Student and Alumni News and Resources

Helena Brewer
Gulf Coast High School
Selected to attend EIL Ghana Internship: Contemporary Art and Culture
Summer 2024

An email on June 27, 2024 before leaving for Ghana

As someone who has participated in SWFLMUN every year of my high school experience, I wanted to share a quick story about the impact it has had on me, one which I most directly experienced last week. Your keynote speaker for SWFLMUN 2023, Hanna Nussair, spoke about her journey to working for the United Nations Foundation under Girl Up, where she was able to make a tangible impact on the lives of young women across the globe.

I had never heard of Girl Up prior to hearing Hanna's speech, was captivated by her mission, and ultimately decided to reach out. Hanna was an incredible resource in helping me start my own chapter of Girl Up at school and was very kind and assistive throughout the whole process. I regularly kept in touch with her throughout the school year. She was always open to Zoom calls and general communication about inquiries I had. Leading a chapter of Girl Up at Gulf Coast has certainly been a highlight of my high school career. It has opened outlets to myself, my club, and my school for community connection we would've never experienced before.

Towards the beginning of 2024, leadership positions at the national level of Girl Up opened -- about 30 regional positions and 10 national positions in an organization of over 10,000 girls. The positions were competitive against college students, which was a bit nerve-racking as a high school junior. I went through a rigorous application process writing nearly a dozen essays, video essays, and Zoom interviews, but because of how eager I was about the cause, I enjoyed it all. In March, I was notified that I had been awarded one of the 10 national positions.

Since then, I have spent the past several months working within Girl Up USA to develop a national voter registration campaign and summit. I just flew back from Los Angeles, where the UNF sponsored me to deliver a panel on the importance of democracy with several campaign managers on different social policy issues. As a youth advisor for Girl Up USA, I got to assist in putting this summit together and so much more. I made so many wonderful friendships and experiences in California, and have throughout my entire experience with Girl Up. The fact that all of this happened between the time when I first heard Hanna speaking at SWFLMUN 2023 and now, just 15 months later, feels surreal.

Without attending SWFLMUN, none of this would have ever happened. I wouldn't have met Hanna, known about Girl Up's mission, started my chapter, or been selected for a national board under the United Nations Foundation. The Naples Council on World Affairs has opened up doors for me I would have never known about. It has allowed me to experience direct engagement with the UN and experiential learning within issues I care about. I feel so grateful to be one of many students that the NCWA has made a tangible impact on. Thank you so much for your work in the student community, be it through MUN, debate, AWQ, and everything else under the broad umbrella of experiences you have provided us.

Attached is an image of Hanna and me, who were able to reconnect again from the East Coast to the West Coast.

All thanks to SWFLMUN 2023! Thank you for all that you do. I look forward to updating you on my experiences in Ghana!

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The Last Two of Five Bumstead Global Scholars Are Now in College!

The five Global Scholars in the Daniel D. Bumstead Global Scholars Program have now completed their high school careers and are pursuing their dreams in college.

The five students were Alexander Wilson of Seacrest Country Day School, now at George Washington University; Win Thant Hlaing of Gulf Coast High School, now at Yale University; Alexia Espinosa Vlad of Barron Collier High School, now at Georgetown University on a four-year full scholarship; Maria Rueda of Immokalee High School (below), now at Stanford University on a full four-year scholarship; and Anya Brenner of Community School of Naples (below), now at New York University.

All received certificates of completion, $5,000 and rich international relations experiences for their college applications.

Maria Rueda
Immokalee High School
Daniel D. Bumstead Global Scholar Program

While Maria prepared for college at Immokalee High School, she sharpened her skills at a third language -- Mandarin Chinese -- and subsequently introduced a NCWA distinguished lecturer in Mandarin. She has now graduated from high school, concluding her participation in the NCWA Global Scholar Program, and is attending Stanford University, where she received a full four-year scholarship. She received a certificate of completion from the NCWA program and $5,000.

The daughter of a farming family, she studied Mandarin at the Florida Virtual School in addition to her high school curriculum. She was a strong participant in a Great Decisions group and participated in Model UN teams in 2021 and again in 2023, when she was a member of the Most Improved Team. Maria discovered a passion for the connection of international affairs to human rights, migration and labor. Also among the proud moments in her journey, as she completed leadership development courses and other work, including earning an Associate of Arts degree while in high school, she bought her own laptop -- and was thrilled when she obtained her driver's license. 

Maria took rigorous coursework in high school and was a tutor for Guadalupe Center’s Tutor Corps Program, where she assisted elementary students with math, reading and writing homework and supervised young students.

She played on the Immokalee High School tennis team, representing the school at local and district level games, and served as a Student Council member. To download Maria's report from 2023, click here. For her final report about her experience throughout the Bumstead Program, click here.

Anya Brenner
Community School of Naples
and Daniel D. Bumstead Global Scholar Program
University of Oxford
And the University of St. Andrews in Scotland

Anya Brenner, a graduate of the Community School of Naples and one of NCWA's Daniel D. Bumstead Global Scholars Program graduates, was awarded a two-week scholarship to the University of Oxford in England to study international relations in the summer of 2022.

Since her return, she studied international relations at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and is now pursuing a major in international relations at New York University. She participated in a Great Decisions group, as well as other NCWA programs. While in high school, she volunteered for Legal Aid Society of Collier County, Golisano Children’s Museum, Harry Chapin Food Bank, Guadalupe Center Resale Store and Bonita Arts Center. She is conversational in Spanish and a beginner in German and was a member of Model United Nations, historical officer in HOSA, a member of Key Club, Wordsmiths and Spanish Conferencia, and was active in varsity softball and in taekwondo.

She received the 2020-21 Citizenship Award, was on the High Honor Roll, and received outstanding achievement awards in mathematics, world languages, and cultures and fine arts. She was nominated for Naples Daily News Athlete of the Week in softball. Click here to download her report about her study at Oxford in 2022. For her final report about her experience throughout the Bumstead Program, click here.

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Aarnav Sheth
NCWA's Representative to 2024 WACA Conference

Aarnav Sheth learns from Mark Walchak, chair of the School Outreach program, and Mimi Gregory, vice president of programs, that he has been selected to represent the Naples Council of World Affairs at the annual conference of the World Affairs Councils of America in Washington DC. The news calls for a selfie, of course!

Aarnav, who graduated from Gulf Coast High School is now a freshman at Princeton University. The trip to Washington was an all-expense-paid reward for his many achievements with NCWA.

Liam Casco
Gulf Coast High School graduate
Georgetown University scholarship

Liam was one of 25 Student Scholars who received an all-expense paid trip to attend the fall 2023 WACA conference in Washington DC, where he made a contact that he hopes may lead to a college internship in Orlando.

Liam participated in NCWA’s Global Scholars Columbus OH program, summer study at Georgetown University, and was a member of the Gulf Coast High School winning Academic WorldQuest team in 2022, joining the team for an expense-paid trip to Washington to compete in national finals. He is attending the University of Central Florida. Download Liam's report here.

Liam meets Ambassador
Thomas Pickering, known
for service in Russia.

Ravi Lafalaise
Fort Myers High School
Tufts University France program

Ravi Lafalaise, a senior at Fort Myers High School, who is of Haitian descent, wrote in her essay about her summer study at the Tufts University Summit Program in France that the experience gave her an opportunity to refresh her French language skills and deepened her intention to develop a career in international affairs. She appreciated the emphasis of the French people on family time and their personal focus on the environment and conservation.

Her trip to the United Nations center in Geneva, "sitting where diplomats made world-altering decisions, walking the same halls as heads of state," strengthened her aspirations to work for the UN someday, and she has decided to study abroad in college. You can download her essay at this link. To view a video about her experience at Tufts in 2023, click here.

Lauren Crisci
Graduate of Barron Collier High School and Florida State University
International scholarship to China
and former president of NCWA Alumni Association

Lauren Crisci has now graduated from Florida State University with a degree in management information systems and is living in San Diego, where she is working on international supply chain policy for Collins Aerospace and is completing her MBA.

Because of her fascination with Tibet, she is planning a trip to Nepal and the Annapurna Circuit and then will start a two-year leadership rotation with her company. In the future she hopes to return to public service in the international aerospace sector.

A graduate of Barron Collier High School, she received an NCWA scholarship for the Student Diplomacy Corps in the 2019 China Program. To download her report, click here.

Chelsea Casabona
Graduate of Marco Island Academy and Florida State University
Accepted into Columbia University's Master's Degree program in journalism documentaries
Former scholarship winner for international affairs program in Vermont

We also heard from Chelsea Casabona, a scholarship winner who graduated from Florida State University and now has been accepted for a graduate degree.

"I wanted to share some good news I recently received," she wrote to Debbie Doyle, a School Outreach volunteer. "I was accepted into Columbia University for the fall of 2023 for their Documentary M.S. in Journalism program! I wanted to tell you because my love for international affairs started that summer in Vermont (when she attended the former G.I. V program in Burlington VT) and you have been such a great support system. Thank you for giving me that opportunity all those summers ago. I wouldn't be where I am without it."

Click here to download an article written by Chelsea about her journey leading her to be the first person in her family to earn a college degree.

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Alumni Association

     Chelsea Carabona, left, joins students and alumni
at the 2023 Alumni Luncheon.

Alumni members are asked to maintain contact with NCWA so they can encourage other students to apply for these opportunities and often serve as advisors to these underclassmen and women. They may do so by returning the Update Form below when they have completed an important activity or when they participate in an experience that broadened their knowledge of global issues. 

We encourage alumni in the Naples area to attend alumni membership meetings to share their experiences and to network as they pursue their world affairs-related college courses and careers.  

Before the pandemic, the School Outreach Committee in 2019 hosted a luncheon for students returning from summer programs to share their experiences. They had been part of the Georgetown, Vermont Governors Institute, and the overseas study programs. Later, we invited the 2020 scholarship winners to lunch with alumni to describe their programs and offer counsel and answer questions for those about to travel to Washington DC or overseas.

In 2021 we made available to our alumni videos of the NCWA lectures. In 2022, we returned to an in-person luncheon and welcomed a number of alumni and current scholarship winners. In 2023, about 20 students -- alumni and current scholarship winners -- attended the annual luncheon.

Resources
For Building and Maintaining our Network

The NCWA Alumni Association believes it is important to build a network of former students who can support each other and maintain ties to NCWA as they pursue their careers, many of which are in fields related to international affairs. See below for resources.

Alumni Roster (EXCEL) (PDF) – Attached is a list containing the names of recent alumni students along with minimal personal information about them.  (Name, high school attended, date & name of summer program attended. Persons interested in contacting any alumni member should address their request for additional information to: 

Linda Crescenzi (NCWA Chair)  978-852-9201 or  lindacres@comcast.net 

Alumni Update Form (WORD) (PDF) – Alumni students can download and complete this form to let Council members know where they are now and how they are using their summer experience to help them make positive contributions to our contemporary world.  

Alumni updates (WORD) (PDF) – Read highlights from our alumni taken from the Alumni Update Form which have been featured in the NCWA Newsletter to all Council members.