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This cash prize is awarded to the rising Columbia College senior majoring in Human Rights who submits the best proposal for a summer or term-time human rights internship, and is intended to be used to help defray the expenses of the internship.
This prize is awarded annually to the Columbia College student majoring in human rights who has the highest grade point average and a superior record of academic achievement in Human Rights.
This cash prize is awarded to the Columbia College human rights student who submits the best proposal for a summer or term-time human rights internship, and is intended to be used to help defray the expenses of the internship. To apply, students should send this application form and supporting documentation to uhrp@columbia.edu with the subject line Myra Kraft Prize no later than Thursday, April 1st.
Meghana Bharadwaj is a May 2020 graduate from Columbia University, holding a degree in Human Rights. Her coursework has focused on children's rights, criminal justice reform, and socioeconomic inequality more broadly. Her independent research as part of the thesis seminar focused on the tension between rehabilitation and due process rights in prosecutorial practice in New York's Family Courts. Off campus, she is the Founder and Executive Director of Just For Kidz, a youth-run national non-profit with the goal of serving marginalized children through service and advocacy, and she has worked with multiple children's rights organizations including the Children's Defense Fund, Avenues for Justice, and the National Juvenile Justice Network. Meghana hopes to become an advocate for legal reform on behalf of children, and as such, will be attending Harvard Law School in the Fall of 2022. In her free time, Meghana enjoys dancing hip-hop and Bhangra as part of Columbia's Bhangra team, playing flamenco guitar, and trying different restaurants and ice cream places around New York City.
Rebecca Cai graduated from Columbia College in 2020 with a double-major in Human Rights and Economics. In her coursework at Columbia and at the University of Oxford as an Oxbridge Scholar, Rebecca specialized in development economics and comparative politics. Her independent undergraduate research focused on women’s economic rights in Sub-Saharan Africa. Rebecca is currently working as a research associate for Development Data Lab, analyzing data on economic development in India. She plans to pursue graduate study and further research on the intersection between economic development and gender. In her free time, Rebecca enjoyed art history, performing as a member of Columbia’s Raw Elementz dance group, and hiking as a COÖP leader.
Jalileh Garcia is originally from Siguatepeque, Honduras. Currently, she is a rising senior majoring in Human Rights with a specialization in Latin American Cultures.
Justin Holiman graduated from Columbia University in May 2020 with a degree in Human Rights and specialization in Political Science. He focused his studies on the American political and judicial systems and how they affect children’s rights. His senior year research analyzed the history of landlord-tenant law, as well as the right to housing counsel as a remedy for the negative impacts residential eviction has on children’s rights. This research built on the many legal internships he held during his time at Columbia, including at Legal Outreach, Inc. and Children’s Rights, Inc. Justin intends to build upon his passion for improving children’s well-being through housing law reform during his studies at the University of Chicago Law School in the fall of 2020. Beyond academics, Justin loves tending bar, watching every Academy Award-nominated film each year, playing guitar, and watching baseball.
Tessa graduated from Columbia University in 2019 with a degree in Human Rights, specializing in Latin American Studies. During her time at Columbia, her interest in law and justice reform led her to participate in Mock Trial and work for public defenders in Washington, D.C. and the Bronx, New York. She completed an undergraduate thesis on the racial and socioeconomic discrimination in the United States Family Court system, examining how international human rights norms might be deployed domestically to achieve a more equitable model for child welfare. Tessa also spent a semester studying in Argentina, where she researched strategies for combating the labor exploitation of Bolivian migrants.
