A group of eight Political Science students and one History student at Framingham State University recently graduated from the Class of 2019 Millennium Fellowship program organized by the United Nations Academic Impact and Millennium Campus Network (MCN).

The students spent the fall semester working on a sustainable project to expand awareness and access to English language programs to immigrant communities in Framingham and beyond. The project proposal was developed by seniors Christine Sifre and Ana Luisa Asmar - who served as FSU’s two Campus Directors - as well as sophomore Melissa Hayes.

Sifre says the project was very challenging, and there were a number of roadblocks along the way.

“We started with a really big idea that we had to whittle down a bit to something more doable,” says Sifre, whose group is still focused on launching a website that will serve as a resource for immigrant communities. “We learned a lot and I’m proud of how we worked together as a team.”
The students took part in a virtual graduation ceremony last month with other millennium fellows from around the globe. Students from 1,209 campuses across 135 nations applied to join the class of 2019, but only 69 campuses in 16 nations were selected to participate, according to the organization. Among those, just 21 were located in the United States.

The Millennium Fellowship is a semester-long leadership development program that happens on campus and is supported by local program directors from United Nations Academic Impact and MCN.

In addition to Sifre, Asmar and Hayes, other members of the group included Keith Butler, Brendan Coleman, Amber Goss, Niome Mengistu, Jon Torres, and Corey Tulloch (history major).

To learn more about the program, visit https://www.millenniumfellows.org/.