Congratulations to Ilana Gelb!
Ilana Gelb, a junior in the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College, was recently named as one of four students from the City University of New York to receive the William R. Kenan Scholarship.
In the aftermath of September 11, the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust made a generous pledge and created an endowment to promote a new generation of leadership in New York City. The William R. Kenan Scholars Program was founded to enhance honors education at CUNY by sponsoring a group of outstanding Macaulay Honors College students who have demonstrated an early commitment to service and civic engagement.
Before enrolling at Macaulay Honors College, Ilana took a gap year and traveled to nine regions of the world to study communities and sustainability. Through this experience, Ilana developed a passion for environmental sustainability, human rights, and community development. Ilana’s interest in public service through government led her to take an active role in Student Government as Vice Chair of the Sustainability Committee, and on the University Committee of the CUNY Baccalaureate governing board. At Macaulay, Ilana is an organizer of CUNY FoodFEST, CUNY’s annual food justice festival. She is also President and Founder of the new anti-human trafficking club, Avasara. Ilana is pursuing human rights work through an internship at HIAS, a voluntary refugee assistance agency. She visited South East Asia this past summer to volunteer with various organizations such as Guria, an anti-trafficking organization in India, and the Grameen Bank, the Nobel Prize winning “Bank for the Poor” in Bangladesh. During this trip, Ilana filmed a documentary on women’s rights and international aid. Although her academic focus is not in the arts, Ilana remains fervent about using creativity and art as a catalyst for social change.
