Alumni 2013

"We felt a very strong connection that was based on mutual respect despite the fact that a lot of us disagreed fundamentally on political issues."

Jennifer Koshner
"I am a much stronger person for what I have seen and what I have done, and all the friends I've made on this trip."

Daniel Kaplan
"There is really a lot that the program offers and if you come in ready to embrace the things that it offers you can really make it to be a life altering experience."

Ahmed Youssef
"The women entrepreneurs we met with opened my eyes to whole new world, which made my mission to utilize every privilege I have to help women back home."

Nashwa El-Sayed

Ryan Daniels

University of Pennsylvania, Philosophy and Economics

Ryan graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in May 2014 with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He’s Canadian, raised in Toronto for the first half of his life and Philadelphia for the second. He loves a good underdog political campaign and has worked on multiple. Most noteworthy was rallying Americans behind Secretary of State Kerry’s peace initiative in 2013-14 as well as fighting for gun control in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office following Sandy Hook. After graduating he combined his loves of the Middle East and building things, moving to Tel Aviv and joining an early-stage startup. He met his current boss on the Ibrahim trip!

Currently: Rotational Business Program at HiredScore, Tel Aviv

Lulete Mola

University of Minnesota

Lulete Mola is the 2014 National Go Run Community Organizer helping to deliver an interactive, highly-rated, national women’s political leadership training with a focus on participant management, engagement and experience. At the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, Lulete currently holds the Reatha Clark King Fellowship and serves as the foundation’s Program Coordinator. She is devoted to help advancing women leaders and brings a deep commitment to young women’s empowerment, diversity, and encouraging women to invest in themselves. She was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia but came to the United States of America at the age of six. She currently attends the University of Minnesota. She also founded a young women’s group called SHE, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering women in her local community so they can get older and empower women worldwide.

David Barickman

Franklin College, Religious Studies and Sociology

David Barickman was born and raised in the area around Champaign, IL. He earned a B.A. in Religious Studies and Sociology at Franklin College in Franklin, IN where he was involved in religious life and interfaith. David is starting his first year at Christian Theological Seminary as a M.Div. student and is interested in the areas of college or hospital chaplaincy as well as interfaith engagement.

Nicole Fauster

UNC

Nicole was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Both of her parents are from Uganda. She grew up speaking English and Luganda, and she started learning Arabic at a young age. She loves traveling. She has been all over the US, and has traveled extensively through Egypt and Jordan. After finishing the Ibrahim Program trip in 2013, Nicole went on to spend a full year in Morocco to study Arabic. Currently as a senior at UNC, she is involved with the Muslim Student’s Association (MSA). She hopes to continue her work in interfaith in the upcoming years.

Shaan Amin

Williams College

Shaan is a Hindu Indian American from Elmira, NY. He is the Secretary of the small South Asian Student Association at Williams College, where he also serves as a Teaching Assistant. He has been independently working with the Dean’s Office and Alumni Relations to bring more academic speakers and host more events concerning South and Southeast Asia. He founded an interfaith dialogue group in 2012, which he hopes to expand greatly in the future! Shaan is currently a senior in Williams College and he hopes to work in International Policy when he graduates.

Dalya Arussy

Queens College

Dalya Arussy graduated Summa Cum Laude from Queens College with a B.A. in Art History, minoring in Arabic as well as Business and Liberal Arts (BALA). During her time at Queens she was accepted into Phi Beta Kappa and served on the board of the Hillel, Israel Student Association and as a facilitator for the Center for Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Understanding (CERRU). Dalya’s works with CERRU as well as her Arabic studies lead to her senior thesis topic of form and function in religious buildings, specifically the notable ones in Jerusalem. Following her time as an Ibrahim fellow, Dalya studied in Morocco for five weeks where as an Orthodox Jew she was hosted by a Muslim family, an experience that brought both sides to an increased understanding of the other. Today, Dalya is studying Urban Planning at the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology where she hopes to focus on the sociological and community formation aspects within urban settings.