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Updated on March 07, 2005 |
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| Washington Leadership Program |
Meet the Interns of Washington Leadership Program Class of 2002
Samir Arora
Samir Arora of Rockville, Md., will be a senior at Columbia University, where he majors in political science. He is the co-founder and president of the university’s Political Union, a multi-partisan student organization, which has hosted many internationally-acclaimed political figures.
He also helped to found Zindagi, an international nonprofit organization in India. He now serves as its director of development and hopes to create a self-sustaining school in a village in Uttaranchal. In the last year, Arora studied politics and economics at Oxford University and did research toward a thesis exploring United States foreign policy post Sept. 11, 2001.
He served as a researcher on the campaign for Senate by Hillary Clinton, New York Democrat, so it is most appropriate that he will spend this summer interning in Sen. Clinton’s office in Washington.
Rashmi Krishna Murthy
Rashmi Krishna Murthy will be a junior at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB). She is a pre-med student, majoring in philosophy and minoring in Spanish and chemistry. Her family lives in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Last summer, Murthy was a UAB hospital student clinical and research assistant for a children’s center. She continues to help children, mentoring middle school kids. Murthy is highly involved in community service activities, raising funds through a dance marathon, as a counselor for an organization called Making Arthritis Stop Hurting (MASH), and a participant for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life.
She will intern at the Republican Senate Campaign Committee (RSCC), chaired by Sen. Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican. The RSCC assists Republican Senate candidates across the nation in their campaigns for election in November.
Harin Contractor
Harin Contractor, of Stone Mountain, Ga., will be a junior at the University of Georgia, where he majors in political science and economics.
He is a senator in the university’s student Government Association and was appointed to head the Minority Affairs Committee, where he implemented innovative ways to help the diversity problem at his school.
He also is a freelance writer for the university’s student newspaper, the Red and Black.
Contractor enjoys being culturally involved and has participated in regional and national Indian dance competitions.
As a result of his specific interests in electoral politics, Contractor was assigned as an intern this summer to work at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which is chaired by Terry McAuliffe.
Ambika Kapoor
Ambika Kapoor of West Windsor, New Jersey, will be junior at Princeton University this fall.
She is studying at the university’s Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs and Public Policy.
Kapoor is a moderator for Sustained Dialogue, a discussion/activism group that discusses issues of race and diversity in current events and on-campus relations.
She is also involved in Princeton South Asian theatrics and a South Asian dance troupe on campus, called Naacho (dance).
She will intern for Rep. Gary Ackerman, New York Democrat. Ackerman is the co-founder and a former Democratic co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans.
Sheena Jain
Sheena Jain, whose family lives in Danville, Calif., will be a senior at the University of California at Berkeley this fall, where she majors in political science and comparative studies in third world development. Jain’s interests include education reform and human rights issues.  She is a youth mentor, tutoring disadvantaged middle school students and helping at risk youth. She has helped raise funds for local organizations in California that focus on increasing academic achievements in poor school districts. Jain has previously interned for Rep. Ellen Tauscher, California Democrat.
This summer, she will be assigned as an intern for Rep. Robert Matsui, California Democrat, executive committee member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Ami Naik
Ami Naik will be a sophomore at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, majoring in political science. She is from Oak Brook, Ill.
Naik has worked on an independent research project the past year, focusing on South Asian alumni of the University. She has worked for the American Civil  Liberties Union and has assisted her college’s South Asian studies department to ensure that an adequate number of courses are provided in this area.
She is also co-founder and editor of a newsletter titled Reality, dedicated to raising awareness about minority issues. Naik has also helped to organize a racial profiling seminar through an organization called the DuPage Voices for Racial Justice.
She will be interning for Rep. Martin T. Meehan, Massachusetts Democrat.
Anuja Raval
Anuja Raval majors in economics and political science at Boston University, where she will enter her senior year this fall. Her family resides in Fords, N.J.
The past year, she worked on a project conducting research and analysis on the American Toy Industry. She has volunteered in a children’s cancer ward and is a member of a big sister/big brother organization on campus where she interacts with children. She interned last summer in the accounting department of Englehard Corporation.
She had volunteered for New Jersey Governor James McGreevey’s successful gubernatorial campaign. She will intern for Rep. Joseph Crowley, New York Democrat, whose Queens district has one of the heaviest concentrations of Indian Americans in the country.
Amar Harish Shah
Amar Harish Shah plans to graduate from the University of Florida in December with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. His family resides in Orlando, Fla.
Shah has studied abroad at St. Stephens College in Delhi, India, where he gained greater insights into his ethnic identity.
He has written for Teen People magazine, and worked for American Express Financial Advisors.
He was a columnist for the student newspaper at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Daily Illini.
Shah has also been a correspondent and freelance writer for the weekly youth section of the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
He will be serving as intern with Rep. Alcee Hastings, Florida Democrat, who is a member of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans.
Sophia Qureshi
Sophia Qureshi, whose family lives in Duluth, Ga., will be a junior at the University of Georgia, where she majors in political science and international relations. Qureshi is currently a volunteer at the University’s Center for International Trade and Security, where she works specifically on South Asian issues. 
She is involved with a campus organization called International Student Life, for which she oversees activities that promote awareness of international issues. She is secretary for minority affairs for the Student Government Association. She also tutors elementary school children twice a week. Despite this busy schedule, she still makes time to be a DJ for a local radio station, where she has a weekly show on international music.
Qureshi will intern with Rep. Ed Royce, California Republican, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans.
Prerna Srivastava
Prerna Srivastava majors in political science with a minor in biology at Bryn Mawr College, where she will be a junior this fall. Her family lives in East Brunswick, N.J.
Last summer Srivastava was a policy intern for the Asian American Federation of New York, where she did research on the Census 2000 and analyzed political  activity in the New York and New Jersey Asian-American communities. She was also an intern for the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, aiding in the ninth Women’s Global Leadership Institute.
Srivastava was a participant of a youth solidarity program last year, where she was involved in an intense two-week program geared toward empowerment in the South Asian community. She will intern for Rep. Sherrod Brown, Ohio Democrat, who was one of the founders of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans.
Naresh Tanna
Naresh Tanna will be a senior at Rutgers University this fall. He is a pre-med student, majoring in biomedical engineering and political science. Tanna and his family live in Bedminster, N.J. He is highly involved in community service activities.
He has worked for the Rutgers University Community Cares program, heading various fund-raising projects. He is the founder of the Rutgers Chapter of the National Gandhi Day of Service, which commemorates Mahatma Gandhi through his principles of humanity and community service. His political involvement was highlighted by his organizing a voter registration drive in 2001 for the New Jersey state Democratic Campaign.
Tanna will intern for Rep. Frank Pallone, New Jersey Democrat, a principal founder of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans and its first Democratic co-chair.
Anoop Raman
Anoop Raman will be a sophomore at Brown University in Providence, R.I. His family is from River Edge, N.J.Raman, a business major, is active in sports and forensics.  He has volunteered for the Hourglass Cafe, collecting funds to benefit Oxfam America, an international nonprofit organization, which helps to prevent hunger.
Raman has also served as a patient escort for the Hackensack Medical University Center. He has worked for Philip Morris International and the Vector Marketing Corporation to enhance his skills for the business world.
He will intern for Rep. Jim Langevin, Rhode Island Democrat, who serves on the Small Business Committee.
Arati Naik
 Arati Naik will be a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she majors in finance, with a minor in political science.
Her family lives in Corry, Pa. Last summer Naik studied in Spain. She also works as  an elementary school tutor for at risk youth. She volunteers weekly at a daycare through a campus organization dedicated to community service and is active in the South Asian community, having participated in cultural events on campus.
Last year, Naik also helped raise funds and organized donation boxes for the Indian Earthquake Relief.
She will spend the summer at the Indian American Center for Political Awareness (IACPA), where she will help to administer the Washington Leadership Program and work on a number of issues of concern to the Indian-American community.
Sachin Kale
 Sachin Kale, a pre-med student with a double major in biology and religion, will be junior at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. His family lives in Allentown, Pa. Kale has  been elected co-president of the South Asian organization on campus — Deshi — for which he is alumni networking director, spearheading a project to create a Deshi Alumni Association.
He is an emergency medical technician (EMT) for the Swarthmore Fire and Protection Agency, as well as a representative for ADVICE, a campus coalition of support groups brought together to promote multiculturalism.
Kale, whose goal is to pursue a career in medicine and his interests in South Asia, will intern with Rep. Jim McDermott, Washington Democrat, one of the few physicians in the U.S. Congress.
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