The Class of 2023 recipients of the Junior Fellowships and In Pursuit of Science Scholarship presented their projects during Assembly in three separate sessions on November 10, 2022. These fellowships are awarded annually to deserving students through a competitive selection process. Presentations were given by 13 fellowship and scholarship winners, who were chosen from 30 applicants. Read about the projects and watch the videos from their presentations below.

Raabe Family Fellowship for the Arts
This award was created to honor the dedication and passion of a student to further pursue a project in the visual or performing arts.

Lily Maloney
Lily enrolled in the Parsons School of Design Fashion Industry Essentials program. She then designed clothes for plus size and queer women and other underrepresented people in fashion.
Watch Lily's presentation

Atira Wahle
Atira developed her passion for photography by documenting and celebrating the lives of people in Dominica, culminating in an art installation for Branson and the greater Bay Area.
Watch Atira's presentation

Alexandra Zak
Alexandra developed her interest in visual art by volunteering at Drawbridge, an art organization for youth experiencing homelessness. She facilitated the creation of a mural for Branson, not only as a visual representation for the community, but also for the purpose of investigating the effects of the arts on student wellness and mental health.
Watch Alexandra's presentation - to come

In Pursuit of Science Scholarship

Nathan Kwei 
Nathan joined a lab to conduct academic research on health policy last summer, specifically leaning into food insecurity. Afterwards, he leveraged this learning for action and partnered with a nonprofit to plan a community event to help destigmatize food insecurity in youth.
Watch Nathan's presentation

Barney Glaser Fellowship

Finn Dossey
Finn used the knowledge gained from his mobile application development class and other online materials to build a scheduling app for Branson students. 
Watch Finn's presentation

Reid Mangels Fellowship

Ivy Brenner
Ivy helped conduct research at the Liao Lab, also known as the Cardiac Muscle Research Laboratory (CMRL), at Stanford University. In particular, she investigated the effects of maternal tobacco exposure on fetal cell regeneration through experiments conducted on mice. Though this lab has produced significant results underscoring the importance of smoking cessation with regards to cardiovascular health and fetal health during pregnancy, the end goal is to solve the mystery of why neonatal mammal hearts can regenerate after heart damage while adult ones cannot regenerate, and to make cardiac regeneration for adults after disease or stroke a possibility.
Watch Ivy's presentation

Jeffrey Huang
Jeffrey interned with the UCSF Pediatric Device Consortium (PDC). The UCSF PDC focuses on designing medical devices for children that are high impact. It is funded by the FDA’s Office of Orphan Products Development. Since its founding in 2009, the UCSF PDC has assisted over 100 projects, advanced 10 internally developed medical devices into first-in-human trials, and helped attract $30 million in funding for these technologies. The PDC team consists of clinician innovators, scientists, and entrepreneurs. Through his internship, Jeffrey learned about the process required for developing a unique solution to a clinical problem – from concept to a finalized medical device.
Watch Jeff's presentation

Peter Stovell
Peter partnered with the Friends of the Urban Forest to increase membership among Branson students and other teens from around the Bay Area. Peter created a Branson club, nursed trees and planted them throughout the Bay Area.
Presentation to come

Chilton Fellowship

Max Gutierrez 
Max explored the connection between Filipino identity and food culture all over California. He interviewed Filipino chefs and restaurant-goers in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Not only did he bring his film back to Branson in order to share his exploration with the Branson community, he also shared his techniques with the film club in order to inspire others to tell stories about their identities. As Max wrote in his proposal, "Everyone has a story to share; it is just about finding your voice to tell it." 
Watch Sarap! A Filipino Food Short Documentary

Chase Fellowship

Sophie Liu
Sophie’s project examined and set out to research Branson's Affinity Spaces program, looking to put it in context of the way that similar programs exist in independent schools across the United States. In doing this, Sophie built an Affinity Space Network to bring together students and programs across the country together to learn best practices around affinity spaces, and to address the importance that these spaces have on communities. 
Watch Sophie's presentation

Mia Shay
Mia is passionate about learning how to transform a soup kitchen into a place that will not only provide food to the unhoused, but will create a sense of belonging and dignity  through beautiful whole food, and served in a welcoming place surrounded by local  art and culture. The fellowship is divided in two parts. The first was in Italy where she worked with with “Food for Soul,” an organization that prepares meals made entirely from food waste and cooked from local chefs. The second part was to bring back what she learned and experienced to San Francisco and work with the organization "18 reasons" to implement a similar program. 
Watch Mia's presentation

Kate Singer 
Kate's project was to start a business and documentary centered around "sustainability" in business. "Founders for the Future: Regenerative Business" tells the story of three businesses founded with the purpose of positively impacting the environment through their practices. Through interviews with these founders, the truth about the vague definition of sustainability and hardships with being an eco-consumer are revealed. This short documentary, directed by Kate, tells the importance of transparency and voting with your wallet.
Watch Kate's documentary

Hayley Yoslov and Paloma Rincon
Hayley Yoslov and Paloma Rincon's project set up a summer visual arts program for underserved children – originally planned for those between kindergarten and 1st grade and ultimately implemented for middle school students. The program was conducted in both English and Spanish, providing an opportunity for these students to learn the power of art and how to use various mediums to express themselves.
Watch Hayley and Paloma's presentation