agni chandora

Agni Chandora, a fourth-year Honors student from Snellville, GA, is pursuing a dual degree – a bachelor’s degree in biology and a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Health Policy and Management.

On campus, she serves as president of the Foundation of the International Medical Relief of Children, whose mission is to raise awareness and money for children living in impoverished areas with inadequate healthcare. She has recently begun a new outreach initiative to educate the youth of Athens about health.

Through the Association of Women in Science, she conducts an after-school program consisting of science experiments at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School.

Agni is an ambassador for the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and in 2010 served as an Alternative Spring Break site leader to Houston, Texas to lead a volunteering effort focused on immigrant and refugee families.

 Due to her medical interests, Agni has been involved with research on breast cancer drug development, and as a Roosevelt Scholar, she has conducted research on and written a policy proposal regarding the U.S. primary care physician shortage.

She has volunteered and interned with the Athens Health Network, a community-based health initiative and also spends time volunteering at Athens Regional Medical Center. After graduation, Agni hopes to attend medical school and pursue a career combining medicine and health management. 

wells ellenberg

Wells Ellenberg is a third-year Honors Program student from Saint Simons Island, Georgia, where he attended Frederica Academy.  He is currently pursuing Bachelor of Arts degrees in political science and history, and plans to attend law school after completing his undergraduate studies.

In addition to being a Crane Leadership Scholar, Wells serves as the sole voting student member of the Athletic Association Board of Directors. He is a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity, the Interfraternity Council, Omicron Delta Kappa, and the Dean William Tate Honor Society.

Previously, Wells served as a founding member of the Dawgs for Haiti campaign, which raised nearly $70,000 for earthquake recovery, relief, and rebuilding efforts in 2010.  He also participated in the Clarke County “Man Up!” Mentor Program. 

As a senator with the Student Government Association and as a member of University Council and its Educational Affairs Committee, Wells authored major revisions to policies regarding student withdrawals and final examination schedule conflicts. 

Wells spearheaded the effort behind the university’s official ceremonial American flagpole, which was dedicated in July 2011.

In 2010, Wells served as a judicial intern to Chief Judge Lisa Godbey Wood of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. In this capacity, he researched and proposed the implementation of a court-supervised reentry program for federal offenders returning to society on supervised release following their incarceration. 

Now in its pilot year, the program is the first of its kind at the federal level in the state of Georgia. 

heather hatzenbuhler

Heather Hatzenbuhler is a third-year Honors student from Lawrenceville, GA majoring in environmental economics and management and also international affairs. She is the Administrative Coordinator for the Sierra Student Coalition at UGA, co-chair of the Go-Green Alliance, a senator in the Student Government Association, an Honors teaching assistant, a preceptor for the Reacting to the Past program, and a member of the Dean William Tate Society and Palladia Women's Honor Society.  

In her spare time she researches policy relating to residential clean energy projects for a paper she is writing through the Roosevelt Scholars course.  

Heather is passionate about environmental justice, specifically relating to coal-fired power. For the past two years she has played an active role in the youth climate movement, organizing on local issues through the UGA Beyond Coal campaign, as well as state and national issues through the Sierra Student Coalition.  

As a result, she has been selected as student delegate for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Durban, South Africa this winter. After interning in the English TV to Africa division of Voice of America through the Honors in Washington program in summer 2011, Heather is excited to travel to the continent that she learned so much about and engage dignitaries and students in the process of international policy making.   

She intends to settle in Washington, DC, where she wants to analyze, write, and make policies that combat the cycles of injustice and oppression that are perpetuated by fossil fuel generated electricity. She dreams of a world free of coal-fired power plants and believes in the collective power of impassioned individuals to make that dream a reality. 

sara intner

Born in Atlanta, GA, Sara Intner is a fourth-year Honors student at UGA majoring in biology and psychology. She serves on the UGA IMPACT (formerly known as Alternative Spring Break) Executive Board as the Development Coordinator. 

In 2009, she attended an ASB trip to Clinton, SC, volunteering with children who had been removed from their homes in an attempt to build a stable family life. In 2010, she led an ASB trip to Shady Valley, TN, working to preserve the local nature conservatory, and in 2011, she served as the Site Leader Coordinator on the Executive Board. 

Sara’s biggest undertaking as an undergraduate student was chairing UGA Idol, an annual campus-wide event. All of the proceeds from this philanthropic event go to ugaMiracle, benefitting the Children’s Miracle Network and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. 

Throughout her third year, Sara conducted research in a microbiology lab at UGA. The research is focused on Shigella flexneri, a bacteria responsible for shigellosis, especially in developing countries. Aside from service, Sara is a member of Alpha Epsilon Delta, the premedical honor society. 

Bringing together her passions for service and medicine, Sara travelled to the Dominican Republic with the International Service Learning organization to provide relief to the underserved people there as well as Haitians affected by the 2010 earthquake. Throughout the summer of 2011, Sara worked at Camp John Marc in Meridian, TX to provide high quality camping experiences to campers with a chronic illness or physical disability.

Currently, Sara is applying to medical school and hopes to earn an MD after graduating. 

matt passarello

Matt Passarello, a third year from Marietta, GA, is pursuing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Economics with a minor in French and a certificate in personal and organizational leadership. In descending order of incompetency, Matt speaks Arabic, French, and English and plays the bass, piano, and nose flute. On campus Matt is the Vice President of the Econ Society and serves as an Honors Teaching Assistant for incoming Honors students.
Matt’s main involvement is through the Boy Scouts of America. He wears hats at the local, regional, and national level. Locally, he serves as an Assistant Scoutmaster in Troop 44 from Winterville, where he is responsible for programming and camping for at-risk boys. He also works with the adult population in the 120-unit district to train scouters how to sit in rocking chairs and drink coffee. He is involved with the Boy Scouts of America’s premier leadership training course: National Youth Leadership Training. He serves both as a staff advisor for the Northeast Georgia Council’s course, helping youth staff put on an annual course for 50 participants, and as the Director of the Southern Region’s Course Director’s Conference.
Matt has spent both summers of his undergraduate career internationally. After his freshman year, he spent 13 weeks studying French and Anthropology in the south of France. In 2011, he spent three weeks working on a French vineyard and eight weeks working as a non-profit consultant in Tangiers, Morocco.
When he is not traveling the world, training scouters, or going to class, Matt enjoys cooking five-course meals for select friends every other Sunday and winning back-to-back intramural Ultimate Frisbee championships.

shayna pollock

Shayna Pollock is a fourth year from Atlanta, GA. She is dual majoring in environmental economics and management and political science. Shayna hopes to shape the future of urbanism through policy and planning.

While in Athens, she serves as Executive Director for the Roosevelt Institute, a student-run think tank, as an officer in Students for Environmental Action, a member of Georgia Recruitment Team, and a volunteer at Bike Athens.

She also interned at the Carl Vinson Institute of Government in the Environmental Policy Department and for the Athens Land Trust.

To further her work with urban policy, Shayna participates in undergraduate research through her examination of the effectiveness of building policies that encourage LEED development. In the interest of expanding transportation alternatives, she spent a summer as a Roosevelt Fellow at the Chicago Transit Authority working on expanding multi-modal connections.

In the spring of 2011, she participated in the DC Semester Program as a policy intern for CEOs for Cities, a civic lab of urban leaders. She continues to work for CEOs for Cities part-time. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in Urban Planning and aspires to incorporate citizen participation in the city planning process. 

malavika rajeev

Malavika Rajeev is a third year ecology major from Tifton, GA. She is co-president of the Ecology Club, which – through various field trips, tours, retreats, and service events on campus, in the Athens community, and within the state – works to build an undergraduate community of ecology majors, minors, and non-majors interested in ecology and natural history.

Malavika is co-chair of UGArden, the campus community garden, which promotes local organic agriculture by providing fresh produce to student volunteers and also to the wider Athens community.

 Through her involvement in UGArden, in February 2011, she helped to organize the UGA-hosted Southeast Youth Food Activism Summit (SYFAS), which brought together students from universities and colleges across the Southeast to explore food issues through workshops, conversation, tours, and delicious food! She is now part of the student organization that evolved from the summit, Real Food UGA, which as part of a larger national campaign, aims to get local, organic, humane, fair food into the UGA dining halls.

Her ecological interest is in infectious diseases, and she has participated in projects in various labs, including research involving butterflies, gazelle, and domestic horses. She intends to complete a dual BS/MS in ecology, with her master’s project focusing on disease at the wildlife-livestock interface in the Laikipia District of Kenya.

After graduating, she hopes to pursue a PhD in infectious disease ecology related to efforts in conservation, specifically in areas of wildlife-human conflict. 

brianna randall

Brianna Randall is a senior marketing major and theatre and film studies minor from Macon, GA. Brianna currently serves as a Leonard Leadership Scholar, Management Leadership for Tomorrow Career Prep Fellow, and President of the Palladia Women’s Leadership Society.

She has served as a Dawg Camp Counselor, Secretary of Tate Society, and Co-Captain of the University of Georgia Mock Trial Team.

In the summer of 2010, Brianna traveled to Siem Reap, Cambodia to study Khmer haggling and money-making strategies. She later interned in Washington, DC as a Communications Intern for the National Geographic Society.

In summer 2011, she toured Li & Fung headquarters and a Younger factory to learn about apparel and soft goods production in China. She then interned in Customer Business Development with Procter & Gamble’s Southeast Food Team, generating over $7 million for the Food Lion customer.

In late August 2011, Brianna was chosen as one of nine undergraduates to participate in Clorox’s Brand Camp. There she attended sessions on brand management and interviewed for a marketing management position typically offered only to MBA candidates. After one team case, four in-person interviews, and one in-depth assessment, Brianna was chosen as one of two to receive an offer to join the company.

While hoping to begin her career in branding, ultimately she hopes to earn her MBA and serve as a marketing director. After leaving corporate America, she will visit her love for the arts by opening and running a dinner theatre. 

taylor watts

Taylor Watts is a third-year Honors student from Kennesaw, GA, majoring in music education. He is a Charter Scholar and actively participates in Omicron Delta Kappa, a National Leadership Honor Society dedicated to finding innovative solutions to campus needs.

In summer 2011, Taylor had the opportunity to work as a counselor for WinShape Camps, an organization dedicated to the spiritual and physical development of children of all ages.

For the last two years, Taylor has served as a Drum Major for the Redcoat Band and currently participates in the UGA Wind Ensemble, Derbies Pep Band, Volleyball Band, and Basketball Band. He has performed with UGA’s Jazz Band and the Classic City Band, a local community group.

As the Vice President of Service of Kappa Kappa Psi, National Honorary Band Service Fraternity, Taylor is dedicated to the service of the University’s band program and strives to promote a high standard of excellence within the School of Music.  

He also serves as the Vice President of the Collegiate Music Educators National Convention, an organization dedicated to the advancement of music education. He works numerous volunteer programs over the summer for leadership and musical development of high school students across the country, including Music For All’s Summer Symposium.