Junior Projects

Junior Projects: A Selection from the Class of 2011

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  Christian Gilberti

  Historic Conservation and Preservation

  With Christian’s love of American history, and his experience on stage in GFS drama productions, it’s no surprise that he has been a colonial re-enactor at Independence National Historic Park. For his junior project, he further immersed himself in 18^th-century Philadelphia at Cliveden of the National Trust, a Georgian-style mansion in Germantown that was home to the Chew family. Working with a curator, Christian researched the Chew family’s complex relationship with slavery using original documents. He created an exhibit, “TheirStory: Giving a Face to Freedom,” which highlights the lives of three previously anonymous slaves owned by the Chews, and their struggle for freedom. The whole experience “boosted my love of Philadelphia history,” said Christian.

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  Madison Alig

  Immigration Law

  “Give me your tired, your poor . . .” -- the poem engraved on the Statue of Liberty – inspired Madison to explore immigration law in the U.S. She worked at a law firm in downtown Philadelphia that specializes in assisting immigrants from many countries. As she learned about asylum law, Madison assisted attorneys who met with clients, prepared affidavits, and researched clients’ countries of origins. The earthquake in Haiti had an immediate impact on the firm, and Madison spent her last two weeks focused on the Temporary Protected Status that the Department of Homeland Security granted to all Haitians in the U.S. Madison is now sure, she says, “that I want my future work to involve international relations, because the relationships between countries and how cultures mix and mash is an interest that is now instilled in me.”

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  Prisca Choe

  Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office

  Because Prisca has always been interested in forensics, she was drawn to the homicide unit of the District Attorney’s office – though she admits some trepidation. Organizing case files and observing trials were the main focus of her month-long project. For one trial, she had to locate and provide the videotaped interview of the defendant. Prisca also visited the Medical Examiner’s office, visited a crime scene with detectives, and translated some case files from Korean. She worked closely with an Assistant District Attorney and met with police officers and forensic scientists. “The experience of interning at the District Attorney’s office was amazing,” Prisca says, and the office agrees: they invited her back in the summer.

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  Caleb Rau

  National Geographic TV

  “Post Works & The Big Apple” is the name Caleb gave to his junior project: the Post Works building, home to National Geographic TV, is the largest post-production facility in New York City. Caleb wrote interview transcripts, video logs and did research for two shows: Lockdown, about prisoners and prison guards, and Border Wars, about border patrol officers and immigrants along the San Diego-Tijuana border. Caleb shared a Chinatown apartment with four graduate students where, as he describes, “I lived in a room not much bigger than the bed that lies inside it, which forced me from the room and out onto the bright blocks of Manhattan.” The creative work of a film editor still appeals to Caleb, as does life in the big city.

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  Shenara Musthaq

  Neonatology Laboratory

  Shenara’s interest in pursuing a medical career led her to Drexel’s College of Medicine, where she worked alongside researchers in a neonatology lab. For their study of how stroke conditions affect the developing brain, Shenara cultivated and stained brain cells from a piglet, made buffers, and organized data. She also organized lab protocols and updated the researchers’ website. Research is very time intensive, Shenara learned, and experiments only go as planned about 40% of the time. She still intends to have a career in medicine, but will most likely aim for a faster-paced setting than a research lab. “I feel that I gained quite a lot from the experience,” Shenara says, “and I am glad that GFS gives us the opportunity to glimpse into our futures.”