TC’s mission of fostering innovative solutions to serve the public good is a guiding principle of Impact Day. As we reflect on the community’s participation in TC’s fourth annual day of philanthropy and service around the world, we take a closer look at the work and service of the 2025’s TC Impact Spotlight honorees: student Vik Joshi (Ph.D. ’25) and alum Yaritza Villegas Campos (M.A. ’22).
Meet Vik Joshi, a student in TC’s Philosophy and Education program and researcher on resilience who’s transforming communities.
How Vik makes an impact:
- Supporting the mission of the International Interfaith Research Lab (IIRL) to promote interfaith and cross-cultural connections as Special Advisor to the Executive Director.
- Developing partnerships with organizations to support the work of IIRL as Director of Research, recently attaining Innovation Grants from Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Prevention, Programs, and Partnerships (CP3) for Reimagine Resilience, Project Belonging and Unifying Storytelling.
- Creating a more positive culture at TC as an award-winning community assistant for the Office of Residential Services.
- Increased access to higher education for incarcerated people as a teaching fellow and then member of the faculty at the Bard Prison Initiative, a college-in-prison program affiliated with Bard College.
What Drives Vik: Fortifying democracy in the U.S., building resilience in K-12 schools and universities by leveraging education to empower students in all grades and creating compassionate communities of learners who will be the change-makers of tomorrow.
How TC Helps: Joshi’s time at TC provided him with an interdisciplinary framework that informs his approach to strengthen democracy and build safer societies. “A powerful way to address social issues is to responsibly employ an interdisciplinary lens,” says Joshi. “And practicing interdisciplinary approaches has been a hallmark of my TC experience.”
Democracy is more than a procedure. It is a way of life. That is a crucial insight that I wish to champion through my work.
His scholarship — which builds resilience to hate and intolerance in K-12 schools and higher education — has been particularly influenced by the work of faculty like TC’s David Hansen, his doctoral advisor; Ioana Literat, whose work on online youth expression influenced Joshi’s dissertation; and Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, who leads the International Interfaith Research Lab (IIRL) and with whom Joshi has closely collaborated on federally-funded violence prevention research across America.
What Gives Vik Hope: Seeing shared values and goals unite communities across the U.S. “It’s only when all stakeholders are engaged with common values and a shared mission that we can co-author the story of democracy together,” says Joshi, who grew up in Mumbai. “I’ve visited more than 30 states and 60 U.S. cities across my five years at TC and I have seen every community rise up and work hard towards the fulfillment of [their] needs while preserving the values that unify the community. That sustains my hope.”
Meet Yaritza Villegas Campos (M.A. ’22, International and Comparative Education), who is increasing access to high-quality educational opportunities in Costa Rica for both students and early-career educators.
How Yaritza makes an impact:
- Furthering the mission of La Paz Global, a non-profit organization that supports learning communities that value and promote our shared humanity by expanding access to educational opportunities in Costa Rica, as the Director of Advancement.
- Providing opportunities for preservice teachers from American universities to exchange pedagogies, build cultural competencies and gain teaching experience at her alma mater La Paz Community School, supported by La Paz Global.
- Leading development of a new PreK-12 framework, La Paz Core Humanity Competencies, that prepares students to remain “engaged members of society” in the age of artificial intelligence by focusing on skills such as critical thinking and empathy.
- Securing a major grant to codify the educational models and methodologies of La Paz Community School, improving internal practices and providing other institutions with a proven framework.
What Drives Yaritza: The students she’s serving through La Paz Global and their resilience as they navigate new environments, cultures and languages.
How TC Helps: Villegas Campos’s time at TC provided perspective that facilitates her mission to reimagine education for modern times. “It's easy to get caught up in the isolation of the day-to-day and not think about what this [work] means in the grand spectrum,” she says. “[TC] helped me to see how everything, in terms of education, is interconnected.” Being able to conceptualize her work as an educator to a broader global context was invaluable to Villegas Campos in her role as Director of Advancement for La Paz Global, where she has worked since graduating.
During her course of study, Villegas Campos was also reminded that improvements on the individual levels can ripple outward, eventually making a change for society. “TC does a great job at being able to conceptualize what it means to be with yourself, your family, your community, and eventually the world.”
What Gives Yaritza Hope: “Having a sense that the majority of people do want a world where we’re all connected, that people want to work together despite each other’s differences gives me hope,” she says. “I see how powerful that commitment is, and I envision education as a force for a more connected and compassionate world.”