Nathaniel ("Nate") Cohen is a 12th Grader at San Francisco University High School in California. He loves physics (seriously, there are people out there who do), clever music, from Lennon to Lamar, basketball, and water polo --think of it as basketball in a pool, with extra aggression. He plays guitar and drums, and dreams of being a rock star; failing that, he might settle for some(much) less glamorous job, like particle physicist. Nate taught himself advanced high school/early college math and science online while in grade-school; he's excited to make similar opportunities available for his Ugandan peers
Simon Cohen is a first-year student at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, studying International Relations. He is a graduate of Redwood High School in Marin County, California (near San Francisco). He loves history, politics, any music you can think of (he plays guitar), and watching pretty much all sports with a ball -- though his own chosen athletic occupation is rowing. Simon spent his first 11 years in New York City, where he learned to love car horns, (real) pizza, and the subtle art of debating WHILE TALKINGLOUD. Simon has spent several summers volunteering at a school in a shelter for low-income mothers and their children in Lima, Peru; he's thrilled to connect with kids in Uganda and compare notes on schooling, technology, and life from halfway across the world.
Sydney Zebrowitz is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. She is a pre-medical student majoring in Psychology and minoring in Chemistry. Sydney is currently working as an Undergraduate Researcher at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania’s Jensen Lab in the Department of Neurology. She is not only passionate about medicine and bringing awareness to mental health issues, but she is also an outspoken supporter of animal rescue. She is an advocate for students with disabilities, and is eager to help provide these children with the resources and strategies they need to succeed. She is looking forward to connecting with her Ugandan peers and becoming apart of the team.
Zoe Kosmowski is a 12th grader at San Francisco University High School in California. She loves evolutionary biology, classics/archaeology, skiing, and singing. She has performed widely as part of a choir throughout the US and Europe. Zoe is active in her local community on issues related to environmental rehabilitation and food access. She is looking forward to engaging with the students in Uganda and supporting their educational journey.
Sa'ar Lipshitz is a 12th grader at Redwood High School in Marin County, California. He enjoys playing guitar, coding, and fencing, and loves to learn new things. He has had to undergo many surgeries, through which he has learned the value of distance learning, and he is excited to bring similar opportunities to the children in Uganda.
Lauren Scoles is a college student at Washington State University pursuing a major in Genetics and Cell Biology. She loves traveling and experiencing a variety of cultures. Always prepared to explore the world and chat with the locals, she has expanded her linguistic skills by learning both French and has recently picked up some Spanish. In her spare time, she adopts stray pets and spends her afternoons at the gym staying fit and fine tuning her wrestling moves. She has a passion for art in every form, she enjoys quiet time painting and making music on her violin and piano.
She loves putting her talents to work, she has served her community for 5 years as a volunteer raising money to fund local art programs through U.P. for Arts. She was also involved for 2 years with the non-profit organization 4US, an organization providing access to prenatal services, ultrasound equipment, and baby essentials for mothers in crisis. She is very community focused and is motivated to take on this experience to support other students with the opportunity to learn and build a better community through schooling in Uganda.
Isabella (“Bella”) Wedemeyer is a 10th-grade student currently attending Oxnard High School in Oxnard, California. She spends her free time listening to a wide variety of music, playing soccer, and creating small pieces of art to gift to family and friends. One of Bella’s biggest hobbies is learning, whether it be a foreign language (Japanese) or a new material being introduced in her school’s curriculum, her biggest interest is the many curiosities of life itself. She is constantly looking to be challenged, and takes the most rigorous courses available at her school. Bella volunteers within her community any chance she gets. She is consistently seeking additional knowledge and is excited to learn more about life in Uganda. She hopes to utilize this understanding to support and encourage the similar curiosities of Ugandan children, while also aiding in the support of their overall learning environment.
My name is Jack Windisch. I live in Manhattan and am a junior at Regis High School. My hobbies include tennis and anything to do with computer programming.
I’m looking forward to engaging with our partners in Uganda and learning from them.
(Kassaga) ArinaitweJames Kassaga is Chief Executive Director and co-founder of Teach For Uganda (TFU), a locally led and globally informed non-profit organization that leverages the power of Uganda’s most promising university graduates and young professionals to address the challenge of education inequity in rural and urban poor schools across the country. TFU recruits, trains, and deploys brilliant graduates in underserved government-aided schools to support the already overwhelmed capacity of teachers and the system to transform the future of education and learning in Uganda. Having lost his entire family to AIDS and other preventable diseases before 10, Kassaga sees hope in Uganda’s young leaders and their power to address systemic challenges that hinder children’s educational progress, and ultimately provide quality education to all Uganda’s children enabling them to thrive in a fast-changing world. Prior to TFU, Kassaga had 8years of international development experience having worked with the President Jimmy Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia in the US, as a 2012-13 Global HealthCorps Fellow in New York, and a School Partnerships Manager at Educate! In Kampala. In 2014, James was selected as an Acumen Global Fellow, and spent 1 year in India working with LabourNet, providing education and livelihood skills to 2 million underserved youth. Kassaga is a certified McKinsey & Co .Business Strategist, an Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow, . His Op-Eds on ethical and effective development solutions have been featured in Al Jazeera, NPR, Devex, The Guardian, and New York Times. He graduated with a masters of public health and policy from Florida State University, and a Masters of Arts in Sustainable Development and International policy from the SIT Graduate, in Washington, DC.
Emmanuel Kimuli is a 2020-2021 Teach For Uganda Fellow holding a Bsc. in Industrial Chemistry degree frp, Makerere University. Prior to joining the Teach For Uganda fellowship, he taught Chemistry in a rural secondary school for two years after which he worked as a Quality Officer at Medical Access Uganda Limited, a leading pharmaceutical distribution company in Uganda for two years. Driven by the passion to ensure that children in rural communities live to their fullest potential, he quit Medical Access Uganda in order to join the Teach For Uganda Fellowship. As the current Director of Learning at Isenda Primary School and passionate for Information Technology, he is committed to raising digitally literate children.
Angela Dorn serves as Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel at Youth INC, a New York-based poverty-fighting nonprofit. Previously, Angela served as Founding Member, Chief Legal Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Single Stop USA, a national nonprofit that has helped over one million low-income households avoid or move out of poverty. She was intimately involved in developing and driving Single Stop’s strategic plan and helped to sustain relationships with philanthropic and programmatic partners. Angela is a long time believer in the importance of education. She knows that she has been a recipient of an excellent education, and she is grateful that she had these opportunities.
Prior to taking Single Stop national, Angela was a Managing Director and General Counsel for an asset management company. She is a graduate of Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges, and Harvard Law School.
Angela was recognized by Essence magazine as a “Woman to Watch,” and by Time as an “American Voice.” Angela has been a contributor to national publications, and is a commentator on local and national news channels. She serves on a number of boards, including the national board of directors of Public Allies, the Harvard Club of New York City (she also serves on the Schools and Scholarships Committee), the Community Service Society and the NAACP Foundation.