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Jillian Gaeta ’07 will travel to Namibia this summer to work with Axia, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that assists children whose parents have died from AIDS.
Axia was established by international affairs and African studies graduate Nangula Shejavali ’06, last year’s winner of the George Wharton Pepper Prize.
“I will be helping her get her NGO started and also working with other NGOs that have a similar mission,” says Gaeta, who was a finalist for the Pepper Prize this year. “These organizations are trying to provide education to the children and empower them so they do not fall behind without their parents.”
The Office of the Dean of Students and The Office of the Provost have provided financial support for the trip in order to foster connections between student affairs and academic affairs.
Throughout her undergraduate years, Gaeta, who graduated with honors May 19 with an A.B. with majors in international affairs and French, took many courses about the African continent. Her interest in Africa began when she studied in Kenya and Tanzania for the special Lafayette interim course Modern Sub-Saharan Africa: Kenya and Tanzania. Gaeta also has participated in various service-learning trips through Alternative School Break.
“My interest in Namibia and service led me take advantage of this opportunity,” she says. “I also believe strongly in what Nangula is trying to accomplish through her NGO, and I wanted to help her since she is a Lafayette alumna and a personal friend. I hope when I am there I can gain a better understanding of how AIDS is affecting Namibia and how to become a better educator.”
Gaeta also plans to explore ways in which Lafayette students can get involved.
“I will look at ways that Lafayette students could volunteer in Namibia, and when I return, I plan to stay in contact with Lafayette administrators and faculty to establish a progrom there for students,” she says. “I would like other students to go to Namibia because I think that each country on the African continent has a unique history, and it is important to understand the different aspects of African societies. Doing service work and interacting with the Namibian people would be a unique opportunity for our students to have, and I hope I can make that possible as a way to give back to the College.”
Gaeta will begin training with the Teach for America program when she returns from Namibia. Teach for America is a program in which college graduates commit for two years to teach in urban and rural public schools in the nation’s lowest-income communities and become lifelong leaders for expanding educational opportunity. Gaeta plans to use the experiences she gains from her trip to Namibia in her New York City classroom.
“Teach for America was supportive of this opportunity because they felt that it would help me in my future classroom,” she explains. “I also hope to have my future students become pen-pals with the children I work with in Namibia, so they could both learn about different cultures.”
For her honors thesis, Gaeta examined China’s growing demand for energy and natural resources and how it has led China to work with countries in Africa that violate human rights. Her research focused on China’s business relationships with Sudan as well as neighboring countries Nigeria and Chad. She completed the project under the guidance of Joshua Sanborn, associate professor of history.
While an undergraduate, Gaeta took a particular interest in the Darfur crisis, in which militias supported by the Sudanese government have been carrying out attacks against specific ethnic groups since 2003. Determined to raise awareness of the issue on campus, she co-founded and served as president of Lafayette’s chapter of Amnesty International, bringing speakers to the College to discuss the problem.
She organized the Safe Darfur Coalition, in which she organized trips to rallies against the genocide in Darfur held at the National Mall in Washington D.C. and in New York City. She also was chair of the Dance for Darfur Committee, which planned a semi-formal dance as a fundraiser for the Save Darfur Coalition. The event raised $2,500 for the organization.
As part of the Genocide Intervention Network, Gaeta lobbied senators on Capitol Hill to pass the Darfur Accountability Act. She organized a letter writing campaign that generated 500 letters to Congress, presented the first brown bag discussion about Darfur, and sold bracelets to raise money.
This past year, Gaeta was co-president of Alternative School Break, organizing six community service trips and preparing students to go on the trips with leadership training, education of issues, fundraising, and service. She traveled to Tennessee this past year to work with the Refugee Resettlement Program, which assists Sudanese and Somali refugees to adapt to life in America by tutoring children, teaching the public transportation system, and helping with job skills.
Last year, she attended the Breakaway Leadership Conference, the national Alternative School Break program. At the conference she received leadership training and participated in service work with HIV/AIDS organizations in San Francisco. She also traveled to South Carolina to work with Habitat for Humanity through Alternative School Break.
Gaeta was president of international affairs honor society Sigma Iota Rho and was this year’s recipient of the Paul Tully Prize, which is presented to the student who best exemplifies the progressive principles of social and political service. She also received the Service Above Self Award, given to the individual who best exemplifies the qualities of caring and concern for others in service activities, at the Aaron O. Hoff Awards, and the Darlyne Bailey ’74 Excellence in the Humanities and Social Sciences Award, given to a student whose academic/artistic accomplishments reflect an outstanding level of scholarship and advances understanding on an important issue, at the Diversity Awards.
As an EXCEL Scholar, she collaborated with Neil Englehart, assistant professor of government and law, to research the effectiveness of international human rights treaties. She served an internship at the New York Stock Exchange, working in the Global Corporate Client Group, Government Relations and Communications Divisions. She also served an externship at Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2006 re-election campaign office with host Daniel Turrentine ’00.
A member of Student Government, she served as the student representative to the Board of Trustees Committee for Educational Policy and Ad Hoc Committee for Investment Policy, which issued a statement against the genocide in Darfur. She also was a student representative on the Provost’s Committee on Darfur and the history department’s search committee for a Latin American history professor.
As a member of the United Against Hate Week Committee, she helped organize brown bag discussions and the Peace Conference. She also presented at the Peace Conference.
She was co-founder and president of Holla Back, a campus organization that registered 607 students to vote and obtain absentee ballots and planned over 30 educational events about the elections and political issues. She also helped organize fundraisers to benefit the victims of the tsunami with the Tsunami Relief Committee.
Gaeta was treasurer of Students for Social Justice and a member of Newman Association and Alpha Gamma Delta sorority.