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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 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. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year, with priority admission dates of December 1 for Spring term submissions, and April 1 for Summer submissions. Alternatively, for general research or internship funding, students should review ISHR's undergraduate financial resources page. Please apply here: APPLICATION: Myra Kraft Human Rights Prize
Hikari Shumsky is originally from Tokyo, Japan and graduated from Columbia College in May 2022. She studied Human Rights with a specialization in East Asian Studies and completed a concentration at The Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race. During her time at Columbia, she specifically pursued studies in collective memory and historical consciousness in postwar Japan and throughout East Asia. Her senior thesis, "Emotion, Identity, & National Memory: The Problem with Japan's Historical Awareness Problem" applies a psychoaffective analysis to historical statements made in postwar Japan in order to better understand the role of emotion in Japanese historical discourse. Outside of the classroom, Hikari was a Clinic Coordinator for Students for Sanctuary, a student-run migrant-rights organization that works with asylum seekers in NYC to navigate the federal immigration system. Hikari currently resides in NYC and now works in international baseball as a Coordinator for National Team Operations at Major League Baseball. She is now enjoying travelling the world through baseball and settling into post-grad life in NYC.
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.
