Alex Beltran is from San Antonio, Texas and participated in the Knowledge for Freedom summer program at the University of Texas San Antonio in the summer of 2024. He graduated from CAST Tech High School in 2025 and currently attends Trinity University, where he plans to double major in Engineering
Jonah Kim is from Valdosta, Georgia. He participated in the Knowledge for Freedom program at Valdosta State University over the summer of 2024. His favorite reading during the program was Antigone. He graduated from Lowndes High School in 2025 and now attends the Georgia Institute of Technology where he plans
Ariadna Torres Correa—Ari for short—was born and raised in Cerritos, San Luis Potosí, Mexico, but currently resides in Chicago, Illinois. She participated in Loyola University Chicago’s Speak Up Democracy Program in 2024 and is a graduate from Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep in 2025. She was always eager to deliberate about
Alanna Herbert is a proud New Haven native and 2025 graduate of Common Ground High School. She participated in the Citizens Thinkers Writers summer program at Yale, where her favorite text was Frederick Douglass’s speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July.” She currently attends Skidmore College, where
Yarile Jimenez Cuevas is from Alamance County, North Carolina, and graduated from Graham High School in the Class of 2025. During the summer, they participated in the Introduction to Political Theory program at Elon University, where their favorite text was “The Racial Contract” by Charles W. Mills, for its powerful
Madeline Caro is from San Antonio, Texas. She participated in the Knowledge for Freedom: Migration, Democracy, and the American Experiment program at the University of Texas San Antonio in Summer 2024, where her two favorite texts were the “Declaration of Sentiments” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and “A Chinese view of
Yareli Miranda was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and comes from a Mexican family. She participated in Loyola University Chicago’s Speak Up Democracy program in the summer of 2024 and graduated from Northside College Preparatory High School in 2025. Her favorite readings from the program were Plato’s “Crito” and
Sanovia Woods was born in Augusta, Georgia, but has lived in Valdosta, Georgia for the majority of her life. She graduated from Lowndes High School in May of 2025, and participated in the Teagle Knowledge for Freedom Program at Valdosta State University in 2024. Sanovia will attend Abraham Baldwin Agricultural
Khadija Sankara is a New York native and lives in the Bronx. She participated in Columbia University’s Freedom and Citizenship program in 2024 and graduated from the Frederick Douglass Academy. Her favorite reading was Plato’s “The Trial and Death of Socrates.” Khadija now attends Union College where she plans to
Neyda Estefania is a Hispanic young lady from Chicago, Illinois. In the summer of 2024, she participated in Speak Up Democracy at Loyola University, where her favorite text was Federalist No. 10. She will be attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the Fall of 2025 majoring in Economics in