Ahalya Ramgopal '19 is Atlanta Intown 20 Under 20 honoree for 2019. Alana Mermin-Bunnell '19, Thuan Tran '19 and Kendall Seefried '19 were recognized as honorable mention.
The award is in recognition of Ahalya's work as advocate for refugees in the Atlanta community. Ahayla began volunteering at age 14 at the International Rescue Committee. As a volunteer, she teaches English, civics and history to newly arrived refugees to help prepare them for the citizenship test. During her junior year, she interned in the IRC Communications Department, working on social media advocacy and marketing. As the only high-school intern, she won the Intern fundraising competition at the end of the fall semester, raising over $750. In total, she has worked over the 500 hours for the IRC. advocacy. She also volunteered for the Jon Ossoff '05 campaign to try and enact change through Congress.
Alana was recognized for her work which includes travel to Uganda to teach English and art, and her volunteer work at the Frazier Center and lab research support at Emory addressing racial disparities in the kidney transplant process.
Thuan was honored for more than 250 hours coaching and judging debate students, registering voters as part of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, building homes in Nicaragua, as well as volunteering in an Emory on a neurosystems study.
Kendall was recognized for her service with Meals on Wheels, the American Red Cross, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and teaching autism education at Hirsch Academy.
