Leadership in Action with Laidlaw Scholars
The Laidlaw Scholars Program is a collaboration between the Athena Center for Leadership and Beyond Barnard that offers Barnard students a unique two-year research opportunity to develop a research question and apply their leadership skills through a Leadership in Action project.
Meet three of Barnard’s most recent graduates—Grace Schleck ‘24, Ana Eveleigh ‘24, and Silvana Navia ‘24—as they reflect on their Laidlaw experiences and how the program launched them as researchers.
Ana Eveleigh, a recently graduated senior from the Class of 2024, had spent her time as a Laidlaw Scholar examining the intersection of religion and human rights; that is, how the United States litigates religion and whose religious rights were ultimately protected. When Ana was chosen to present her research at the US-Canada Laidlaw Conference in Toronto, her case study of interest, Brackeen v. Haaland, had just reached the Supreme Court. Because of this, Ana found herself with a unique opportunity to not only share her research as an emerging scholar, but as an engaged world citizen and advocate.
“It was very topical and timely; I could educate people about it right before the case happened. Research and academics have a specific power to highlight injustices through nuanced knowledge,” Ana remarked.
Like Ana, Grace and Silvana used their research as a strategy for shedding light on injustices happening in the world around them. Throughout the program’s two summers, their research also doubled as a meaningful way to engage in change-making.
When Silvana Navia started Laidlaw, advocacy was front and center in her mind. Due to her passion for migrant rights, she was excited to work with her mentor and Barnard Professor Dr. Nara Milanich and oral historian Fanny Garcia, who both had been working on building an oral history project composed of stories from families who’ve sought reunification at the US/Mexico border.
Inspired by her research findings that families needed urgent legal assistance, Silvana traveled directly to the US/Mexico border to volunteer with Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso, Texas to complete her Leadership in Action project during her second and final summer as a Laidlaw Scholar. Silvana was able to extend her volunteer work beyond Laidlaw’s 5-week leadership programming, after being selected as Barnard’s first Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship. While there, she focused on supporting migrants as they navigated the bureaucracies of the US immigration system.
When Silvana reflected on her time in Mexico, she emphasized the magnitude of technology’s impact on a migrant’s ability to seek asylum.
“To request asylum in the US, you have to make an appointment on an app. However, many migrants cannot afford a phone, are unsure how to navigate the app, and there's often no internet service. The app is also supposed to have Spanish translations, but they were incomplete, and its facial recognition is faulty.”
After seeing these issues, Silvana wasn’t deterred by the work at hand, rather, it was working with migrants at the border that gave her a broader understanding of the issue she had spent time researching about just a year prior.
“I had never left my bubble of New York City prior to Laidlaw,” explains Silvana. “Most people would shy away from going to the US/Mexico Border, but I’m so grateful to Athena for encouraging me to take on something that I’ve wanted to do for so long. It was life-changing.”
Beyond gaining a deeper understanding of the issues migrant communities face, Silvana also gained insights into alternative advocacy strategies she could use, along with a more informed direction for how she could create an impact as an individual.
“I realized I wanted to transition into a field at the intersection of law, policy, and technology. I still aim to work with communities of color and those impacted by immigration, but with a focus on civil rights, data collection, privacy law, and integrating technology into social issues to protect vulnerable communities' rights.”
Grace Schleck came to Laidlaw in order to demonstrate how community must be leveraged to create sustainable and applicable change.
For two years, Grace worked with her mentor, Dr. Lola Ben-Alon, a researcher and professor from Columbia’s Natural Materials Lab, researching the intersection of natural materials and accessibility. Together, they co-authored a research paper on access to architecture and natural materials, interviewing architects, homeowners, and builders.
“I had a lot to learn about publishing and the review process—you submit to a journal, and if it's a good fit, they assign reviewers. Then there’s a series of feedback back and forth. It’s a long process, and Lola mentored me through it.”
During her second summer Leadership in Action experience, Grace joined Dr. Ben-Alon to work on a sustainable site build in Paris.on a trip to Paris for a sustainable site build. What struck Grace the most about her experience was how the project embodied a vision for collaborative leadership.
Outside of these learnings, the Laidlaw Scholar Program propelled Ana, Silvana, and Grace in their professional lives. Ana has since published in the Columbia Political Review, presented at national conference, and was recently named a CASA Arabic Language Fellow at the American University in Cairo. Grace recently published her research in the Frontiers of Architecture Journal. In addition to being named as a 2022-2024 Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholar, Silvana was selected as a 2024 Fulbright ETA Scholar and as a Fellow for another competitive scholarship - and will pursue the opportunity closest in alignment with her professional goals.
Regardless of their next steps, Ana, Silvana, and Grace all have a unique throughline in their Laidlaw Scholar experience in how the program allowed each of them to grow as conscientious, practice-oriented changemakers ready to leverage their knowledge for good. “I want to thank Athena for their work in creating questions about what it means to lead ethically. They’ve done an amazing job facilitating those conversations,” Grace reflects.
Ana agrees, “I’m unsure what I’ll pursue in the future, maybe a PhD or a law degree, but for now, I’m grateful that Laidlaw allowed me to spend significant time getting to the heart of things.”
No matter these scholars' next steps post-Barnard, with their knowledge and awareness created through Laidlaw, they feel ready to drive positive change in their communities and beyond.
If you’d like to learn more about Barnard’s Laidlaw Leadership and Scholar Program, read more here.