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Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life
Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life

Tufts 1+4 Fellows

Our fifth class of Tufts 1+4 Fellows is a diverse group of 15 students who are spending their bridge year in Brazil, Ecuador, India, and Uruguay, immersing themselves in new communities and developing skills that will benefit them when they enroll at Tufts and beyond. This outstanding group of fellows includes athletes, artists, and leaders with a variety of experiences and interests that are shaping their bridge-year, but they all share a passion for global exchange, and to being a part of something greater than themselves, that is at the core of the Tufts 1+4 program.

Through generous support from our donors, a majority of this year’s fellows are receiving significant financial support.

The 2019-2020 Tufts 1+4 Fellows are:

Liani Astacio

Hometown:  Woodhaven, New York
High School:  Chapin School
Tufts 1+4 Location: Montevideo, Uruguay

Liani Astacio was born and raised in New York City, where she is a proud resident of Queens. During high school, she has volunteered for local political campaigns and hosted voter registration drives with a local civic group. At Chapin, she served as Co-Head of the Kindness Initiative Society, a group dedicated to highlighting the stories of underrepresented communities in her school through film, newsletters, and social media. In Montevideo, Liani is excited to learn Spanish, get out of her comfort zone, and gain new skills.  At Tufts, she hopes to study Film and Media, Environmental Studies or American Studies. 

Bryan Berkowitz

Hometown:  Los Angeles, California
High School:  Windward School
Tufts 1+4 Location: Santa Catarina, Brazil

Bryan was born and raised in Los Angeles. He has a wide variety of passions such as theater, tennis and ping pong, improv, photography, singing, creative writing, music, travel, and food; Bryan is a big foodie. Further, Bryan loves working with children. He co-founded The Improvisation Station, an after-school program dedicated to teaching young children improv to aid in fear-coping, teach them to accept and learn from failure, ease symptoms of social anxiety, and boost overall confidence. He also served as a two time counselor at Camp Harmony, a camp for underprivileged children. During high school, he was a member of the National Art Honor Society (NAHS), the Service Honors Society, the International Thespian Society, and the Mandarin Honors Society. While in Brazil, Bryan hopes to open his eyes to the greater world around him through the entirety of his experience. Bryan has lived in a very safe and comfortable bubble his whole life, and he looks forward to going far out of his comfort zone and finally exploring the real world. He hopes to mature greatly, overcome challenges, and return home with fresh experiences and newfound perspectives. While these are his goals, he understands that life seldom goes as planned, so he is simply going to take advantage of this spectacular opportunity, go in with no expectations, and live in the present!

Jason Brown

Hometown: Charles City, Virginia 
High School: Charles City High School
Tufts 1+4 Location: Santa Catarina, Brazil

Jason was born and raised in a small urban county in southern Virginia. He is passionate about art, storytelling, and traveling the world. When he is not studying or drawing, Jason is involved in teaching STEM education to kids in order to help them build the skills needed in a world where the demand for engineers has grown exponentially, as well as to help others open up and have a better understanding of the world around them. After spending 10 days last summer in Costa Rica with his high school classmates, his ambitions in life shifted from a relatively narrow field to one much broader. His goals for the year are to become more fluent in speaking Portuguese and to meet new people and form connections that will last a lifetime.

Roger Burtonpatel

Hometown:  Brookline, Massachusetts
High School:  Brookline High School
Tufts 1+4 Location: Santa Catarina, Brazil

Roger is a local Bostonian who is passionate about rhythm and connection. In high school, he was captain of the Samba Drumming Club, gave volunteer drum lessons, and also taught in a classroom for underprivileged children in the South End of Boston. Currently, he's working in a cognitive science lab at Northeastern University. His goals for the year are to explore the music and culture of Brazil, to share stories and laughs with other Global Citizen Year fellows, and to enjoy the start of a new chapter of his life. 

Kaylee Chang

Hometown:  Boston, Massachusetts
High School:  Winsor School
Tufts 1+4 Location: Cuenca, Ecuador

A native Bostonian, Kaylee is excited to embrace the challenges and transformative experiences of Tufts 1+4. In high school, she was a co-head of Model UN, lawyer on the Mock Trial team, volleyball co-captain, volunteer, literary and visual art magazine Editor-in-Chief, and developing artist. She was also incredibly lucky to spend two summers working in HIV/AIDs research, which deepened her interest in science, public health, and social justice. Kaylee hopes that exploring and developing different interests, passions, and skills in Ecuador will elucidate her focus at Tufts and beyond. She is looking forward to this wonderful opportunity to live in Ecuador and to develop as a student and citizen.

Silas Conlon

Hometown:  Cornwall, Vermont
High School:  Middlebury Union High School
Tufts 1+4 Location: Montevideo, Uruguay

Silas Conlon is very excited to explore more of the world after growing up in very rural Vermont. Silas lives in Vermont with his mom and dad and has two older brothers living in Palo Alto, California and Chicago, Illinois. In high school he played ultimate frisbee for four years, captaining for the last two. He was also involved in National Honor Society, the Quiz Bowl team, and Model UN. Outside of school, Silas loves skiing, hiking, and being with friends. Silas wanted to spend the year in Uruguay because of his love of travel and possible interest in an International Relations major. He believes the most enriching experiences of his life have come from experiencing other cultures and looks forward to a meaningful year in Uruguay.

Alexandra Dingle

Hometown:  New York, New York
High School:  Nightingale-Bamford School
Tufts 1+4 Location: Pune, India

Alexandra (Alex) was born and raised in New York City; however, her passion for seeing the world that motivated her to apply for 1+4 has come from visiting her family in Greece every summer. Alex attended the Nightingale-Bamford School in Manhattan for 13 years and is grateful to have grown up in such an empowering environment. There, she competed in debate for four years which has helped her facilitate difficult conversations and see different perspectives - all tools that will be helpful for her bridge-year experience in Pune. A proud feminist, she was the head of the Women’s Rights Club for two years where she helped organize important discussions around gender. Alex is a history buff and avid reader. In India, she hopes to form meaningful bonds with her host family and apprenticeship that will allow her to explore and learn more about Pune. Back at Tufts, she looks forward to studying International Relations and Civic Studies!

Madeleine Hallen

Hometown:  Waterville, Maine
High School:  Waterville Senior High School
Tufts 1+4 Location: Montevideo, Uruguay

After living in a small town her whole life Madeleine is excited to leave Maine and explore another country! During high school, her Spanish class had the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica, where Madeleine discovered her love for both travel and learning Spanish. She participated in soccer, outdoor track, National Honor Society, Key Club, and Orchestra in high school, and developed her love for science and technology through her participation in Math Team and Science Olympiad, as well as by working in the Colby College Organic Chemistry research lab. After returning from Montevideo, Madeleine will attend the Tufts School of Engineering for a degree in Biomedical Engineering. Madeleine is eager to learn from and engage with both her new peers and her new community, and cannot wait for the journey ahead.

Abigail Kosnik

Hometown:  Rochester Hills, Michigan
High School:  Rochester High School
Tufts 1+4 Location: Cuenca, Ecuador

Abigail was raised in Metro Detroit in a household full of activity — with 4 kids, numerous pets, and a constant influx of new friends and family. Her passion for history began practically as soon as she could grasp the concept, and by fifth grade she knew she wanted to be an archaeologist. Her passions include reading, traveling, cooking, music, and language, all of which act as a gateway into other cultures and allow her to better understand the world around her. She has visited more than 30 U.S. states and this summer traveled abroad for the first time spending twelve days in Spain, relying heavily on her Spanish language studies and getting her first taste of lifestyles that were thoroughly different from the one she had grown up in. In high school Abigail loved the ability to rally people together under one cause, be it through Key Club as a project manager, various long-term volunteer opportunities including at Dinosaur Hill nature preserve, or through fine arts such as choir and theater. She hopes to become completely fluent in Spanish as well as study various other languages, to delve deeper into her historical and environmental studies, and to offer her human resources to the global community while in Ecuador

Luke Petrosky

Hometown:  South Hadley, Massachusetts
High School:  South Hadley High School
Tufts 1+4 Location: Cuenca, Ecuador

Luke has lived in South Hadley, a small town in western Massachusetts, for his entire life.  He is excited to be journeying to Ecuador where he hopes to learn and grow as an individual.  His passions include adventuring, running, painting, traveling, reading, and smiling!  Luke is looking forward to practicing his Spanish abroad.  He hopes to learn more about the fields of Environmental Studies and International Relations.  Most of all, Luke is interested in connecting with people of all different backgrounds and creating moments of joy!

Seneca Petry

Hometown:  New York, New York
High School:  Stuyvesant High School
Tufts 1+4 Location: Santa Catarina, Brazil

Seneca was born in New York City and resided in Chinatown until beginning elementary school, when his family moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan. As someone directly contributing to the gentrification of a once incredibly diverse and fairly poor neighborhood, he is heavily invested in studying and preserving the neighborhood's ethnic (particularly Jewish) roots. Growing up a largely unobservant Jew, Seneca is only now delving into his family's rich history, beginning in 20th century Czechoslovakia and culminating in the very neighborhood in which he currently resides. Seneca is an avid baker and dabbles in many sports, including but not limited to ultimate frisbee, basketball, and skateboarding. He has a love for the ocean and has spent countless hours swimming, sailing, and kayaking, among other things like merely staring meditatively at its magnificence. Seneca loves to travel, particularly to wildly biodiverse areas such as Ecuador and Costa Rica, and feels a personal obligation to protect their awe-inspiring beauty and local wildlife. Seneca sees Brazil as the ideal next step in his ambition, as deforestation to produce soy beans and a host of other things has crippled the country's magnificent rainforests and local indigenous populations. He hopes his time abroad will provide some clarity into what he wishes to study at Tufts, probably something involving Environmental Science, although he is also interested in psychology, archaeology, and anthropology. 

Christopher Sasanuma

Hometown:  Tokyo, Japan
High School:  The American School in Japan
Tufts 1+4 Location: Cuenca, Ecuador

Christopher (or Chris) has been living in Tokyo for 19 years. Being half Japanese and half American, Christopher has experienced both the benefits and challenges of being bi-cultural and hopes to use this experience in Ecuador to connect with the local people and culture. In high school he was a co-leader of the Students Advocating for Gender Equality in which he helped to fundraise scholarship money for the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh and to raise awareness in his entire school about issues regarding gender. He interned at this university in Bangladesh last summer to tutor the incoming college students in English and math, and he also taught the students about Japanese culture. Furthermore, through his church in Japan, Christopher volunteered in a city along the Northeast coast of Japan that was heavily affected by the 3/11/2011 earthquake and nuclear meltdown and also a city in Southern Japan that was heavily affected by a different earthquake in 2016. In Ecuador, Christopher is excited to bond with his fellow volunteers, learn Spanish, gain practical work experience, and to enjoy the beauty that the country offers. 

Quinnten Silveira-Charbonnier

Hometown:  Belfast, Maine
High School:  Belfast Area High School
Tufts 1+4 Location: Santa Catarina, Brazil

Quinnten Silveira-Charbonnier was born in Boston Massachusetts, but has lived most of his life in Maine. He is passionate about protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development. He is also interested in politics, music, and architectural engineering. While in Brazil, Quinnten hopes to continue learning about environmental conservation and sustainability as well as obtain leadership skills that he will continue to use throughout his life.

Giovana Torres-Lorenzotti

Hometown:  Brooklyn, New York
High School:  NYC iSchool
Tufts 1+4 Location: Montevideo, Uruguay

Giovana is from Brooklyn, New York and was raised by two Uruguayan parents. Throughout high school, Giovana has been engaged in a range of social justice issues from LGBTQ rights, sex education and advocacy, to equitable public transportation and equal access to education. She’s passionate about public service and hopes to pursue a career working in civil liberties and human rights, which she’s been able to explore through her participation in Model UN and her internship at the New York Civil Liberties Union. Giovana is enthusiastic to further explore her Uruguayan background and roots while working on social justice issues.

Cher Xiong

Hometown:  Minneapolis, Minnesota
High School:  Patrick Henry High School
Tufts 1+4 Location: Santa Catarina, Brazil

Cher was born in Thailand but moved to the United States when they were five. They grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota where they attended Patrick Henry High School. Outside of academics they were involved in the robotics team of their high school. When they became involved with robotics, they realized that it was predominantly white within their team and within other teams too. With these realizations, Cher cooperated with other members in their team through grant writing to start 5 robotics teams in middle schools that serve primarily students of color. After the first year, they were able to grow that number to 9 teams. Cher is passionate about creating and bringing opportunities to those that are underrepresented. They are excited to spend their next year in Santa Catarina, Brazil where they hope to develop their skills, immerse themselves in a new culture, establish new relationships, and learn more about themselves and the world.

Students who completed our Tufts 1+4 program returned to campus with a renewed love of learning and desire to engage in communities.
Tufts 1+4 Alumni