Meet Community Impact's 2025 George Van Amson Fellows
For 17 years, Community Impact has selected a limited number of undergraduates from Columbia and Barnard to participate in the annual George Van Amson (GVA) Fellowship. Fellowship recipients are given summer housing and a $3,000 stipend to help them explore an area of interest, such as social justice, civic engagement, or climate activism.
This past summer, four Fellows pursued impactful non-profit service projects: Jane Chai (BC’26), Monisha Gunasekera (CC’26), Serena Yang (SEAS’26), and Daphne Matthews (CC’26).
Jane Chai (BC’26)
Jane Chai (BC’26) discovered her passion for logic and abstract thinking through her classes as a mathematics and philosophy double major. Combined with her interest in law from a young age, she knew that working in the justice system would be rewarding.
“I worked at The Remedy Project, which is a broad coalition of student volunteers and formerly incarcerated mentors who work together to challenge, expose, and disrupt the daily abuse that goes on in the U.S. prison system by helping our incarcerated members file administrative remedies, which are the only way to file a formal grievance in the carceral system,” Chai said. “We function as the watchdogs of the prison system, and we are the voices of the incarcerated.”
As a remedy writer, Chai went through a training process to learn the ins and outs of effective remedy writing and performed administrative tasks that aided in building each case.
“I built relationships with certain incarcerated members who I was able to speak with over the phone, via email, and via letters,” Chai said. “They would give me new information to add to their remedies or to let me know that they appreciated mine and the Remedy Project’s help. Some of the letters the organization received were so beautiful and grateful. Our work has an impact.”
Monisha Gunasekera (CC’26)
Similar to Chai, Monisha Gunasekera (CC’26) partnered with civic engagement non-profit The Bronx Defenders to promote public outreach and organization supporting low-income Bronx residents in need of legal defense.
“I wanted to intern at The Bronx Defenders because of their holistic defense model,” Gunasekera said. “The idea of a public defender organization supporting its clients beyond court cases was something I saw as highly valuable, and I wanted to intern at the organization that pioneered this model.”
While interning, Gunesekera’s responsibilities included collecting participatory budgeting ballots for The People's Money, an initiative of the NYC Civic Engagement Commission that provides a way for residents to decide how government money is spent. This work often meant knocking on doors and approaching strangers on the sidewalk.
“I learned that I am someone who can step outside of my social comfort zone when challenged. As an introvert, stopping Bronx residents in the middle of the streets to have them fill out participatory budgeting ballots was very nerve-racking at times,” Gunesekera said. “However, as time went on, the fear of being told ‘no’ by a community member subsided, and I instead started focusing on the ballots I was able to collect.”
“As time went on, the fear of being told ‘no’ by a community member subsided, and I instead started focusing on the ballots I was able to collect.”
Serena Yang (SEAS’26)
The GVA fellowship challenges students to grow beyond their expectations. For Serena Yang (SEAS’26), this meant spending the summer serving as a research mentor with Emerging Leaders in Technology and Engineering, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to STEM opportunities for students from historically underrepresented backgrounds.
“I supported a cohort of sixteen high school students placed in competitive university research labs, helping them navigate both the technical and emotional challenges of these new environments,” Yang said. “My work ranged from guiding students through data analysis and literature reviews to helping them develop confidence in their voices and ideas.”
As Yang experienced, the Fellowship provides students the opportunity to explore unique areas of interest while also encouraging them to develop interpersonal skills and a deeper understanding of the world around them.
“The most rewarding part was watching students who initially doubted their place in elite research settings begin to advocate for themselves and take ownership of their projects. The GVA Fellowship allowed me to dedicate myself fully to this role, giving me the freedom to focus on mentorship and the equity work that I deeply care about,” Yang said. “Through this experience, I learned how to be a better listener, communicator, and advocate.”
"The GVA Fellowship allowed me to dedicate myself fully to this role, giving me the freedom to focus on mentorship and the equity work that I deeply care about."
Daphne Matthews (CC’26)
Another Fellow, Daphne Matthews (CC’26), also focused her efforts on education, working alongside high school students to bridge educational and confidence gaps through the Columbia chapter of Shaping Her Earth (SHE).
“SHE is a movement built to shape the future of young women of color by mentoring, equipping, and elevating them into confident leaders and change agents,” Matthews said. “As a woman of color, I am passionate about using mentorship and leadership to help young women build the confidence to pursue opportunities that once felt out of reach.”
"As a woman of color, I am passionate about using mentorship and leadership to help young women build the confidence to pursue opportunities that once felt out of reach."
Matthews served as the National Program Development and Outreach Intern, aiding in expanding the organization’s mentorship and leadership programs at Columbia and beyond.
“I helped design the national SHE Ambassador onboarding pipeline, developing chapter manuals, flyers, and informational materials to guide new university chapters through the
start-up process,” Matthews said. “My work also included strengthening mentorship programming, such as the Sister-2-Sister initiative. Additionally, I supported outreach and partnership development, building relationships with local high schools, community organizations, and prospective university partners to expand SHE’s impact.”
With the help of her outreach work, SHE will now be featured on seven different campuses across the country, including UC Davis, Brown University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Yale University, Santa Clara University, and Tufts University.
From boosting confidence to honing skills in public speaking, project management, and strategic planning, the GVA fellowship transforms Fellows, empowering them to continue their purpose-driven work through hands-on experience.
Congratulations to each Fellow for your hard work and the meaningful impact you’ve made within and beyond your communities. To learn more about the George Van Amson Fellowship, please click here.