In addition to the Student Leadership Team, a group of dedicated students has been involved with the specific projects within this initiative.
Local Resettlement Project
Sasha Gopalakrishnan ’20 is a junior Sociology major with a possible correlate in Anthropology or Women’s Studies or both. She is a part of the Resettlement and Local Engagement Team within VRS. She is also Assistant Arts Editor for the Miscellany News as well as a member of South Asian Students Alliance (SASA) and VCTV Producers. She speaks English, Hindi and broken French, and is thinking about studying abroad in Sweden or Denmark.
Oral Histories Project Event Coordination
Caroline Ingram ’19 is a senior History major at Vassar with correlates in Hispanic Studies and Economics. In her role with VRS, she will primarily be working with the Oral Histories team, collecting recordings of refugee narratives locally in the Hudson Valley. She is also a Research Assistant in the History Department, as well as a CARES Listener, and spent the spring semester studying abroad in Madrid.
Emma Mertens 
’19 is a senior Philosophy major and hopes to declare a Hispanic Studies major/correlate soon! She is a member of the oral histories team for VRS. Outside of VRS, she is also a member of Vassar College Majors Choir and a VELLOP tutor at Poughkeepsie High School. She studied fall of 2017 with the Vassar-Wesleyan Madrid program. She speaks Spanish conversationally and hopes to improve it while she is in Spain.
Event Coordination
Joan Krickellas ’19 is a senior Environmental Studies major with concentrations in Biology and Sociology. She is the Vice President of Prohealth, a student organization that works to raise awareness for local and global public health issues. Joan is also involved in Vassar’s Exploring Science program, where she helps lead activities for local Poughkeepsie elementary students at the ecological preserve. This past summer, she had an eye-opening experience as a volunteer at a refugee camp in Greece, working with UNHCR, Samaritan’s Purse, and Greek government officials.
Alumni
Reilly Hay ’18, a Political Science major with a correlate in History was a part of the Local Resettlement and Engagement Team with Vassar Refugee Solidarity. He also was the captain of Vassar Ultimate Frisbee and continued his work with VRS on campus during his junior year.
