Tufts 1+4 Fellows

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.

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!

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.

Hometown:  Sheboygan, Wisconsin
High School:  United World College of Costa Rica
Tufts 1+4 Location: Montevideo, Uruguay

Andrew grew up in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, living there until he was 15. He studied abroad with the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange program in Germany for his sophomore year of high school before continuing on to finish his junior and senior years at the United World College of Costa Rica. Andrew is passionate about music, volleyball and writing, as well as LGBT activism, which he pursued by leading various LGBT groups in high school as well as organizing his city’s inaugural LGBT Pride event in 2019. Andrew hopes to continue with LGBT activism and looks forward to the opportunities provided by living with a host family and ultimately becoming familiar with a completely different aspect of Latin American culture.   

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

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!

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. 

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. 

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.

Hometown:  Mequon, Wisconsin
High School:  University School of Milwaukee
Tufts 1+4 Location: Cuenca, Ecuador

Darby grew up primarily in New England, living in both Maine and Massachusetts, and now resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she graduated from the University School of Milwaukee. It was there that Darby discovered her passion for global scholarship, social justice, and world language. Since before she can remember, Darby and her family, parented by two dedicated and lifelong educators, have hosted a variety of students from Chile, China, Japan, Russia, and Spain. While having never ventured outside of the continental limits of the United States, Darby has been fortunate enough that the world has been brought to her doorstep. In one way or the other, education has been her passport. Now as a fellow of Tufts 1+4, she is eager to finally reverse her role as a member of the host family to the home-stay while putting her Spanish skills to use. Once in Ecuador, Darby hopes to work directly with children of all ages throughout the city via partnering schools and agencies that are passionate about improving education and youth development in Cuenca. Upon returning to Tufts, she plans to major in International Relations, Civic Studies, and Spanish.