Event

Please join us for the Food for Thought Talks Series Fall 2024 with the Asian American Studies Undergraduate Research Fellows 2024-2025. 

ASAM Fellow Fariha Nawar presents: OCA Summer Internship Program 

Lunch will be provided for all registrants! Please RSVP  and join us in person or  join us by Zoom here!

Bio: Fariha Nawar (she/her) is a rising senior majoring in Political Science and English, and minoring in Comparative Literature. She grew up in Vermont, and now lives in Syracuse, NY. She aspires to be an advocate in the human rights field and is passionate about uplifting marginalized communities. She is interested in comparative politics, political theory, and the literature, politics, and history of the Global South. At Penn, Fariha has been heavily involved in the Asian American community through being founder and former President of Penn Bangla, former Political Chair of the Asian Pacific Student Coalition, and a member of the ASAM UAB. She has conducted human rights research for Perry World House's Borders and Boundaries Project, and is an SNF Paideia Fellow. You can generally find her performing her spoken word poetry with the Excelano Project, exploring every bookstore within a 50-mile radius, or convincing the people around her that tea is infinitely better than coffee. 

Abstract: 

OCA National is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocacy for the civil, political, and economic rights of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs). The Summer Internship Program is the US's oldest and largest internship program for AANHPI college students. Interns are placed with external organizations in Washington, DC conducting work related to AANHPI issues and communities, and/or civic engagement and advocacy. Alongside interning with external partners, OCA summer interns support the work of OCA National by meeting with congressional offices to advocate for AANHPI causes, and provide logistical support for the 2024 OCA National Convention, an annual multi-day conference bringing AAPI advocates from around the country together to engage in discussion, trainings, and collaboration.