2020 Brunner Award Recipient ELANA ABRAMS
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
2020 Brunner Award Recipient ELANA ABRAMS ACLU Summer Internship Elana Abrams is currently a junior at Bronx Science and is dedicated to creating a more inclusive and accepting environment, whether that be in school or in her larger community. She is immersed in social activism and enjoys taking part in and facilitating dialogue. She is involved in a diverse array of activities in which she has taken on leadership roles. Elana is a part of Bronx Science’s student government, senate, national honors society, and speech and debate team and is the president of her youth group. She is an Anti-Defamation League certified peer trainer and a founding member of Bronx Science’s equity team. She was also a member of the National Organization for Women. She is creative and her desire to create has led to her passion for painting, playing the guitar, and writing. Elana is unafraid to speak her mind and enjoys discussing politics with people who have opposing views. This, coupled with her desire to create a more equitable society, has led to her involvement in politics, specifically through the ACLU National Advocacy Institute. Through her involvement with the ACLU, she hopes to learn more about the inner workings of professional social activists, politicians, and lawyers as well as create meaningful relationships with people who share her goals and aspirations. In the long term, Elana wants to have a role in politics through the fourth branch of government, as believed to be by Thomas Jefferson: the media. Elana will be attending ACLU’s Summer Intensive virtually, where she will work with lawyers, lobbyists and activists to gain real-world experience in social justice. 2020 Brunner Award Recipient SARAH AKTARI Khodakah Neuroscience Lab at Albert Einstein School of Medicine Sarah Aktari is a rising senior at The Bronx High School of Science. She is part of the biology research program, and she is very excited for the opportunity to be able to conduct research in a lab, with aid from the Brunner Awards and the Bronx Science Alumni Foundation. Last summer, she was mentored by grad students as she conducted research at a neuroscience based lab. At the lab, she realized that she wanted to pursue biology in college, and continue research in the future. This summer, Sarah hopes to learn more about the brain, continue developing lab skills, and also grow as a student. During her free time, Sarah likes to spend time with her family, play the guitar, and dance. Currently, she is spending the quarantine watching movies with her family, baking, and re- reading the Harry Potter series. She loves watching romantic comedies, Bollywood movies, and Disney movies. Her favorite Disney movies include The Lion King, Aladdin, and The Emperor’s New Groove. She can always be found jamming out to her favorite songs, “Mystery of Love” by Sufjan Stevens and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” from The Lion King. She also loves baking cinnamon rolls and cookies, even though she always makes way more than necessary. Sarah is excited for the following summer, and is excited to be volunteering at a lab. She is extremely grateful for the Brunner Awards and the Bronx Science Alumni Foundation for allowing her to pursue her dreams, and for giving her the opportunity to have an enriching summer. Sarah will be traveling to Khodakhah Neuroscience Laboratory at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she will volunteer at their research laboratory to help with her neuroscience research. 2020 Brunner Award Recipient SAMIRA BEGUM Northeastern E-Focus Chemistry Seminar My name is Samira Begum and I am a student at the Bronx High School of Science. My favorite subjects are chemistry and computer science, two fields I hope to major in when I go to college. I am currently trying to pursue research in these two areas in both fields of environmental science and drug research. Although I enjoy math and science, I also enjoy reading philosophy and learning about economics. A few of my hobbies outside of academics include long distance running, being a food conseguir, and exploring the big city of New York. In school, my favorite activities are my two extracurricular, the Bronx Science Speech and Debate team and being a part of the research program at my school. My favorite part of being a member of the Bronx Science community is the diversity in the student body and the broad field of intellectual study students at Bronx Science are able to take part in. I am also an intersectional feminist and I read a lot of feminist literature in my free time. Furthermore, I am also an environmental activist. I hope to use the knowledge I gain as a future scientist and future researcher to help prevent climate change from destroying our planet. Samira will be virtually attending Northwestern’s e-Focus Seminar, which will focus on Chemistry with Real World Applications with a focus on environmental science. 2020 Brunner Award Recipient GUY BLOOM UTNIF DEBATE CAMP Guy Bloom is a freshman at the Bronx High School of Science. He went to middle school at The School at Columbia University. He lives in both his mom’s and dad’s house, having three half-brothers at his dad’s house and three pets at his mom’s (two dogs, one cat). In his free time, he likes to play video games with his friends and watch TV with them. Though not interested in physical sports, he is very competitive when it comes to his high school policy debate career. If he did not get homework, most of the free time he would have would go to researching and reading literature for debate. He has participated in competitive debate since the sixth grade, though he much prefers the style he does in high school. His biggest achievement when it comes to his debate career is undoubtedly his performance at the Lakeland Westchester Classic, where he, along with his partner Nell Tov, made it to semifinals and were the first seed after preliminaries. He was the third highest ranked speaker in that tournament out of 80 debaters. Over the course of his high school career, he plans to have debate as his only extracurricular activity and pursue it to the fullest. That being said, he still takes his academic career very seriously and makes sure to have his priorities straight. Guy will be attending UTNIF Debate Camp virtually where he hopes to strengthen his debate skills for the Bronx Science Speech & Debate Team. 2020 Brunner Award Recipient SARAH CHAN Healthcare Provider Personal Protective Care Donations Sarah Chan is currently a junior at the Bronx High School of Science. Her three year journey so far has allowed her to meet new friends and teachers that have pushed her to pursue her interests. Her passions include traveling, volunteering in her community, and swimming. This summer, she was hoping to be a lifeguard at her neighborhood pool and volunteer at her community hospital, but her plans were all cancelled when the Coronavirus hit. Her everyday life changed so suddenly and now she is unable to see her peers and teachers anymore and has to adjust to remote learning. Being stuck at home in quarantine has encouraged her to learn something new every da. So far, she has learned how to cook, skateboard, and knit. However, she wanted to do something more to help with the crisis going on even if she couldn’t physically be out there saving lives. With the Brunner Award, she hopes to learn how to sew so that she can actively participate in the fight against this virus by producing masks for health care workers on the frontline. These workers put their lives at risk trying to save others and she believes that this is the best way for her to contribute to the effort. Sarah will be volunteering her time producing handmade Personal Protective Equipment for healthcare workers that are on the frontline of this pandemic. She hopes to be able to make scrub hats, as well as masks, with the equipment she was awarded. 2020 Brunner Award Recipient PHOENIX CHEN Cooper Union School of Arts Summer Art Summer Intensive Program My name is Phoenix Chen, and I am a current sophomore. I live in Queens, and have a kindergartener brother who is a handful. When teachers asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I had no ready answer. The only thing I liked doing was drawing video games, but ‘artist’ was too vague an answer. What did an ‘artist’ do? I wasn’t too concerned with it, but it bothered me. In middle school, I was exposed to the extent of what was considered the ‘visual arts’, ranging from design, animation, and architecture, among hundreds of other categories. I still didn’t know which direction to go, but it sounded like a good career path to explore. But sophomore year swept in like a wave. Juggling AP exams, studying, art and friends was stressful, and I found myself dry of inspiration. I took a break from art to organize myself, but it wasn’t until March that I could. This year, when the COVID-19 pandemic concentrated in NYC, it was disturbing to see what was happening so close to me in Queens. In March, I heard twice as many sirens going through my neighborhood than ever before. 2020 was supposed to be a year of new starts, but it seems to be only a bringer of chaos. But these events, I have found to be rich in inspiration. This flurry of change is worth documenting in my mind, in my own artwork.