Current Student and Alumni Profiles

Current Students

Summer Spotlight: Lily Feng W’26, C’26 Summer in Taiwan

Person on a bridge with mountains and a cloudy sky in the background.

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

Person taking a selfie with two candied fruit skewers.

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

Four people stand beside a large statue of a Matheus wine bottle on a grassy area, with a building and trees in the background.

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

Two people wearing bibs seated at a dining table with a platter of colorful food and drinks in a restaurant setting. A view of city buildings is visible through the windows.

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

A person in shorts and a dark shirt standing in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, with the Gate of Heavenly Peace in the background.

  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

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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

Student Profile: Senior Mariana Velasco

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Mariana is a senior from Mexico targeting Russian and concentrating in Business Economics & Public Policy, and Finance.  Tell us about your background. I was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, and I came to the US for my undergrad at Penn. All of my family is from Mexico, so I don’t have the most international background, ...Read More

Student Profile: Freshman Shriya Shah

A person with long black hair is smiling by a body of water, wearing a floral dress. The background features clear blue skies and autumn foliage.

Tell me about yourself. I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada but lived in India for a few years as well. I’ve always been an avid language learner, speaking Gujarati & Hindi at home as well as French throughout highschool, but am targeting German within Huntsman. I am pursuing the Graduate Certificate in Human Rights ...Read More

Student Profile: Junior Angelina Aileen

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By Mariana Velasco Angel is a junior targeting Chinese from Jakarta, Indonesia. Tell me more about your background. I grew up in Jakarta all of my life, and had been to the US a couple of times with my family. Found out about Huntsman through Kevin, he graduated from the program a couple years ago, he is ...Read More

Student Profile: French target Ariana Bedoya

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By Mariana Velasco Ariana is a freshman targeting French from Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Ariana is a Penn World Scholar Class of 2025. Where did the interest in business come from? I think it comes from my family and my childhood. My father is very much into business, our family has an insurance company, so I grew up ...Read More

Alumni

Muhammed Mekki

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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