Ethan Korn is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Georgia, pursuing a double major in Psychology and Sociology with a minor in Criminal Justice Studies. He is passionate about helping the disenfranchised and aspires to help rehabilitate people in the criminal justice system. While pursuing his undergraduate degree, he worked with individuals in group homes who had substance abuse and mental health disorders. He provided assistance, support, and directed group therapy with the goal of helping them successfully reenter society. He also worked alongside personnel in correctional facilities and interacted with correctional staff and inmates within the Georgia Department of Corrections. In addition to his studies, Ethan is the founding member and president of the Guitar Club at the University of Georgia. He enjoys playing the guitar and banjo, lifting weights, and spending time with family and friends.
Nyala Honda is a Ceramics and Art Education Student in the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia. Alongside her creative practice, she researches and studies art history through a craft focus lens. In considering craft as a window into the way art has affected the general population throughout history rather than just the elite, Honda analyzes our daily interceptions with functional objects and the way they affect our lives.
Natasha Dörr-Kapczynski is a 3rd-year student double majoring in Asian Languages and Literature with a Chinese Concentration and Romance Languages, focusing on Spanish and Portuguese. She was born and raised in Smyrna, Georgia, right outside of Atlanta, and she is half-Dutch and has visited her family in the Netherlands many times. She studied ballet for many years and currently focuses on honing her ballroom and Chinese traditional and folk dance skills. She also values community involvement, especially in the areas of climate justice, racial justice, and access to education. When she is not studying languages, traveling, or dancing, she enjoys cooking, reading, hanging out with friends, or snuggling with her cat, Lola!
Sydney Thornton is a fourth-year majoring in Anthropology, Asian Languages and Literature with a Japanese emphasis, and Comparative Literature and Intercultural Studies with certificates in Sustainability and Global Studies. She is the Chief of Staff for the Model United Nations Team, an intern with the Office of Sustainability, and an ambassador for the Sustainability Certificate. After graduation, she will be working as an Interpretive Ranger at Cape Hatteras National Seashore in Nags Head, North Carolina. Later, she plans to go into the museum field. Outside of school work, she can be found writing fiction, traveling to the nearest National Park Service site, and tending to her vanilla plant.
Kat Tanaka is a 4th-year honors student at the University of Georgia majoring in Psychology and Spanish and minoring in Human Development/Family Science. She is a research assistant in the Motivation and Behavior Lab and also works as a crisis counselor on the Crisis Text Line. After graduating in May 2023, she will begin the University of Kentucky`s Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program to work towards her doctoral degree.
Casey Serrano graduated in May 2023 with a BA and a BS in Geography and a focus on housing justice and related urban issues. As both a student and organizer, he has been deeply engaged in questions surrounding who has access to housing and under what circumstances. In addition to housing justice, she is also interested in the ways that GIS can be useful for making visible the experiences and demands of underserved communities and for communicating complex ideas visually. In their free time, she enjoys fiber arts and being outside.
Matthew Motley is a third-year undergraduate student double majoring in Music and Computer Science at the University of Georgia. He is interested in examining how technology can be leveraged to make music more accessible. Outside of academics, Matthew enjoys baking, biking, and is an avid reader.
Janessa Harris is currently a third-year undergraduate student studying Women and Gender Studies at the University of Georgia who uses she/her pronouns. She loves the Women’s Studies program at UGA for not only the variety of the subject matter discussed but the personal connections she has made with peers and professors in her courses. She values hearing the perspectives of her peers to learn about the different ways that we all read the world. Academically, she has focused on the importance of a comprehensive sex education curriculum, Black maternal mortality rates, AAPI representation in media and film, and how to be a feminist researcher. Some of her personal interests include reading, spending time with her dogs and cat, and trying new restaurants with friends and family.
Meredith Eget is an undergraduate senior at the University of Georgia with majors in English, Spanish and Women’s Studies, a minor in Latin American & Caribbean Studies and an area of focus in Creative Writing. Her research investigates the power of literature—in forms both traditional and unconventional—to inhibit and enact social change with a focus in Latin American and feminist contexts. She will begin earning her PhD in English at the University of Miami this fall.
Mallory Plunkett is a student at the University of Georgia’s College of Public Health. Mallory says: “The research process has allowed me to explore my interests and determine a career path where I can create an informed impact. This research on drug law has inspired me to attend law school and pursue a career in health law.”