Announcing the 2021 Zero Hunger Interns

Ashlyn Anderson
4th Class, 2021

Ashlyn is a native of Franklin, Tennessee, and a senior Haslam Scholar at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. She is designing an interdisciplinary major titled “Food Security and Public Health Nutrition” with minors in Spanish and International Agriculture. As a food justice advocate, her passion for anti-hunger work manifests on the local and federal level, with an emphasis on building sustainable food systems and policy infrastructure in the U.S. South. Ashlyn is the President of the Student Basic Needs Coalition, leads community cooking classes for elementary youth, and is an active leader in addressing college student food insecurity through SNAP advocacy and research. This summer, she is interning with Operation Food Search in St. Louis, Missouri, to lead the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and emergency food distribution. She plans to learn about the charitable food system and ways to equitably address food insecurity in the wake of COVID-19.

Delanie Vinzant
4th Class, 2021

Delanie Vinzant is from Maryville, Missouri, and attends the University of Missouri in Columbia. She is studying Biological Sciences and Economics and is involved in the Honors College as a Stamps Scholar and Programming Board executive. Delanie does microbiology research and serves as an Undergraduate Research Ambassador. She became interested in anti-hunger work when mentoring youth in her hometown and has continued her anti-hunger work throughout college. She is interested in health policy and hopes to learn more about social welfare policies and food assistance programs this summer. She is interning with the Montgomery County Food Council in Bethesda, Maryland.

Eboni Bright
4th Class, 2021

Eboni Bright, a native of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, currently resides in Olympia, Washington, with her husband and four children. She attends Kansas State University through their Global Campus, where she studies Dietetics and Health & Human Sciences. At K-State, Eboni is a Kansans Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Scholar, a member of Kansas State University Honor Society of Kappa Omicron Nu, serving as Corresponding Secretary, and an active volunteer for the American Diabetes Association's Project Power Camp as a Group Lead Counselor. Eboni is very passionate about ending food insecurity, and she feels working on policies and government programs to aid in bringing an end to these issues is vital. She believes wholesome, nutritious food is a fundamental human right, and no person should ever go without it. Eboni will be interning at the Good Samaritan Center, Inc. in Jackson, Mississippi.

Emily Irsik
4th Class, 2021

Emily Irsik is originally from Emporia, Kansas, and attends Kansas State University. Her major is Nutrition and Health, but she plans to begin her master’s in Public Health Nutrition in the fall of 2021. She volunteers for community-based organizations along with national organizations. She is an advocate for mental health awareness and is passionate about ending the stigma around food insecurity. This summer, she hopes to gain advocacy and communication skills that will be represented in her future work. She is interning at the Topeka Rescue Mission.

Erin Crowell
4th Class, 2021

Erin Crowell is a native of Scituate, Massachusetts, and a recent graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Honors College, with a degree in Communications. At UMass Amherst, Erin serves as an executive member of the Parliamentary Debate Team and is a brother in the National Service Fraternity, "Alpha Phi Omega." Motivated by her volunteering with local emergency food relief in her college town, Erin wrote her undergraduate thesis on Food Insecurity in Western Massachusetts. She is passionate about creating long term, sustainable solutions for eradicate food insecurity through policy making and advocacy skills. This summer she hopes to develop further as an advocate through her internship with Project Bread, and take those skills back to her community as she continues her fight for food justice.

Gustavo De La Fuente
4th Class, 2021

Gustavo De La Fuente was born and raised in the small rural town of San Benito, Texas. He is a recent graduate of Texas A&M University-San Antonio, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Criminology. During his journey at A&M-SA, Gustavo has interned for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, worked as a Student Assistant for the University President, Dr. Cynthia Teniente-Matson, was the Speaker of the Senate for his Student Government Association, served as a HACU ¡Adelanté! Leader-In-Residence Scholar and is currently a 2nd Lieutenant for the Texas Army National Guard. Gustavo is particularly very passionate about creating more equitable opportunities for the LatinX and other underrepresented minority communities. As a Zero Hunger Intern, Gustavo has been placed with the California Association of Food Banks and hopes to learn more about how policy-based solutions can be implemented in assisting families suffering from food insecurity.

Jonathan Dabel
31st Class, 2024-2025, and 4th Class, 2021

Born in Boston, Jonathan spent his formative years in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, before returning to the U.S. in 2016. He earned a B.A. in Economics and Public Policy from the University of Mississippi, where he served as a student body senator and actively advocated for student needs. During his freshman year, Jonathan interned at the Congressional Hunger Center and later served as a Legacy Leader. His internships and projects have taken him to Washington D.C., Jackson, MS, and Miami, Florida, where he contributed to initiatives focused on community and economic development. Most recently, he presented his research on how food insecurity negatively impacts the upward mobility of undergraduate students at the University of Maryland and the University of Washington. Jonathan is passionate about creating transformative socioeconomic changes that contribute to making the world a more equitable place.

Joshua Greene
31st Class, 2024-2025 and 4th Class, 2021

Joshua Greene is originally from Brooklyn, New York but now resides in Raleigh, North Carolina. He graduated from UNC Chapel-Hill in 2023 with a dual degree in Public Policy and Political Science. He spent four years as a Bonner Leader at UNC working with the Communiversity Youth Program serving k-8 students teaching reading and life skills. His Capstone Project with NCPRO analyzed North Carolina's food insecurity policies.

Kibiriti Majuto
4th Class, 2021

Kibiriti (pronounced as KI-bi-ree-tee) (he/him) is a student, organizer, and brother who proudly hailed from The Democratic Republic of the Congo. He works to create spaces for individuals to critically and wholeheartedly nurture their purpose in service of social, political, spiritual, ecological, and economic change. Kibiriti is a part of the advisory committee for Care About Climate and a member of the Alliance of Earth, Water & Sky Protectors. He graduated from William & Mary with a degree in Sociology and a minor in Africana Studies as of Saturday the 22nd. You can find Kibiriti working on gardens, watching anime with his younger siblings, or reading Octavia Butler in his free time.

Lia Van Steeter
4th Class, 2021

Lia Van Steeter grew up in Corvallis, Oregon, and recently graduated from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, with a degree in International Political Economy and a minor in Spanish. While at Puget Sound, she worked as a peer tutor and peer advisor, and completed internships with Court Appointed Special Advocates and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. Lia is passionate about addressing the root causes of health inequality through the lens of social determinants of health. She hopes to learn more about the relationship between food access and child development during her internship with the Oregon Child Development Coalition.

Lucas Tapia
4th Class, 2021

Lucas Tapia was born and raised in Mesa, Arizona, and now attends Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He is majoring in Industrial and Labor Relations and planning on a double minor in Philosophy and Law and Society. Lucas is a section leader in the Big Red Marching Band, an employee for Cornell Dining, an Orientation Supervisor and a Traditions Fellowship recipient. Lucas is interested in non-profit work and has spent a lot of his life volunteering to help his community. This summer Lucas is most looking forward to learning about the policy side of anti-hunger work. He is working at the United Food Bank as a Community Development Intern.

Nethmi Bathige
4th Class, 2021

Nethmi Bathige is a native of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and is a rising senior at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Nethmi majors in biology and geography while completing concentrations in Food, Agriculture, and Society (FAS) and Community and Global Health (CGH). She is also currently working on her senior honors project about food security among smallholder farmers in Sri Lanka. Nethmi is interested in creating equitable and just food systems for everyone and has volunteered on the food policy team of a local climate justice non-profit called MN 350. This summer, she hopes to hone her advocacy skills so she can better help her local community overcome food insecurity. She is interning at the food shelf of the Centre for Asian & Pacific Islanders (CAPI USA) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Nick Battles
29th Class, 2022-2023, and 4th Class, 2021

Nick is from Indianola, Iowa. As of May 2022, he is an alumnus of Iowa State University with Bachelor of Science degrees in Global Resource Systems and Agriculture & Society (agricultural and rural policy studies), plus a minor study in Learning & Leadership Sciences. In 2017, he spent time interviewing farmers in rural India as a Borlaug-Ruan International Intern and, in 2019, collaborated with peers from around the world while studying at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands. Prior to joining the 29th class of Emerson Fellows, Nick worked as a Legislative Aide at the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), an opportunity made possible thanks to his initial stint at FRAC as a Zero Hunger Intern in the summer of 2021. Anti-hunger work has shaped much of Nick’s path for nearly a decade and he is thrilled to continue learning and leading as an Emerson Fellow.

Racheli Cohen
4th Class, 2021

Racheli Cohen grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, and attends the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. At UMD, Racheli is pursuing a double major in Government & Politics and Sociology, with a minor in International Development & Conflict Management. She also serves as a legislative representative in UMD’s Undergraduate Student Government Association, and is an active member of Alpha Phi Omega, a national co-ed service fraternity. Racheli is interested in sustainable, community-based development, and public policy that addresses the root causes of social issues like hunger. This summer, she is interning at the Congressional Hunger Center with the Development Team, where she hopes to learn more about careers in anti-hunger work and how she can make an impact in her own community.

Rebecca Hentges
4th Class, 2021

Becca Hengtes and grew up in Houston, Texas, and recently graduated from the University of Houston with a B.S. in Political Science with minors in Phronesis and Russian Studies and a B.A. in History with a minor in Economics. As an undergraduate, Becca participated in the Bonner Leaders chapter at her university. Through this program, she was able to fight hunger in her local community and begin building a foundation for understanding hunger in the United States. In the Fall, Becca will begin pursuing a Masters in Public Policy at Georgetown University. She hopes to use her skills and experiences to build effective programs for combatting food and nutrition security in the United States. By interning at the Congressional Hunger Center for the Leland International Hunger Fellowship, Becca hopes to diversify her hunger knowledge. While she hopes to work in domestic hunger policy, understanding international hunger is essential to developing a strong foundation to combat hunger in local communities.

Saadhana Deshpande
4th Class, 2021

Saadhana Deshpande is a native of San Ramon, California, and is a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where they studied Nutritional Science with double minors in Public Policy and Food Systems. At Berkeley, Saadhana worked at the campus Food Pantry, was the co-president of the Queer & Allied Pre-Health Professionals Association (QAPPA), took part in two food justice research groups at the School of Public Health, and continues to work as a member of the Information Resource Collective at the Berkeley Free Clinic. Saadhana is interested in understanding how establishing food sovereignty can ultimately lead to better health outcomes for marginalized populations. This summer, they hope to learn more about centering anti-racism and BIPOC voices in policymaking. They are interning at the Chicago Food Policy Action Council (CFPAC).

Varsha Krishnan
4th Class, 2021

Varsha Krishnan is a student from Potomac, Maryland, studying nutrition at Case Western Reserve University. At CWRU, Varsha has many leadership positions within organizations that work to promote student wellness, to improve relationships between the campus and the surrounding community, and to support minority students in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Varsha is interested in community nutrition programs and the concept of food as medicine. This summer, she hopes to gain insights from her peers and supervisors into the policy and implementation aspects of nutrition and food security programs, while she interns at Albertsons Companies Foundations.