GYPA Alumni

GYPA is privileged to work with some of the country's most talented, creative, impassioned, motivated, and intelligent young leaders. Their efforts to support the people of Africa is trailblazing a vanguard of global citizens that are creating positive change in domestic and international fields.

GYPA alumni return home from their experiences in Africa endowed with newfound insight and passion. Below is a list of the exciting things that some of GYPA's former Student Global Ambassadors are doing now. Will you be next? Join our movement of Student Global Ambassadors and connect with the youth of Africa!

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Alumni Database

Jaime Alvis
Inaugural Global Kimeeza, January 2006
Jaime is currently in graduate school and interning with Search for Common Ground, traveling throughout Africa to research their programs for children and youth.  Jaime attends the School of International Service at American University in Washington, DC, studying International Peace and Conflict Resolution, and plans to graduate in May.

Cecily Brewer
Inaugural Global Kimeeza, January 2006
Cecily obtained her BA from Amherst College in 2002 and is currently in graduate school at Johns Hopkins (SAIS), focusing in Conflict Management, International Economics, and Africa. She hopes to return to Africa to pursue an internship in conflict management this summer.

Halle Butvin
Uganda Immersion, June 2006
Kimeeza II, January 2007 (staff)
Upon returning to the US, Halle became more passionately involved in East African and Ugandan issues and applied for a Fulbright in the area.  She continues work at American Institutes for Research in Washington, DC, where she is the financial manager for a domestic education program.  Halle holds a BA in Spanish and International Studies and a Masters in Urban Planning from the Ohio State University.  She was thrilled to return to Uganda to co-lead GYPA's Global Kimeeza II in January 2007.

Charmagne Campbell-Patton
Inaugural Global Kimeeza, January 2006
Charmagne graduated with a BA in Political Science from Grinnell College in May 2003 and is currently a graduate student in the International Peace and Conflict Resolution Program at American University. She is also working as a consultant for the Initiative for Inclusive Security and is helping to develop its training curriculum for female peace-builders in the areas of governance, post-conflict reconstruction and transitional justice, among other topics.  After she graduates from American in May 2007, Charmagne plans to continue her work promoting gender mainstreaming in peace and security operations in Africa as well as global awareness among youth in the US concerning Africa-related issues.

Cecily David
Global Kimeeza II, January 2007
Cecily is a senior at Berkeley University majoring in Social Welfare and minoring in African-American Studies. She plans to return to Uganda after graduation. After returning from the second Global Kimeeza, she organized SLAM AIDS on her campus.

Wes Farrow
Inaugural Global Kimeeza, January 2006
Wes is presently teaching high school special education mathematics at Locke High School in South Central Los Angeles through Teach for America. Wes is also working towards a Masters degree in Education with a specialization in Special Needs Students through California State University at Dominguez Hills. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a double major in Economics and Psychology. Wes plans on teaching for the near future (at least two years) in Los Angeles. Wes will then explore opportunities to take his experiences in education to other countries, particularly those where educational systems are not well-established.

Neela Ghoshal
PNZB, January 2005
Neela completed a BA at the University of Michigan in 1999 and is now pursuing an MA in International Relations at Yale, with a focus on civil conflict and transitional justice.   Neela's plans after graduation may involve returning to East/Central Africa or working with a U.S.-based NGO on conflict resolution and post-conflict reconciliation.

Allison Goldberg
PNZB, June-August 2004
Since graduating from the University of Michigan Political Science Honors Program in 2005, Allison has been working as a Research Assistant at Abt Associates, Inc. in Washington, DC, one of the largest for-profit government and business research consulting firms in the world.  In the next two years, Allison hopes to pursue a doctoral degree in Public Health, which will give her the opportunity to expand on the orphan crisis research she conducted during her initial trip to Uganda.

Rebekah Heacock
Inaugural Global Kimeeza, January 2006
Kimeeza II, January 2007 (staff)
Rebekah moved to Kampala in September 2006 to work with several non-profit organizations. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Kansas with a BA in Slavic Languages and Literatures and plans to focus her graduate studies on economic development and international security in Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Chris LaFond
PNZB, July-August 2003 & May-August 2005
Inaugural Global Kimeeza, January 2006
Chris graduated in 2004 from the University of Michigan with a BS in Biology and in 2006 with a MPH in Global Health. He is currently an M1 studying International Health at the Ben Gurion University for the first three years of medical school, and will finish rotations at the Columbia University Medical School with a three-month clerkship in the developing world, most likely in Vietnam. He plans to return to Uganda in July and August of 2007 for eight weeks to establish the Uganda Vaccine Research Initiative. This is primarily for the development of a vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease, as well as a serosurvey for hemorrhagic fevers.

Corey LaPlante
PNZB, January 2005
Corey is currently pursuing undergraduate studies at the University of Maryland and will graduate in May 2008. After graduation, Corey plans to study International and Human Rights Law.

Sarah McCall
Inaugural Global Kimeeza, January 2006
Since the Kimeeza Sarah has been working towards her diploma from the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) and will be graduating in May 2007 with a BA in Women & Gender Studies, a Minor in Business Administration, and a Certificate in the Study & Practice of Leadership. The Global Kimeeza and her time spent with the BeadforLife organization and women in Kampala inspired Sarah to continue her work focusing on Uganda in Boulder. During her last few semesters Sarah teamed up with BeadforLife, the non-profit organization in Boulder, and started a student chapter of BeadforLife at CU. She co-organized the Boulder GuluWalk with her co-director of BFL: CU Student Chapter. The Boulder GuluWalk was highly successful with about 120 walkers and participants and donors collectively raising about $5,000 for the children of Uganda. The student group continues to be a voice on campus for the people of Uganda and is constantly doing events, raising awareness about Uganda and selling beads. Upon graduation in May, Sarah has plans to return to Uganda and work with both BeadforLife and GYPA. Ultimately, Sarah would like to split her time between doing work in Uganda and elsewhere Africa, and running for public office and serving in the Colorado Legislature.

Jessica Nape
Inaugural Global Kimeeza, January 2006
Jessica traveled to Uganda with GYPA's Inaugural Global Kimeeza and would love to return to the country. She is currently working on a Master's Degree in International Studies via the Master's International Peace Corps program at the University of Wyoming.  Jessica will be serving in the Peace Corps as an agro-forester from January 2007-April 2009 in Madagascar.

Anna Phillips
Inaugural Global Kimeeza, January 2006
Girls Kick It!, June-November 2006
Anna is currently coordinating Girls Kick It!, GYPA's sports education and empowerment program for young women, and has just returned from six months in Uganda. Anna is studying at Haifa University and interning at a human trafficking prevention organization. She plans to graduate from the George Washington University and return to Gulu soon.

Reza Shabani
Uganda Immersion, June 2006
Reza graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz and is currently in the four-year PhD program in Economics at the University of California, Berkeley.

Julia Smith
Inaugural Global Kimeeza, January 2006 (staff)
In August 2005, Julia Smith found an internship with GYPA posted on Idealist.org. The following year was a whirlwind: she served as GYPA's liaison to PeaceXPeace, helped staff the Inaugural Global Kimeeza, and then landed a full-time job at Idealist.org. She continues to maintain relationships with friends she met in Kampala and Gulu and hopes to return soon. If you're interested in helping to support the Nagenda International Academy of Art and Design, Julia wants to hear from you!

Jordan Steiner
Inaugural Global Kimeeza, January 2006
Community Fellow, 2006
Jordan is currently pursuing a BA in International Peace and Conflict Studies with a focus on Development and Migration in Africa at University of California, Berkeley and will graduate in May 2007. Jordan is writing her honors thesis on the availability of psychosocial resources for refugees settling in the United States who have undergone torture and gender persecution. She hopes to join the Peace Corps in francophone Africa to teach English in July 2007.

Brandon Trapp
Inaugural Global Kimeeza, January 2006
Brandon is currently a senior in the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. After graduation in May 2007, Brandon will commission as a U.S. Army Infantry Officer.

Rebecca Wolf
PNZB, June 2004 & October 2005
Community Fellow, March 2006
Rebecca graduated with a BA in 2002 from Brandeis University and is a JD candidate at American University's Washington College of Law. Rebecca is also a Dean's Fellow at the War Crimes Research Office. She wishes to pursue a career in health law.

Pat Wu
PNZB, January 2005
Inaugural Global Kimeeza, January 2006
Pat graduated from University of Maryland, College Park in May 2006 and currently is applying to work with Playing for Peace in South Africa or as a teacher in the District of Columbia or Prince George's County school systems.