in Carlyle Court Residence Hall, she consistently adds information in emails to residents about what is going on in the world, culturally and politically, because she feels all these problems are connected.

“Diversity in tech is such an issue because systemic sexism and misogyny exist and homophobia exists,” Burns said. “That’s the foundation of what this country has been built on, and you can see it amplified in these subcommunities.”

More companies are talking about diversity than five years ago, but for Burns, sometimes talking isn’t enough. She thinks many of the conversations are empty, devoid of any real action.

All of which comes back to the question that Burns deals with every day: how do you fix the problem of diversity in technology?

She does not know the answer, but it’s clear she’s certain of one thing: “It gets really complex and difficult.” Burns shrugs. “Which is why I’m going to solve it.”

By ALEX BAZELEY News Editor

NOAH Geib

W

“My community has been a prerogative since I was young, and this seems like a natural progression moving from a small town to a bigger city.”

hile most students are concerned with grades, GPAs and getting a good job after college, other students are looking at the bigger picture.

But Tandon sophomore Noah Geib is not a single-issue student. As president of NYU’s chapter of Design for America, he has tackled college affordability and the empowerment of women in low-income communities in just the past few months.

Design for America is an engineering network with chapters at universities across the country that tries to enable social change through design and innovation. A mechanical engineering student from Pleasanton, California, Geib has been involved with DFA since his freshman year.

“I happened upon a meeting, and I thought, ‘Hey, I want to do that,’ Geib said. “They built a robot out of trash in the office at the library. And I thought it was cool, and something I wanted to do.”

Each month, the club proposes a new social challenge for students to tackle. In October, their focus was on making college more accessible for everyone, while in November they were helping women in Kathmandu, Nepal, become self-reliant with the Bindi Project.

“We made a toolkit that allowed them to become financially empowered,” Geib said. “It’s a step-by-step process to enable women to form groups and their own work teams, in a way.”

This toolkit included guides on setting up a bank account and searching for a job, as well as finding housing and other amenities. Some aspects were specifically geared toward women who have recently migrated to urban areas, as they are seen as being at a higher risk of violence or falling into sex-trafficking.

The team is advised by Anne-Laure Fayard, an associate professor in the Department of Tech Management and Innovation. Fayard is struck by the wide range of areas DFA tries to develop solutions for, from the 3D printing of prosthetic hands to fighting food waste.

“Despite the variety of projects, what is at the core is the passion of students to try to make a social impact using a human-centered design approach,” Fayard said.

Geib is traveling with other DFA members to Nepal in January to see how the project is advancing. They plan to interview the 31 women in the pilot program and research how the project can be adapted for use closer to home.

“We’re going to see how we can apply it to New York since

communities with low incomes are the focus,” Geib said. “How can we apply something that works in both Nepal and New York City?”

Plans to bring the toolkit to communities in the city are still in an embryonic stage, but the Bindi Project has given the group an idea of what to look for.

If it sounds like Geib isn’t your average sophomore, you’re right. Fayard said she can tell he is a student who is attuned to the important needs of society.

“I tend to think that, in each generation, there are always a couple of people who are more socially aware than others,” Fayard said. “Noah is one of these persons, and DFA and the Bindi Project were opportunities that he saw and embraced.”

Geib has always seen the importance of playing an active role in his community, whether that’s at home in California or while studying in New York.

“My community has been a prerogative since I was young, and this seems like a natural progression moving from a small town to a bigger city,” Geib said.

Geib’s actions are strongly based on his beliefs about education. He believes the college experience should not be based solely in academics, because there are many opportunities to branch out and do things on your own.

“They should be doing projects, doing things outside of their coursework,” Geib said. “I don’t believe anyone over there should have a 4.0. If students spend all their time only studying, they’ll become good engineers, but they’re going to become good engineers anyway. Why not spend your time doing something that can help you get a better job?”

Despite this deep commitment to improving the world around him, Geib still manages to study, spend time with friends and catch up on his main hobby: reading fantasy.

“Fantasy is my thing. Medieval fantasy, I read constantly,” Geib said. “The one elective I’m taking is going to be a fantasy writing course, because it’s a writing-intensive [elective].”

But in spite of Geib’s seemingly indefatigable drive to mold the world around his vision, Fayard said his passion for change is tempered by a strong grounding in reality.

“His earnestness is a mix of passion for what he believes in but with always a pragmatist perspective,” Fayard said.

Geib is quick to disagree with the assertion that he’s too idealistic.

“They might think it, but they’ve never said it,” said Geib. “And if they did, I’d tell them they’re wrong.”

By TOMMY COLLISON Opinion Editor

Staff photo by Felipe De La Hoz

ROBERT Jackson

“Stay awake on what is your calling and your path.

Acknowledge your gifts and your talents and use those to your advantage.”

T

isch senior Robert Jackson believes acting is an agent of change. He has sought to use his own story to give voices to members of the black and Latino communities he identifies with.

“The reason I’m an actor is because I have this passion for the art of storytelling, to take a life that goes untold,” Jackson said. “Stimulating current events on stage or on film to capture the narratives that go untold, I realize I’m a vessel.”

Jackson stands confidently in front of fresh faces in the Kimmel Center for University Life and defines the term “paideia.” Defined as the “rearing and education of the ideal member of a society,” the word is the name of Jackson’s organization, committed to the empowerment of young black and Latino men in New York City.

By incorporating minors in sociology and public policy

Staff photo by Jake Quan

and management, Jackson has established the Paideia Program as an extension of what he had learned abroad back to the city.

“It is possible for you to come from a low-income community as a black or Latino male who had all odds against them, to realize you are capable of more than you even see,” Jackson said. “And I’m going to show you the potential, I’m going to show you the resources that are abundant in my life currently that you didn’t even know existed.”

In a Title I school in Houston where more than 90 percent of the students relied on free and reduced-price lunches, Jackson only learned of NYU through a high school teacher’s recommendation.

But Jackson took a leap of faith and committed to four years at NYU. The decision signified several milestones, as he was the first in his family to attend college, the first to go out of state and the first to go to New York.

“For me, it was like, ‘Here we go.

Time to make it,’” Jackson said. “Ever since then, I’ve been trying to push

going towards my goals. And at first I thought I knew what goals were, and then as I got older I realized that I didn’t know.”

Initially driven by a zeal to try everything, Jackson gradually focused on specific passions to hone a deeper expertise.

Following the required two years in primary Tisch studio training, Jackson studied in both London and Amsterdam. It was in London that Jackson realized how to mold acting into his own craft.

During Jackson’s first years at NYU, the representation of the black and Latino communities was close to nonexistent. As part of groups on campus such as the Collective, a Tisch support group for artists of color, Jackson and fellow students have pushed the dialogue for diversity among all students of color.

“There’s been an evolution of conversation on what diversity means at NYU,” Jackson said. “I love the fact that I can walk into a dining hall, a residence hall or a resource building and not know every person

of color. It was so small back then that we had to all come together to say we have to make it. But now the conversation is about how can we make everyone feel comfortable as a student at NYU.” Jackson is just as committed to being supportive of his friends.

Best friend and fellow Tisch senior Alana Bowers recounts their time studying abroad in Madrid, when Jackson supported her development of an educational curriculum meant to create safe spaces at all of the NYU global programs.

“He truly learned in Madrid to really support me, specifically being that number one fan and allowing me to know that no matter how busy and overwhelmed he may be, he will always be there for mesupportive.”

As for the future, Jackson’s ultimate goal to establish his own theater company is only a minute part of his mantra to always instill consciousness both in mind and action. By balancing six jobs including babysitting and Academics Committee Chair of the Academic Achievement Program, Jackson is

confident that his current schedule is a stepping stone to his project.

“Hashtag stay woke,” Jackson said.

“Stay awake on what is your calling and your path. Acknowledge your gifts and your talents and use those to your advantage, as well as stay awake on current events and on how you feel.”

A few years back as part of the Disney Dreamers Academy, a mentoring program for aspiring artists, Jackson had been challenged by media figure Steve Harvey to write down 500 goals in a notebook.

What had been a part of Jackson’s own experience as a mentee, now each Paideia mentee in the room was handed a notebook. With reversed roles, Jackson challenged the current mentees of the Paideia Program to do the same.

“Once you mentees have the goals as part of your subconscious, they are going to happen,” Jackson said. “When you speak goals into existence, they will come to life.”

By NINA JANG Features Editor

SANA Mayat

T

he students of the University of Missouri protested on Nov. 9 over the lack of response addressing racism on campus. As a result, their president resigned.

One week later, NYU President John Sexton organized a Diversity and Inclusiveness Forum at the Coles Sports Center to address cases of racial inequality — a forum for listening.

CAS junior Sana Mayat has had enough with listening.

Mayat strode up to the microphone to address the student body. Facing the rows of professors and students, she gave a brief glance at her phone and began.

“My name is Sana,” Mayat said.

“I look up and I speak to people who don’t look like me,” she said, voice ringing. “I sit in classrooms with professors who don’t even remotely look like me. I can’t even imagine myself in high positions because I’ve never seen people that look like me being there.”

CAS senior Shanjida Chowdhury,

“But after I started wearing the hijab, knowing how people see Muslims and knowing I was a visible Muslim made me want to speak out more.” who attended the forum and has known Mayat since middle school, was proud of the way Mayat commanded the audience.

“She gave a voice to all of us, but in the most beautiful way possible,” Chowdhury said. “I’m grateful for that. In middle school, we already knew she had an innate ability to command audiences and make the room look at her and not think about anything else.”

Growing up in Long Island and Westchester, New York, Mayat is particularly astute of racism in the school setting. In Long Island, she enjoyed an education with relatively liberal classmates and peers. When Mayat moved to Westchester her junior year of high school, she was one of few Muslims in a conservative community.

“People in my old school were more open than in my own school,” Mayat said. “There were these sentiments, these very conservative ideas that were coming from peers, not just teachers. At my old school, I heard it from teachers, but I never heard it from peers. I was so caught off-guard.”

When Mayat chose to attend NYU,

she had high hopes for the promises of diversity and cultural awareness that both city and university boasted. She joined the Muslim Students Association, finding a home in the Islamic Center but feeling slightly disoriented everywhere else. For one thing, she started out as a computer science major. Mayat now plans to double major in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and Politics.

She strengthened her new curriculum with an internship at the Brooklyn Defenders and Brooklyn District Attorney’s office over the summer before sophomore year.

After seeing both sides, she decided she would prefer to be a defender.

It was also that summer that Mayat chose to start wearing a hijab.

“Did I want being Muslim to be the first thing you knew about me?” Mayat asked. “I was insecure.

I didn’t know if I was ready. But after I started wearing the hijab, knowing how people see Muslims and knowing I was a visible Muslim made me want to speak out more.”

This December, Mayat created

her own Multiple Identities Series program at CMEP called “Wearing the Hijab: Faith, Fashion and Feminism.”

Mayat’s program strives to empower and inform a woman’s choice to wear the hijab.

Associate Director of CMEP Selima Jumarali believes this event introduces new narratives to the discussion of diversity on campus.

“Her bringing her own identity into the space,” Jumarali said, “her knowledge and connections to her community based on her background and her experiences has brought increased diversity, representation and intersectionality into our programming series.”

Mayat’s hijab and her decision to wear it is a driving force behind her advocacy on campus. But her choice to wear it was a personal decision first, a platform for advocacy second.

“It was a lot of spiritual growth,” Mayat said. “Just me being closer, feeling a lot more connected to God because I felt good about being Muslim. Khalid was a big part of it.”

Khalid Latif is the university’s chaplain. Latif has watched Mayat

find her voice since she joined the MSA freshman year.

“You can see who she’s been as a freshman to where she’s at now as a junior that there’s been a lot of different growth,” Latif said.

“How you can really understand it as tangible growth is that she’s helping other people to grow. She makes contagious ideas about being selfless and giving while really energizing people in certain ways.”

But while she enjoys working on these issues at NYU, what makes Mayat happiest is seeing the impact of her work back home in Westchester.

“My little sister is in middle school and she’s been growing up in Westchester,” she said. “The kids in her class will say racist things about Muslims, but she speaks up. She’s 12. Me and my twin sister, we talk about race and Islamophobia all the time. And she’s always listening. And from listening, she speaks up.” Mayat shook her head and smiled. “It’s so impressive.”

By AUDREY DENG Arts Editor

Staff photos by Anna Letson

MANSI Prakash

B

eing named one of the Top 10 College Women in the United States by Glamour Magazine has the potential to go to someone’s head. When you ask CAS senior Mansi Prakash about it, though, she smiles and blushes.

“Every time someone mentions that I want to crawl under the table,” Prakash said.

The cause of her embarrassment is Brighter Today, a nonprofit organization she founded in March 2014 that partners with Philips Lighting to distribute inexpensive, energy efficient light bulbs to impoverished villages in India.

Brighter Today has now distributed over 500 CFL bulbs in India, serving 5,400 people, and it’s still expanding. After attending the Clinton Global Initiative University Conference and starting a fellowship with the mentorship group Resolution Project, Prakash has established funding resources and connections that are allowing Brighter Today to expand into Ghana and other African countries in the near future. She also received $20,000 in additional funding from her Glamour Magazine award.

Prakash was born in India but moved around because of her father’s job as a transportation engineer. After living in India and Bangladesh, her family settled in the Philippines where Prakash stayed until her high school graduation. Growing up in three different countries, Prakash observed firsthand the hardships of living in an impoverished community.

“The poverty here [in the United States] is very different from the poverty there,” Prakash said. “You see it with your eyes, growing up you see it every day so it grew normal to me. People here weren’t aware of that, when I’d have conversations with people, they’d be very surprised.”

In 2010, Prakash installed CFL light bulbs in 12 households in Behlana Village, India. When she came to NYU she wanted to take this initial idea further, using her new resources and connections to make a social impact on her home country India. Four years later, she found that 80 percent of the village was still using her light bulbs.

“The families who used it were saving a lot of money, and they were telling people who lived around them, their family members,” Prakash said. “It became a spillover effect, because the bulbs save 80 percent of the electricity bill and can be used for a longer time.”

Now, Prakash takes trips every winter and summer

Staff photo by Hannah Shulman

break to the villages where the light bulbs have been installed. The long-term effects can’t be measured yet, but on her visits Prakash hears stories that exemplify why she founded the organization and keep her motivated.

“A lot of kids did not have any light to read or write to do their homework, they would use the street lamps or candles,” Prakash said. “What I noticed when I went back was that people remembered me. They would say things like ‘Now my child can do their homework properly and can go to college, we can improve our standard of living.’”

Prakash is the first person to say that she could not have done this all alone. It’s through the partnerships she’s built at NYU and Philips, along with those in India, that she’s been able to turn her idea into reality.

“Brighter Today was Mansi’s brainchild, but she has no ego about it,” said Helen Goldberg, her primary mentor at the Resolution Project. “Mansi is always widening the tent — she is hungry for partners, advisers, supporters, because she knows together they’re more effective than she can be alone.”

Prakash’s easygoing yet driven nature makes her approachable. Her peers know that they can use her as a sounding board for ideas.

“With Mansi’s success, down-to-earth personality and willingness to support others, she is a student that inspires those around her each and every day,” said Samir Goel, another fellow in the Resolution Project. “Her impact spreads far beyond the campus.”

Even with all her impressive achievements, Prakash is more likely to discuss her favorite TV show “Friends” or her impressive baking skills than her accomplishments with Brighter Today.

“She holds herself at the same level as all her peers and will rarely talk about her accomplishments without prodding.” Goel said. “Many people achieve success, but few are able to do so while remaining true to themselves the way Mansi has.”

After she graduates, Prakash plans to expand Brighter Today to Ghana with Clean Water for Everyone, a nonprofit that provides access to clean water. She is also developing a portable solar-powered device that can provide light for people who do not have access to electricity.

“Something as simple as a bulb can make someone’s life completely different,” Prakash said.

By ZACH MARTIN Film Editor

“The poverty here is very different from the poverty there.

You see it with your eyes, growing up you see it every day so it grew normal to me.”

HALEY Quinn

T

Staff photo by Mathilde Van Tulder

“The idea that people should have a voice in the workplace was really important.

ucked away in the back corner of the seventh-floor Kimmel Lounge, you’ll find CAS senior Haley Quinn creating her own makeshift office: one chair as a desk, one as a seat. Her phone is muted on conference call so it won’t pick up the intrusive sounds of students and her is computer open to her Gmail account, which she uses for both notes and reminders. Her tote bag is marked in large lettering that reads “Pay Your Interns.” It’s far from what you might expect of the 21-year-old who has already been dubbed by the Atlantic as “one of the more remarkable examples of organizing among Millennials.”

Quinn first gained recognition in the summer of 2014 when she and five other interns at the American Federation of Teachers moved to unionize with the Office of Professional Employees International Union.

“At AFT the internship was nice,” Quinn said. “But we knew that internships in general really do suck.

A lot of people don’t get paid. A lot of people are really exploited. So we thought that if we organized in a workplace that was already pretty friendly, then also we could have a contract and a clear list of demands to bring into other workplaces to show what an internship should look like.”

Once they had the backing of OPEIU’s president, they began the process. Their first step was a card drive — getting signatures on physical cards from prospective union members. By the end of July, the organizing committee had gotten signatures from all but one or two interns.

They were told by the AFT Chief of Staff that it might be better to go to a formal election, to make sure that all interns, new and old, were still on board.

By this time, Quinn and her fellow interns’ time at AFT was coming to an end for the summer. And because Quinn went abroad to NYU London in the fall, the union by necessity got put on the back burner “I was trying to still keep in touch while I was in London, and I was really set on this happening,” Quinn said. “So for the spring semester, I went to NYUDC, so I could go back and finish what we started.”

Quinn was the only member left of the original six organizing interns, so when she arrived in D.C. in the spring, she had a lot of rebuilding to do. At the end of May, the AFT interns went to election and finally realized their goal.

“It was a big deal for us that

interns now had a voice at the table,” Quinn said.

The movement sparked a Huffington Post article that suddenly made her name recognizable among labor movement circles around the country.

But Quinn was still only 20, with a full year of college in front of her.

She returned to NYU in the fall and became more involved in the Student Labor Action Movement, where she now holds positions on their coordinating and action committees.

Quinn helped organize actions like SLAM’s Fight For $15 rally in Washington Square Park. She juggles her SLAM responsibilities and academic requirements with her job at AFT, which promptly hired her after her internship was over to continue putting together strategically researched worker wage profiles. But she’s done all this without flaunting her experience in others’ faces.

“She’s a leader in that she allows other people to lead,” said Gallatin junior Katie Shane, a fellow coordinating committee member.

“You can’t be a good leader until you know how to be a good follower, and she does a really good job of that.”

It has been part of Quinn’s mission for SLAM to continue fighting for those who don’t usually have a voice.

LS freshman Donna Gary, who serves on SLAM’s action committee, has only known Quinn for one semester, but has already gained an understanding of her empathy and drive.

“She gets really serious when we’re making sure that women of color have a voice, women in general have a voice,” Gary said. “I felt like I had input, even though I didn’t know what I was doing.

I’ve been to different clubs and I’ve never really met someone like that in a leadership position.”

Quinn, a political science major, is now in the dreaded semester before graduation. She’s ready for the professional world, even if she’s not entirely sure where she’ll land within it.

“The original plan coming into college was that I was going to be a politics major and go to law school, but that’s not happening,” Quinn said.

“That’s the only scandal I’ve ever caused in my family.”

Quinn hopes to land somewhere near D.C. — this time long enough to establish permanent residency.

Though she has spent years fighting for others’ wages, what she’s most excited for after she graduates is earning enough for herself and Comrade, her future Cavalier King Charles spaniel.

“This is my plan, I just need someone to hire me.”

By BOBBY WAGNER Sports Editor

A LY X S t e a d m a n

Staff photos by Hannah Shulman

“There’s a big part of social work about building coalitions and working with intersectionality. If one group is socially oppressed, then we’re all here for that.”

A

s she strokes her padded hips and strikes a killer pose, NYU’s reigning drag queen Lilith slays the stages of Brooklyn nightclubs, schooling the masses on queer culture with every carefully lip-synched word. This bad bitch is Silver senior Alyx Steadman expressing himself and raising social awareness through one of the many facets of his extensive college career.

Raised in the small town of Hamilton, Montana, Steadman’s early life deeply influenced the path he now pursues. After coming out as gay in fifth grade, he found reason to work for those in need as he, like many, felt ostracized. Finding this purpose in high school, Steadman became a passionate ambassador for the Trevor Project, a renowned national organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth.

“I got involved with the Trevor

Project and advocacy, and I could turn this possible shame and otherness into something positive,” Steadman said.

Since then, he has continued to be an outspoken voice for LGBTQ issues.

On June 24, 2014, Steadman spoke as the Trevor Project’s moderator at the 45th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots commemoration along with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power. Posing questions about the future progress and aspirations of the LGBTQ movement to the panel of speakers, Steadman spoke with his usual confidence while simultaneously cracking jokes.

“He has an organic, natural sense of humor that I just love,” said Aisha Khan, Lafayette Hall Faculty Fellow in Residence. “It makes the residents feel like he’s a peer, and it puts everyone at ease.”

Steadman’s approachable nature is complementary to his role as Resident Assistant at Lafayette Residence Hall. As head of the Rainbow Roster explorations floor,

Steadman worked with Khan and a fellow RA to plan educational and innovative programs centered around raising awareness for LGBTQ issues.

This outgoing quality extends into Steadman’s personal relationships which are of utmost importance to him. This is something Gallatin junior Josy Jablons notes, saying that from day one of working together as Admissions Ambassadors she has admired his genuine spirit.

“I can describe Alyx in two words: resilient and loyal,” Jablons said.

“When Alyx makes a commitment, he stands by it — especially when that commitment is you.”

This unfleeting devotion to others is something Steadman actively promotes and practices in his position as an RA. During the sixth season of television series “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Steadman organized and hosted weekly viewing parties while leading conversation on the larger implications of issues surrounding sex, gender, race and class that are an inevitable part of queer media.

“I don’t want to just limit myself

to LGBT causes,” Steadman said.

“There’s a big part of social work about building coalitions and working with intersectionality. If one group is socially oppressed than we’re all here for that.”

A love of educating and facilitating discussion brought Steadman to Ghana during his sophomore year, where he worked for the West Africa AIDS Foundation before returning to New York as a junior, serving as president of the undergraduate student body at the Silver School of Social Work. Now an intern for the Hetrick-Martin Institute, Steadman fosters safe spaces for homeless LGBTQ youth.

From holding sex-positive group discussions to monthly kikis — festive pre-ball parties in the style of the ’80s drag culture documentary “Paris is Burning” — Steadman has found a particularly energetic force in the work he does with the youth.

“I always think about [the kikis] as like an art form that these youth have in conjunction to my

experience in the Brooklyn queer scene and the differences of access that I’ve experienced there, so I just love it,” Steadman said. “I feel very privileged to be part of that sphere.”

Much like the tongue-incheek pop stars Lilith emulates, Steadman will continue to use his wits, tits and heart to educate others and form a more positive world. Even though he isn’t entirely sure of his exact plans immediately following graduation this May, his thirst for social justice perseveres, reminding him to give back in all he does.

“I’m always having in the back of my mind how can I give back to the communities from which I came and gave me opportunities to be where I am now,” Steadman said. “I feel this responsibility to educate people because I’m their only queer outlet, so if I don’t do it, who’s gonna do it?”

By DAVID BOLOGNA Beauty & Style Editor

NINA Vizcarrondo

V

“Why aren’t we as unified? We get so caught up transitioning to the civilian life that we forget about it, about the support that we have for each other.”

olunteers at the St. George Greenmarket gathered on a chilly Saturday morning in Staten Island are hard at work. They were distributing electronic benefit and SNAP cards for eligible customers to buy fresh produce. Most would be frazzled by the kitchen’s set up — camping stoves are precariously placed on plastic tables, and the recipes are only created once vendors and farmers arrive to the market with potential ingredients. Steinhardt senior Nina Vizcarrondo is at ease chopping fruits and vegetables in the chaotic environment, something she said she learned to do while serving in the U.S. Coast Guard.

“I just go with the flow,” Vizcarrondo said. “I think that’s something I learned in the military — I just adapt.”

Before coming to NYU to study food and nutrition, Vizcarrondo was a food service specialist with the Coast Guard from 2010 to 2013. During her time as a Coast Guardsman she traveled to places including Alaska, California and Central America — where she met her husband. Now honorably discharged, Vizcarrondo is the president of the NYU Military Alliance, as well as a fulltime student, wife and mother.

Vizcarrondo said she is grateful for the opportunity to experience other cultures through her service, something that inspired her interest in food security and economics in other countries. She also said her time serving among her shipmates taught her the importance of versatility and unity.

“When we’re deployed, we depend on each other for survival,” Vizcarrondo said. “We depend on each other, because who’s gonna save us? We’re in the middle of the ocean.”

Vizcarrondo’s passion for food and service with the Coast Guard translated easily on campus. She focuses her studies of food security and insecurity among U.S. veterans and in the Military Alliance by fostering a community for the hundreds of veteran and military students at NYU. “The best thing I learned in the military was unity,” Vizcarrondo said. “Why aren’t we as unified? We get so caught up transitioning to the civilian life that we forget about it, about the support that we have for each other.”

This past November, Vizcarrondo helped organize NYU’s first ever Military & Veterans Appreciation Week, to create a space to honor those at NYU who have served

and are serving. Student Resource Center assistant director Rollie Carencia, who oversees graduate student, military and veteran student populations, commended Vizcarrando’s leadership skills in creating a dialogue about these students.

“Coming into this position and really assessing what programs and resources are available for military/ veteran students and kind of seeing what NYU does in the spectrum of different activities and week-long celebrations, I didn’t see one for mil/vet, which was very interesting. ” Carencia said. “I just threw it out there. ‘I wonder what you think, what if we do a military veterans appreciation week,’ and I remember seeing Nina’s face lit up. And she was like, ‘Why haven’t we done it before?’”

Wagner student Pamela Campos, a U.S. Air Force veteran, said Vizcarrondo’s efforts have helped to shape and unify the veteran community.

“I’ve seen visibility for veterans expand at a universitywide level, and I attribute that to Nina and those who support her,” Campos said.

On top of all of her responsibilities at school, her internship , volunteer hours and the Military Alliance, Vizcarrondo also commutes, taking a bus from Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, every morning to class and coming home to tuck in her 3-year-old son Carter at night.

“I feel so guilty, you know?” Vizcarrondo said. “I feel like I’m not balancing it right. It’s hard. I’m sure in January, when we don’t have school, I’m gonna feel guilty that I’m not at school or working. And when I’m at school I feel guilty that I’m not at home.”

Still, those who have worked with Vizcarrondo attest to her ability to balance her home and professional life.

“Nina is just one that takes on and takes on,” Carencia said. “She puts people before herself.”

Vizcarrondo hopes to pursue a Masters degree in either food policy or food economics. Because her husband is still an active Coast Guardsman, she does not yet know where her family will move next, or where she’ll attend graduate school. But as she finishes her senior year, one of her main goals is to continue fostering community for veterans at NYU. “Thanks to the military I got to travel and witness how other cultures live,” Vizcarrondo said. “I’m hoping to inspire the new coming generation of veterans to keep this [Military Alliance] going.”

By ANNE CRUZ Copy Chief

Staff photos by Polina Buchak

D A R R E N Ye e

I

n a mob of voracious students hovering over food preparation stands and waiting for their cheeseburgers and chicken salads, one student stands out from the pack. Tandon senior Darren Yee is laser-focused on weaving through the hungry crowd of engineering students so he can get back to work.

He quickly snatches a wrap before rushing off to his first meeting of the day. His team of engineers is designing a system of transportation that will move at the speed of sound. Just like their project, they’re on a fast track.

Efficiency is one of Yee’s strong suits — he recently cut his Rubik’s cube solving time down to 26 seconds.

With his naturally speedy pace, Yee manages to balance his academic duties, spend hours volunteering and interning at FC Modular.

Growing up, Yee’s mother encouraged him to take an acting class during his sophomore year of high school sparking a lasting passion for theater and film.

“While in high school, I directed two productions,” Yee said. “I even got a laugh out of Michelle Pfeiffer, who was the mother of one of the students.”

Yee has been featured in several hit shows and movies but said his most memorable moment was being cast as one of Bane’s henchmen in “The Dark Knight Rises.”

“Being a huge Christopher Nolan fan, I was ecstatic when I got this opportunity,” Yee said. “Producers were looking for people with a martial arts background for the Wall Street brawl scene and I was chosen. It was one of my greatest experiences in college.”

When he’s not breaking box offices in Christopher Nolan films, Yee is a Mateline Intern at FC Modular, a revolutionary construction company that builds high rises by attaching preconstructed room pods. Yee helps with onsite assignments at the Barclays Center, connecting the electrical and plumbing systems to each pod.

However, Yee’s greatest passion lies in designing projects of his own. Yee leads NYU’s Hyperloop team, Slate, which is a group of Tandon’s brightest minds working to create a hyper speed transportation system in California. The team is taking part in a competition challenging university students to design a pod in a vacuum tube that will move at 767 mph.

Staff photo by Jake Quan

“More than 700 teams submitted preliminary applications to enter the competition,” Yee said.

“But we’ve already made it to the second round of presentations, and I’m confident our team will surpass the others in creating the next mode of transportation.”

Associate Dean of Tandon Undergraduate Academics Iraj Kalkhoran considers Yee quite an impressive young man. The pair met this past August when Kalkhoran put out a call for students to participate in the Hyperloop Project. Yee, true to form, was the first student to respond and immediately assembled a team of students to work on the project.

“It is obvious that he is a natural leader,” Kalkhoran said. “Even though this project is purely on a volunteer basis, Darren is dedicated to it and makes it a priority.”

Yee’s long-time friend and current roommate Chris Lysiuk said Darren is the kind of person that has 10 different things going on at once but is able to keep his calm and collected composure, making him an effective leader.

“His ability as a leader has brought students together to better the lives of those less fortunate and create opportunities that allow his peers to succeed,” Lysiuk said.

Yee also founded the NYU Chapter of Engineers Without Borders during his freshman year. Yee was the project leader for campaigns in El Salvador and Kenya, where he designed water sources and filtration systems.

“EWB has provided me with hands-on experience,” Yee said. “It teaches students that real-world needs can be solved with engineering.”

Yee believes many problems impacting developing countries can be solved with compassionate engineering and the right organization with the right goals. After college, he wants to help solve the world’s energy crisis and reducing the need for oil- and gas-based energy systems.

“I think the point of it all is to contribute,” Yee said.

“People are all capable of doing amazing things. I think it’s important to find a spirit of innovation within you and work toward finding ways to give others the same opportunities and freedoms we have in America.”

By LEXI FAUNCE Deputy News Editor

“People are all capable of doing amazing things.”

CONTRIBUTORS: Writers: Alex Bazeley David Bologna Tommy Collison Anne Cruz Audrey Deng Lexi Faunce Grace Halio Nina Jang Zach Martin Bobby Wagner Photographers: Polina Buchak Felipe De La Hoz Calvin Falk Christian Forte Anna Letson Shawn Paik Jake Quan Hannah Shulman Mathilde Van Tulder Advertising: Ariana DiValentino Emma Howcroft Kaleel Munroe

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