The student-led movement to end mass atrocities.

Meet Our Team

STAND’s leadership team consists of a Managing Committee, Task Forces, and chapter leaders across the country. The Managing Committee, made up of eleven students, is STAND’s central decision-making body, and work to ensure that students have the resources to effectively organize their campuses and communities. Our Education Task Force and Communications Task Force support the Managing Committee in the development of national campaigns, educational resources, and training materials.

Get to know us and feel free to friend us, send us an email, or tweet at us. We’d love to hear from you!

Student Director

Grace Fernandes

Student Director

Simmons University

Grace is a senior at Simmons University in Boston, Massachusetts, where she is pursuing a degree in Political Science. Prior to serving as Student Director, Grace as STAND’s Digital Media Coordinator on the Managing Committee. As a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe on Cape Cod, Grace led the creation of STAND's Indigenous Peoples Action Committee to recognize and address longstanding unresolved issues related to violent colonialism and the genocide of native peoples in the U.S. In addition to her work with STAND, Grace is a member of the Simmons Amnesty International chapter, a teacher at the Cape Cod Theatre Company, and a visual artist.

gfernandes@standnow.org @gracefernandes

Programmatic

Abby Edwards

Columbia University and Sciences Po Paris

Abby is a junior in the Dual BA program between Columbia University and Sciences Po Paris and serves on the STAND USA Managing Committee. Prior to this, Abby served on the Managing Committee of STAND France and worked as an intern for the Buchenwald Memorial, the Journal of European and American Intelligence Studies, and conducted research for the US Department of State – Office of the Historian. This summer, Abby will be conducting research on post-conflict education in Cambodia as a Junior Research Fellow with the Center for Khmer Studies.

aedwards@standnow.org

Caroline Mendoza

Burma Action Committee Co-Lead

Cerritos High School, California

Caroline is a rising senior at Cerritos High School in California. She is looking forward to spreading awareness of mass atrocities and genocide, mobilizing grassroots to take part in campaigns and actions, and using advocacy to achieve our goals. She has served as an active member of STAND's Burma, Yemen, and Sudan Action Committees and is excited to take a leading role in STAND's Burma-specific organizing. In addition to working with STAND, Caroline is an active Girl Scout, and a member of her Buddhist temple. In pursuing her Girl Scout Gold Award, Caroline is developing a genocide awareness curriculum highlighting past and present genocides to implement at her high school.

cmendoza@standnow.org @carolineeehsul

Claire Sarnowski

Lakeridge High School, Oregon

Claire is a sophomore at Lakeridge High School in Oswego, Oregon. As a freshman, her efforts led to the passage of a statewide policy to require public schools teach about the Holocaust and other genocides. Claire will be working with STAND over the 2019-2020 academic year to boost STAND's grassroots fundraising efforts and to work with communities to launch their own genocide education initiatives.

csarnowski@standnow.org

Daud Shad

Yemen Committee Co-Lead

Yale University

Daud is a junior at Yale University, where he studies Architecture and Political Science. He is a co-founder of Students for Yemen at Yale, and will be co-leading STAND's Yemen Action Committee for the 2019-2020 academic year. Prior to working with STAND, Daud interned at the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, served as the Business Director of The Yale Globalist, and worked at Yale's Dwight Hall, the Center for Public Service and Social Justice.

dshad@standnow.org

Htoijan (Jan Jan) Maran

Burma Committee Co-Lead

George Mason University

Htoijan (Jan Jan) is a Global Affairs and Environmental Sustainability Studies double major at George Mason University in Virginia. She is active in the Cavalry Burmese Church Youth Group, and serves as Assistant Secretary of the Kachin Alliance. Ethnically Kachin herself, Jan Jan has led fundraising efforts to support internally displaced persons in Kachin State in Burma, and is excited to help lead STAND's efforts to advocate for all marginalized peoples in Burma.

hmaran@standnow.org

Jordan Stevenson

Eastern Washington University

Jordan is a senior at Eastern Washington University, where she is majoring in International Affairs with a concentration in Global Public Policy, and minoring in Economics and Spanish. As an MC member, she co-leads STAND's State Advocacy Lead program, communications division, and works on policy. Prior to joining STAND, Jordan served as a Global Youth Advocacy Fellow for Planned Parenthood, lobbied for women's rights and U.S. foreign policy with Population Connection, and researched Indonesian political rights with the U.N. Development Programme. She currently works on campus at the Institute for Public Policy & Economic Analysis and does economic development work in Kenya with Partnering for Progress.

jstevenson@standnow.org

Megan Rodgers

Democratic Republic of the Congo Committee Lead

University of Arkansas

Megan is a junior at the University of Arkansas, where she is majoring in Political Science, International Studies, Latino and Latin American Studies, and Spanish, with a minor in Legal Studies. She recently returned to the U.S. after spending a semester in Kigali, Rwanda, studying post-genocide reconstruction and peacebuilding. She began her time with STAND as a member of the DRCongo and Burma Action Committees. Prior to joining STAND, Megan was involved with Students for Refugees in Northwest Arkansas and El Hogar Buenos Aires in Argentina.

mrodgers@standnow.org

Rujjares Hansapiromchok

Sudan Action Committee Lead

George Washington University (MA)

Rujjares is pursuing a Masters Degree in International Education with a concentration in Global Development at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. While this is her first time on STAND's MC, she is no stranger to the genocide prevention field, having perviously served as an intern at Jewish World Watch, a Fellow with The Enough Project, and a member of STAND's Communications Task Force. She will be leading STAND's Sudan Action Committee for the 2019-2020 academic year.

rhansapiromchok@standnow.org

Vishwa Padigepati

Yemen Committee Co-Lead

Yale University

As a rising first year student at Yale University, Vishwa is entering her third year with STAND, after serving as a member of the Communications Task Force, and later STAND's Advocacy Coordinator. Vishwa comes from a strong activist background and has served as the High School Director of Youth For Equity, and a member of PLAN International's Youth Advisory Board. Additionally, Vishwa is the founder and president of Future Politico-Economic Girl Leaders. She has interned in offices of multiple elected officials and on political campaigns, and is excited to bring each of these experiences to the Yemen Action Committee in the 2019-2020 academic year.

vpadigepati@standnow.org

Outreach

Aisha Saleem

Barnard College

Aisha is sophomore at Barnard College in New York City, where she is pursuing a degree in Urban Studies and Chemistry. Prior to joining STAND's Managing Committee, Aisha led the STAND Chapter at the Bronx High School of Science, and served as a member of the Communications Task Force. In addition to her activism on atrocity prevention, Aisha has held multiple roles related to empowering underrepresented minorities in STEM fields and supporting low-income middle and high school students to apply for and attend their desired high schools and universities. Aisha is involved in several STAND committees and advises STAND's high school chapters.

asaleem@standnow.org

Megan Smith

University of Southern California

Megan is a rising senior and STAND's chapter leader at the University of Southern California. As an MC member, she co-leads education and university outreach efforts for STAND. Previously, she served on the Policy Task Force of STAND France during her junior year and as California State Advocacy Lead during her sophomore year. Outside of STAND, she interned at the nonprofits DigDeep in Los Angeles and HAMAP-Humanitaire in Paris. Currently, Megan works at Dexis Consulting Group in Washington, DC.

msmith@standnow.org