Three Macalester students receive  Amy Ostermeier Human Rights Fellowships

Emma Cederlund
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Three Macalester students receive  Amy Ostermeier Human Rights Fellowships

Luiza Montesanti
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Three Macalester students receive  Amy Ostermeier Human Rights Fellowships

Joseph Walker
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St. Paul, Minn. – The Amy Ostermeier Human Rights Fellowships, designed to support students who secure internships at human rights organizations, were awarded to Macalester students Emma Cederlund, Luiza Montesanti and Joseph Walker for the summer of 2014.

The Amy Ostermeier Human Rights Educational fund was created at Macalester College in the fall of 2011. The goal of the fund is to carry on Amy’s human rights work by providing opportunities for Macalester students to better understand the critical nature of human rights issues across the globe and the role that diplomacy plays in addressing these issues. The fund will support both on-campus and off-campus experiences. Amy graduated from Macalester in 1998.

Emma Cederlund ’15, from Stockholm, Sweden, interned at the international programming unit at the American Refugee Committee (ARC), located in Minneapolis. ARC’s mission is to work with its partners and constituencies to provide opportunities and expertise to refugees, displaced people and host communities. Cederlund assisted the team that supported ARC’s country offices, helping them throughout a project cycle, from the initiation of a project, the funding process, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.  She was especially engaged with ARC’s Gender-Based Violence protection plan, making sure women’s rights/protection from violence was a crucial part of all projects.  After she graduates from Macalester?  “I wish to pursue a career working with human rights, empowering women, and fighting to eradicate violence against women,” said Cederlund.  “The internship has allowed me to explore future paths within the human rights and humanitarian fields.” 

Luiza Montesanti ’15 is from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and worked at the Advocates for Human Rights, located in Minneapolis, whose mission is to implement international human rights standards in order to promote civil society and reinforce the rule of law. “This first-hand knowledge about asylum-seeking procedures, U.S. immigration law, and the different conflicts that prompt people to flee their countries complements what I have learned in my Political Science classes at Macalester, and helps me understand what I might want to do in the future,” Montesanti said. She interned with the Refugee and Immigrant Program, which offers free legal representation to individuals seeking political asylum in the United States. Her responsibilities included managing the client line, where she listened to clients’ stories and conducted initial intake, often in Spanish or French. She also conducted country condition research and assisted with some of the legal proceedings. Lastly, she translated documents and managed the communication with clients who didn’t speak English, including during attorney meetings and asylum interviews at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Department.  Working at Advocates for Human Rights made her consider HR law more seriously. “As a student of international development, I am also interested in economic and social rights, and drawn to understand what are the root causes, not only political, that cause people to leave their homes, said Montesanti.  “Sometime after Macalester I intend to attend graduate school and return to Brazil to pursue a career in international development.” 

For his internship, Joseph Walker ’16 from Clear Lake, Minn., promoted the website HealTorture.org. The HealTorture.org website was launched in 2009 as a resource center for people who are interested in healing after torture.  Created by the National Capacity Building Project, a division of the Center for Victims of Torture, this website contains information for healthcare providers and social workers that addresses important considerations for working with survivors of torture. Walker worked on several different projects, including the monthly newsletters and various other articles, raising awareness about CVT programs for the website.  “I have always had an intense interest, both academic and personal, in human rights,” said Walker. “Receiving the Amy Ostermeier Human Rights Fellowship allowed me to pursue my passion for human rights in a non-academic context by applying the knowledge I have acquired in the classroom to the focused, purposeful work I performed at my internship.”  Once he graduates, Walker plans to pursue graduate studies in either political science or geography with the long-term goal of teaching at a college or university. 

To read more about Ostermeier’s life and work and the Amy Ostermeier Human Rights Educational Fund, go to amyostermeierhumanrightsfund.org.

Macalester College, founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 2,011 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, multiculturalism, and civic engagement. Learn more at macalester.edu

September 5 2014

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