Current Student and Alumni Profiles
Current Students
A Month in Lisbon
Student Reflection by Joaquina Mendive (C’27 W’27, Portuguese target) This summer, I was fortunate enough to study Portuguese in Lisbon, Portugal for four weeks. Through Huntsman summer funding, I enrolled in Lusa Language School while living in the city. It was a vast cultural experience, through which I not only reached a C1 level of proficiency ...Read More
Behind the Scenes
One of the Most Powerful Congressional Committees Student Reflection by Sarthak Shrestha (C’27 W’27, French target) This summer, I interned for the U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce in Washington, D.C., specifically within the Innovation, Data, and Commerce subcommittee. The committee’s jurisdiction spans a vast array of legislation, but my subcommittee concentrated on consumer protection, privacy, data ...Read More
Empowering Change Through Microfinance
Student Reflection by Gobhanu Korisepati (C’27 W’27, Hindi target) This summer, I had the profound opportunity to lead and expand the operations of SWIFTmfi, an initiative close to my heart aimed at Sustaining Women in Financial Turmoil. Based primarily in Muscat, Oman, and Chennai, India, I worked as the Executive Chairman of SWIFTmfi, coordinating our efforts ...Read More
Summer in Taiwan
Language Study in Taiwan Student Reflection by Kelly Yang (C’27 W’27, Mandarin target) This summer, I had the privilege of attending a 4-week intensive language immersion program at the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) in Taipei. My daily schedule consisted of 3 hours of small group Mandarin classes, supplemented by an hour of private verbal lessons from ...Read More
Summer Spotlight: Lily Feng W’26, C’26 Summer in Taiwan
My Summer in Taiwan I spent 6 weeks of the past summer in Taipei, Taiwan studying advanced mandarin with the National Taiwan University (NTU). What motivated me to seek out this summer experience was my strong interest in Chinese language and culture. I had been studying Mandarin for a few years and wanted to immerse myself ...Read More
Summer Spotlight: Jeslyn Li W’26, C’26 Summer in Beijing
My Summer in Beijing This summer, I was able to spend two months in Beijing—my dad’s hometown, but also a somewhat unfamiliar place that I’ve only heard about and never had the opportunity to explore. I was especially excited because this was my first time visiting China in six years and I’ll also be able to experience ...Read More
Summer Spotlight: Ignacio Felix-Padilla W’26, C’26 in Portugal with GRIP
Over the summer, I worked as an intern through GRIP. Specifically, I did the Wine Production in Porto program in Porto, Portugal. I worked as a Strategy and Innovation Intern within the Strategy team. I worked mostly with the Innovation division within the Strategy team and reported directly to the Head of Strategy and the Innovation ...Read More
Summer Spotlight: Yoonie Yang W’25, C’25 in South Korea
The Taboo Narrative of my Homeland – Taking off the rose-tinted glasses Sitting in the slightly dusty, but arguably cozy small room in the brick-and-mortar side building of South Korea’s National Hospital, I awkwardly tried to look at confident as possible. As part of my internship with Saejowi, an NGO based in Seoul, South Korea dedicated to ...Read More
Summer Spotlight: Joshua Frazier W’25, C’25 in China
International student high school friends: Liu Shitong (Fred) & Geng Taolun (Thomas) None of my family in North Carolina speaks Chinese. Neither do any of them even speak a second language apart from English. Four years ago I picked up Tuttle Basic Chinese from Barnes and Noble. I never thought venturing down this rabbit hole of ...Read More
Student Spotlight: Alejandra Soria Andrade
Time to Act! By: Alejandra Soria Andrade Alejandra Soria Andrade is a current Huntsman Student in the Class of 2025 and a Penn World Scholar. She recently traveled to Paris to participate in the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society and represented her home country Ecuador. If you’ve ever wondered how valuable it can be to go ...Read More
Alumni
Muhammed Mekki
Muhammed Mekki (C’05 W’05) Alumni Spotlight by Jeslyn Li (C’26 W’26) Huntsman alum Muhammed Mekki studied Arabic as his target language, concentrated in Management in Wharton, and also pursued an additional major in Political Science in the College (through which he met Professor Sil in his senior year). Muhammed’s career is full of twists and turns, with one ...Read More
Przem Macholak
Przem Macholak (C’19 W’19) Alumni Spotlight by Jeslyn Li (C’26 W’26) Przem Macholak is from Poland and was a part of the Huntsman Class of 2019, where he was a German target and concentrated in Business Economics and Public Policy (BEPP). During his time in the program, Przem made the most of the resources offered by Huntsman and ...Read More
Sean Rickter
Sean Rickter Class Year: 2016 Target Language: Japanese Current Role: MBA Candidate at Harvard Business School A Conversation with Sean Rickter (Huntsman 2016) By: Jeslyn Li '26 What did you study at Huntsman and when did you graduate? Hi, I’m Sean, a 2016 grad from Los Angeles. I was a Japanese...Read More
Daniel Cruz-Rosso
Daniel Cruz-Rosso Class Year: 2018 Target Language: Portuguese Current Role: Product Marketing Manager at Google A Conversation with Daniel Cruz-Rosso (Huntsman 2018) By: Iana Mitchev '25 Tell me about yourself and what you studied at the Huntsman Program. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and lived there for 18...Read More
Coral Chung
Coral Chung Class Year: 2006 Target Language: Mandarin Current Role: Founder and CEO of Senreve A Conversation with Coral Chung (Huntsman 2006) By: Jeslyn Li '26 Quick intro: What did you study at Huntsman and when did you graduate? I’m Coral. I focused on Mandarin in Huntsman and I graduated in...Read More
Esha Bansal
Esha Bansal Class Year: 2019 Target Language: Spanish Current Role: Completing MD/MPH degree at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Joining as a resident physician in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. A Conversation with Esha Bansal (Huntsman 2019) By: Nikita Manoj '26 What did...Read More
Jay Vaingankar
Jay Vaingankar Class Year: 2020 Target Language: Spanish Current Role: Office of Policy, Supporting Department of Energy in the White House A Conversation with Jay Vaingankar (Huntsman 2020) By: Defne Onguc '23 What did you study at Huntsman (Target Language and any minors if they had them) and when did...Read More
Fernando Szew
Fernando Szew Class Year: 1998 Target Language: Spanish Current Role: CEO, Fox Entertainment Global A Conversation with Fernando Szew (Huntsman 1998)* By: Jeslyn Li '26 Tell me about yourself. What did you study at Huntsman and when did you graduate? I’m Fernando Szew, I graduated from Huntsman in 1998. On...Read More
Annie Wasserman
Annie Wasserman Class Year: 2017 Target Language: French Current Role: Partner, Pareto Holdings A Conversation with Annie Wasserman By: Defne Onguc '23 What did you study at Huntsman (Target Language and any minors if they had them) and when did you graduate? My name is Annie Wasserman and I graduated...Read More
Julia Luscombe
Julia Luscombe Class Year: 2010 Target Language: French Current Role: VP Strategic Planning & Portfolio Management at Feeding America A Conversation with Julia Luscombe: The Journey from Social Impact at Huntsman to Addressing Hunger in the United States By: Shriya Shah '25 Tell me about yourself. My name is Julia...Read More