Student Advisory Board
The Student Advisory Board meets weekly to ensure the program is fulfilling its goals and meets the needs of Scholars. Student Advisory Board meetings take place from 7-8pm on Mondays at the Athena Center located in the Milstein Center, 4th floor, and all Athena Scholars are welcome to attend.
Applications for SAB open at the end of each academic year and board members serve two-year terms. If you have questions or suggestions about the Athena Scholars Program, please contact athenastudentadvisoryboard@gmail.com or you can also contact one of the advisory board members.
Spring 2020 Student Advisory Board:
Shambhavi Chadha
Shambhavi Chadha (sc4052@barnard.edu) is a senior majoring in Economics and Mathematics. Originally from New Delhi, India, Shambhavi enjoys the outdoors. She is passionate about investing and financial markets and enjoys reading articles on Investopedia or in the Wall Street Journal. She is also fond of music and art, often taking a friend and going to the Met Museum or the opera. In her spare time, she can be found binging on a Netflix show, experimenting with different kinds of food or spending time with friends.
Sabrina Farahani
Sabrina Farahani (srf2149@barnard.edu) is a senior from Long Island, New York, majoring in Political Science and minoring in Economics. After interning at the New York State Attorney General's Office, she gained a deeper interest in the law, along with public policy and reform. She plans to attend law school within the next year. In her free time, Sabrina loves to have good conversation with good friends.
Sophia Houdaigui
Sophia Houdaigui (shh2139@barnard.edu) is a junior studying History with a concentration in the Middle East and the United States. She is from Mclean, Virginia. Sophia is the President of Columbia Musical Theatre Society, the director of The 126th Annual Varsity Show, writes for the Columbia Political Review, and is an active member of Delta Gamma sorority. She is passionate about the intersection of politics, law, and international affairs.
Zakiya Lakha
(Abroad in Spring 2020) Zakiya Lakha (zsl2108@barnard.edu) is a junior majoring in Religion with a concentration in Islam. On-campus she is also a part of the Athena Digital Design Agency which empowers Barnard students to learn how to code, and she is on the Junior class council. Off-campus, Zakiya usually works at an internship. She has previously worked on a tech team at a staffing firm. In her free time, Zakiya loves to procrastinate by watching Netflix, and she's constantly wishing to travel.
Flosha Liyana
Flosha Liyana (fl2487@barnard.edu) is a junior majoring in Psychology and minoring in Political Science. Although she was born in Sri Lanka and raised in the UAE, her family currently lives in Maryland. She is on the board of First-Generation/Low-income Partnership as the co-chair for the Q-FLIP mentorship program where she hopes to build community for FLI students. She also happens to the secretary for the sophomore council at Barnard and a Global Ambassador for international students. She often finds herself procrastinating on work by irresponsibly spending time on subtle Asian traits and subtle curry traits meme pages.
Madeleine Morales
Madeleine Morales (mim2156@barnard.edu) is a sophomore who intends on studying Political Science and Spanish & Latin American Studies. She most recently hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, but has also lived in New Jersey and Texas. Madeleine is a Columbia University Cheerleader, member of Kappa Alpha Theta, Mixed Heritage Society, and Women In Law and Politics Society. When not involved in campus life, Madeleine can be found at SoulCycle or calling home to chat with her family. She spent the past summer interning at The Fleischer Law Firm and is currently interning under the Women’s Initiative program at Proskauer & Rose LLP.
Yunxiao Cherrie Zheng
Yunxiao Cherrie Zheng (yz3163@barnard.edu) is a junior majoring in Economics, and potentially minoring in Environmental Science and Psychology. She is from Beijing! Cherrie is a photographer for the Columbia Daily Spectator and the secretary of She’s the First Barnard/Columbia, an NGO aiming to help girls in impoverished areas gain higher education. Interested in performing arts, she has worked on Addams’ Family and Spring Awakening with Columbia Musical Theater Society. You can also find Cherrie in all kinds of fun but not too advanced dance classes, and she is in Orchesis this semester! She loves running at Riverside Park, and once in a while, she will travel to the edge of Upper Manhattan for tennis.