2024-2025 Zankel Project
For CAE's 2024-2025 Zankel Project, our fellows will provide additional English language and literacy instructional support to an existing program at the African Services Committee, which is currently experiencing significant demand from newly arrived asylum seekers, many of whom are young adults. These asylum seekers are primarily from Africa, with a substantial number coming from West Africa. This support will enable the existing program to offer different levels of instruction, more frequent meetings with smaller groups, and one-to-one support. The fellows will be responsible for specific groups of young adults, preparing, delivering, and following up on their sessions. They will select, adapt, or create appropriate curricula (lesson plans and learning materials) and assess participants’ performance for potential reassignment to higher-level groups.
Meet the Fellows
Alexandra Harakas is pursuing a masters degree in International Educational Development at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is passionate about self-sustaining educational initiatives that empower students to forge flourishing futures. She taught at an elementary school in a predominantly Haitian-heritage community in the Dominican Republic, where she fell in love with using everyday school rhythms to engage students in active critical thinking and socio-emotional skill development.
After spending time engaging with internally displaced young adults in Cameroon, she became interested in understanding the intersection of education with young people’s future dreams in conflict-affected contexts. She is enthusiastic about researching and developing educational experiences which support students of all ages on their journeys of flourishing, despite the constraints of geopolitics on their opportunities.
Currently, she and a former colleague are piloting a bilingual literacy program in Haitian Creole and Spanish for adults in the community of her former school in the Dominican Republic. Alexandra holds a B.A. in Linguistics from Georgetown University.
Alexandra Harakas is pursuing a masters degree in International Educational Development at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is passionate about self-sustaining educational initiatives that empower students to forge flourishing futures. She taught at an elementary school in a predominantly Haitian-heritage community in the Dominican Republic, where she fell in love with using everyday school rhythms to engage students in active critical thinking and socio-emotional skill development.
After spending time engaging with internally displaced young adults in Cameroon, she became interested in understanding the intersection of education with young people’s future dreams in conflict-affected contexts. She is enthusiastic about researching and developing educational experiences which support students of all ages on their journeys of flourishing, despite the constraints of geopolitics on their opportunities.
Currently, she and a former colleague are piloting a bilingual literacy program in Haitian Creole and Spanish for adults in the community of her former school in the Dominican Republic. Alexandra holds a B.A. in Linguistics from Georgetown University.
Nuralhoda Elsaid is a Master's student in the International and Comparative Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on refugee education, education in emergencies, and urban education.
She earned her B.A. in English Literature and Secondary Education, with a minor in International Affairs, from Rutgers University, where she also served as Student Body President, working with a diverse student population. After graduating, she spent a year with the International Rescue Committee as a Summer Youth Refugee Teacher and contributed to the Youth Education team.
This past summer, Nuralhoda traveled to Egypt to gather data on Sudanese refugees living in various regions. A Sudanese-American, she currently teaches high school history in New Jersey.
Nuralhoda Elsaid is a Master's student in the International and Comparative Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on refugee education, education in emergencies, and urban education.
She earned her B.A. in English Literature and Secondary Education, with a minor in International Affairs, from Rutgers University, where she also served as Student Body President, working with a diverse student population. After graduating, she spent a year with the International Rescue Committee as a Summer Youth Refugee Teacher and contributed to the Youth Education team.
This past summer, Nuralhoda traveled to Egypt to gather data on Sudanese refugees living in various regions. A Sudanese-American, she currently teaches high school history in New Jersey.