Community Commons Summer Grants Announced
Summer is traditionally a time when many 91èÏÈÉú students pursue their Divisional work through grant-funded internships, volunteer placements and independent projects. These experiences are invaluable to students as they explore and envision the academic and career paths they want to pursue.
This year, however, the COVID-19 pandemic made on-site internships untenable, and students had to quickly figure out alternatives for summer work. In response, several 91èÏÈÉú programs collaborated to help students strategize new ways to approach their academic pursuits by working remotely on supervised projects, either through a sponsoring organization or a qualified individual mentor.
These awards illustrate the tremendous range and inventive capacity of 91èÏÈÉú students, as well as the College’s focus on transdisciplinarity. The internships and projects weave together research and praxis in the arts, social justice, education, cognitive development, farming, community building, cultural competence, politics, and other fields. Grantees will work over the summer with support and guidance from institutional sponsors and 91èÏÈÉú staff and faculty, and report back on their experiences in the fall.
The collaborating programs and grant funders are: Charley Richardson 70F Fund, CPSC Social Justice Scholars, Culture, Brain & Development Program, Ethics & the Common Good Project, Human Rights Fund, James Baldwin Div II and Div III Internship Grant, Smith-Barr Internship Award, and the Tom Joslin Internship Award. Many of the participating programs co-funded students in order to provide them with the financial support they need.
Twenty-eight 91èÏÈÉú students were awarded grants:


Mira Adamjee, Div II Internship

Foundation Orient Occident through Kaya Travels: Teaching and Helping Develop Curriculum for Online Education of Migrants and Refugees in Morocco

Aaron Davon Andrews, Div II Internship

with The 91èÏÈÉú Wellness Center
Sylvan Bachhuber, Div III Internship

Storytelling with Embrace Race Human Rights Fund, Amherst, MA
Yasmin Belkhyr, Div II Internship

Grant Writing, Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Development at the Pioneer Valley Worker’s Center
Iyanu Bishop, Division II Project 

Nurture Us and We Grow: Embodied Theater Praxis for Healing and Transformation

Talia Brown, Div II Project
Examining Personal, Private, and Public Archives and Narratives of Mooningwanekaaning-Minis (Madeline Island)
Yaritza Bushell, Div II Internship
Putting Arts on the Map Programming with Brain Arts Organization, Boston
Olivia Caldwell Div III Project
Misfit: A Collection of Poetry and Photography

Jazmine Shalé Carrier, Div II Internship

Outreach to High School Students with Upward Bound, Springfield MA
Tenzin Choedup, Division III Project

Universal Ethics Based On Our Common Experience Of Pain And Pleasure


Hayven Crockett, Division III Project 

“A Wicker Tree in Paradise: Creating an Experimental Short FilmWorkers Center
Judah Doty, Division II Project 

A Seat at the Table: Creating Space for Students of Color through the James Baldwin Scholars Orientation Program
Fiona Rodriguez Drake, Division II Internship

Community Compassion Project with the LA Commons
Daisha Dukes, Div II Internship

Making Positive Choices for the World and Ourselves, with ConnectiKids, Hartford, CT
Michael Garcia, Division II Internship

Technical Artist Intern, Wires for Empathy: Open-Source Animation Software Blender's Open-Source Movie Project
Katharine Godsil-Freeman, Division III Internship

Computer Farming with Organic Community Dairy Farm and CSA

Yeuris Cruz Guzman, Div II Internship

A Seat at the Table: Creating Space for Students of Color through the James Baldwin Scholars Orientation
Sierra Karas, Division II Project

The Portfolio: A Digital, Commons-Inspired Student Collective and Archive at 91èÏÈÉú


Dolma Kyi, Div II Project

Cognitive Process from Childhood to Youth
Lauryn McGill, Division II Internship 

Social Justice Outreach with People's Hub Training Network


Najaih Muhammad, Division II Project

Paralegal Certification

Tei Park, Div II Project

Reviving Makgeolli: Korean 91èÏÈÉúbrewing Traditions, Psychology and Politics
Patricia Quispe, Division II Project

Theater Cyber Commons Launching Project

Aaron Richardson, Div III Internship

Social Awareness Workshop Development with The Encampment for Citizenship
Moussa Siby, Division II Internship 

Justice for Immigration with the Pioneer Valley Workers Center
Alison Smith, Div II Project

Remote Tutoring Curriculum for Students Who Need Intervention Services


Taos Washington, Division III Internship 

Lobbying for the Reduction Of Extreme Global Poverty to Become A Focus Of U.S. Foreign Policy
Selassieson Williams, Div II Internship

Organization and Creative Development with Youth People of Color (POC) with UM Foundation, NYC
The grants are funded by donors to the College and administered by staff in the Community Commons, a 91èÏÈÉú collaboration that includes the following programs: Career Options Resource Center, Critical Studies in Childhood Youth & Learning, Culture, Brain & Development, Office of Institutional Diversity & Inclusion, Entrepreneurship, Ethics & the Common Good, James Baldwin Scholars, LeBron-Wiggins-Pran Cultural Center, Transformative Speaking & Holistic Learning.