Loading ...2020 Arab America Fall Interns and Fellows
2020 Fall Interns
Ahmed Abu Sultan
Contributing Writer and Resources Development Intern 2020
Ahmed Abu Sultan is a Palestinian who grew up in Gaza City in Palestine. He is a student at Roanoke College with a Major in Physics. Ahmed worked at a Business Consulting Agency before joining Arab America. He is a native speaker of Arabic in multiple variations. In addition, he is fluent in English as well, where he spent a few of his teenage years learning the language on his own.
Yidan Fan
Contributing Writer and Social Media Intern
Yidan Fan is Chinese and grew up in Hubei, China. Yidan is a master candidate at Johns Hopkins University, majoring in Corporate and Non-profit Communication. Yidan works as a social media coordinator and also a contributing writer at Arab America. She speaks Chinese, English, and Japanese and plans on improving her Arabic in the near future.
Mariam Kanaan
Contributing Writer and Senior Social Media Intern
Mariam Kanaan is a Lebanese-American from New Haven, CT. A graduate student studying Developmental Disabilities at Teacher’s College, Columbia University in the City of New York, she received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut in Speech-Language and Hearing Sciences at the University of Connecticut in 2018. Mariam is fluent in Arabic, English and has studied Mandarin Chinese. She is currently learning Spanish. Her primary fields of interest are Autism, special education, policy, development, and disabilities in the MENA region. Mariam has experience in marketing, social media, event-planning and non-profits.
Lindsey Penn
Contributing Writer and Social Media Intern
Lindsey Penn grew up in Stamford, Connecticut. She graduated from the University of Denver in fall 2019 with a B.A. in International Studies and a minor in Anthropology. Lindsey has studied Arabic for 9 years, starting in high school in 2012. In 2018, she studied abroad in Amman, Jordan for an academic year. She speaks English and is advanced in Arabic.
Safa M. Qureshi
Contributing Writer and Social Media Intern 2020
Safa Qureshi is a Pakistani-American who grew up in Arlington, VA. Safa is a graduate of Marymount University with a B.A. in Communications and International Relations. As an undergraduate, she studied abroad in Spain in the Spring of 2015 for an English course. She took Arabic courses from 2007-2010 to learn Arabic at Arlington Public Schools. Safa speaks Urdu, French, and English fluently and plans on perfecting her Arabic in the near future.
Nadia Reese
Contributing Writer and Social Media Intern 2020
Nadia Reese is an African-American who grew up in Baltimore, MD, Florida, and New Jersey. Nadia is a Senior at Bethune-Cookman University and she studies Mass Communications with an emphasis in Multimedia Journalism. There, she is the current Editor-in-Chief of her university’s magazine, has had experience as a reporter for her university’s newspaper and she has experience in working on short films, such as Isn’t She Lovely. Nadia is a native English speaker who plans to perfect her Spanish and French while learning the Arabic language.
Sophia Segal
Contributing Writer and Social Media Intern 2020
Sophia Segal is from Greeley, Colorado. She is a graduate from the University of Wyoming with a degree in International Studies with a focus in the Middle East and Africa and a Concentration in Governance and Conflict Resolution with a minor in Arabic/Arab Studies. Sophia is fluent in English, American Sign Language, and Arabic.
2020-21 Fellows
Raneem Ghunaim
Contributing Writer and Social Media Coordinator Fellow 2020
Raneem Ghunaim is originally from Palestine who grew up in New York. She is a second-year student pursuing a degree in International Management and Finance with an interest in Data Science. Raneem helps oversee and coordinate Arab America’s social media along with publishing articles and coordinating many events. Before Joining Arab America Raneem worked with admissions at her university. After her time at Arab America, she plans to continue her education by pursuing her Master’s degree.
Mackenzie Ricca
Contributing Writer and Fellow 2020
Mackenzie Ricca is originally from New York City. She is a current student at Monmouth University in New Jersey and is studying International Relations, Political Science, and Middle Eastern Studies. Mackenzie studied abroad as an exchange student at New College at the University of Oxford for two terms studying International Political Economy and Modern Middle Eastern Studies. Mackenzie has studied Arabic for four years and is also fluent in Spanish as well. After Mackenzie’s time at Arab America she will move to Hawaii to join the Teach For America 2021 corps.