Jennifer Siew
Boren Scholar to Brazil 2014-15
Critical Language Scholar to Morocco 2015
AmeriCorps SERVE Philadelphia Financial Empowerment Coordinator 2016-17
BA International Area Studies: Justice and Human Rights '15, Honors
Drexel Faculty Mentor: Kate Hughes
Jennifer Siew graduated from Drexel in the International Areas Studies: Justice and Human Rights, BA Program in 2015. She was awarded the the Critical Language Scholarship to study intensive beginner's/intermediate Arabic in Tangiers, Morocco for the summer of 2015. She also conducted research in Brazil as a Boren Scholar, dealing with the Public Healthcare System (O Sistema Unico de Saude or SUS) as well as the network of microfinance organizations working to lift people out of poverty. Her prior experiences include living, studying and working in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, including Jordan, Egypt, and Palestine, the West Bank.
She is interested in how microfinance program channels can be used to provide basic preventative healthcare services and education. She hopes to one day use her research to create sister programs in Palestine and other MENA countries in which trilateral cooperatives involving Brazilian workers can help build and improve such organizations there and encourage sustainable development.