Harjeev Singh is a Sophomore from St. Louis, Missouri, majoring in Biological Sciences and minoring in Psychology. He has been highly involved in research on campus. At the end of his freshman year, he joined the Thompson Laboratory for Regenerative Orthopaedics (TLRO). Harjeev’s work in the TLRO has been focused on researching osteoarthritis by assessing radiographic grading systems and biomarkers of the disease. His research led to a poster presentation at the Health Sciences Research Day in the fall of 2021. In the summer, Harjeev will continue his research with the TLRO as part of the Cherng Summer Scholars program. Harjeev has also served the community as a volunteer with a variety of organizations. He has transported patients at the Truman VA, visited hospice patients, helped run the MedZou Community Health Clinic, took care of children with the Rainbow House Children’s Emergency Shelter, and stocked supplies at the food bank. Moreover, Harjeev founded the organization Helping Hands in the spring of his freshman year. As the president of Helping Hands, he has helped facilitate opportunities for students to volunteer and support organizations aiding the homeless population in Columbia. On campus, he is leading an initiative to support financially strained students by making course materials more accessible. With his leadership, Harjeev has organized a school supply and textbook drive that Helping Hands will be hosting on campus in May. After he graduates, Harjeev plans to pursue a career in the medical field.

Dr. Cornel West states, “Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.” This quote sticks with Sewell because he is someone who has a passion for justice and a radical vision about equity. Along similar lines of Dr. West, he never wants others to forget that love looks like equity and value in institutional spaces. Caleb Sewell is a senior at the University of Missouri-Columbia, double majoring in Educational Studies and Black Studies. At the university, he has held various leadership positions. Most recently, Sewell served as the President of the Legion of Black Collegians, the first and only Black Student Government in the country. He is the Teaching Assistant for the award-winning program: Mizzou Black Men’s Initiative and the Vice Polaris for the Beta Tau chapter of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc. Sewell is a Ronald E. McNair Scholar where he completed research on the value gap, the belief that white people are valued more than others, in higher education with his McNair mentor Dr. Stephen Graves. He is also an undergraduate member of the Williams Research Group where he works under Dr. Michael Steven Williams and Dr. Marjorie Dorimé-Williams to look at issues in higher education. Sewell was the 2020 recipient of the Mizzou NAACP Medgar Evers Political Achievement Award. He also spent time as a Residential Advisor, student assistant at the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center, Summer Welcome Leader, and has presented research at national conferences. He aspires to earn a Ph.D. and join the professoriate to support equity in postsecondary education.

Caleb a senior studying philosophy and linguistics, who will graduate with an honors and multicultural certificate. Caleb is currently finishing his honors thesis on the coordination and conjunction system of the Bukusu language in Western Kenya. This project began as a capstone course for his linguistics Field Methods class and was extended via URCAMP funding through Summer 2021. This project coincides with work performed with the ASH Scholars Documenting Luyia: Together research group, Caleb has been part of since his freshman year. With this team, Caleb has presented at the undergraduate research fair all three years, getting an honorable mention for his abstract in Spring 2020. Outside of linguistics, Caleb spearheaded the revitalization of the Washington Society at Mizzou, serving as chairman since 2020. He also helped start the Mizzou Swahili Club, serving as its President through 2021. He has served and interacted with the Christian Campus House since Freshman year. In Summer 2021, Caleb worked as the lead intern for the Bishop Davidson for Missouri campaign in Springfield. The following summer he was invited to attend an honors seminar in Williamsburg, Virginia, put on by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. After graduation, Caleb will attend Regent Law School in Virginia Beach in pursuit of a career in international law.

Bailey is a first-generation college student from Salem, Missouri studying history and constitutional democracy. She hopes to continue pursuing her passion for public history in graduate school upon completing her undergraduate degree in May 2023. Bailey’s degree coursework heavily informs her extracurricular activities, guiding me to a myriad of advocacy and education work on campus and in the Columbia community. The physical manifestation of this close relationship between her studies and community is the movement to save Read Hall, a project Bailey has worked on alongside two other history department students. In addition to her work to save Read Hall, Bailey serves as an advocate for students to administrators, community stakeholders, and members of the General Assembly through the Associated Students of the University of Missouri. Her favorite ASUM-related project she has led is the proposal to declare Election Days campus-wide holidays, which would provide students with much needed flexibility in their schedules to perform their civic duty.

As a Constitutional Democracy major, Addie studies Social and Political Thought, allowing her to take interdisciplinary classes in areas she care deeply about, such as Black Studies and Women and Gender Studies. Addie is also minoring in Philosophy and Psychology.

The Kinder Institute has introduced Addie to other programs, such as the Oxford Study Abroad Program and the D.C. Summer Program. Addie spent a week in Oxford with twenty classmates attending lectures with Corpus Christi College at Oxford University and exploring the city. This summer, she will take a class with the Kinder Institute while interning in Washington, D.C.

Outside of my studies, Addie has been a leader in Rockin’ Against Multiple Sclerosis, Mizzou’s largest student-run philanthropic organization. The money raised by RAMS goes to patients of the Multiple Sclerosis Institute to fund medical equipment and supplies not covered by insurance. Addie has been involved with RAMS since fall of her freshman year, and spent her junior year as its student-director. In the past three years, RAMS has raised over $360,000. Addie also served her sophomore year as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Chapter Educator for Pi Beta Phi.