The Dinah F. B. Cohen Fellowship Program aims to provide college students and recent graduates with disabilities with professional skills and leadership opportunities. Recently, our Fall 2024 cohort completed their fellowship, and we want to highlight them and their accomplishments!
Ariana (She/her) graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) with a Bachelor’s in Sociology in 2022. Currently, Ariana is a second-year graduate student at Texas A&M University, pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Administration with a focus in Policy Analysis, alongside a Certificate in Nonprofit Management. Ariana’s career goal is to combine research and advocacy efforts to advance policies for marginalized groups. In her free time, Ariana enjoys exploring new places and taking spontaneous trips, as well as spending time outdoors with her dog on long walks.
“My name is Keyshon Rankin, diagnosed at birth with Cerebral Palsy, a muscle impairment, I often had to adapt to my unorthodox lifestyle. I heavily enjoy accommodating for those with challenges or special needs as I have been there. My passions consist of cars, technology, and impacting the world as best I can. I love the technical side of building cars to perform under various conditions, I love technology in the form of cyber security measures, and I try my best to utilize such passions to make an ever-lasting impact on society.”
Kaley Delker (She/Her/Hers) is a student at Loyola University New Orleans. She studies history with a minor in music. Currently, she works on campus with several student organizations to advocate for students with disabilities. Kaley wants to work on improving the educational experience of people with disabilities. She believes students deserve easier access to registering and receiving accommodations. When she is not in classes or working the after school program at a local school, Kaley enjoys going to the zoo, museums, and exploring New Orleans.
Marrow Woods (they/them) is a senior at Wesleyan College, pursuing a B.A. in English and Religion, Philosophy, and Social Change. Passionate about community building, creative placemaking, and youth leadership, Marrow’s recent work includes managing youth development programs and leading the ACEs Community Resilience Initiative with Macon Mental Health Matters. They are currently writing an honors thesis that explores how mythmaking and the Black imagination function as acts of resistance and liberation, through the lens of Afrofuturist and speculative texts. In their free time, you can find them drinking London fogs, cuddling with their cat Miso, and watching horror movies.
Donovan Guerrero is a 23 year old student who studies mechanical engineering at Wentworth Institute of Technology. He grew up in Hudson, NH and the North Shore in Massachusetts. He was diagnosed with severe hemophilia type A shortly after birth and developed an inhibitor at two years old. Although he began his studies in the Fall 2020 semester and has taken two LOA’s due to traumatic, major injuries, he is determined to graduate in the fall of 2026 with a bachelor’s degree and begin his career working as an engineer. Donovan desires to use this fellowship experience as a catalyst to help capable, intelligent, proactive students in Boston with chronic illnesses and disabilities succeed in primary, secondary, and tertiary education, despite their constant battle with poor health.
Amy Thiam is a Posse scholar in her sophomore year at the University of Virginia pursing a double major in Public Policy and Africana Studies. She has interests in law, government, and education policy with the goal of advocating for marginalized populations. She is looking forward to getting more involved in the disability advocacy space and learning from her peers.
Sana (she/her) is a senior at the University of Connecticut pursuing a degree in Human Development and Family Sciences. She is from New Haven, Connecticut, and plans to pursue a career in social work, focusing on mental health support and community-based interventions for marginalized communities. Sana is passionate about social justice, equity, and providing trauma-informed care for young people. In her free time, she enjoys reading, spending time outdoors, being with friends and family, and going to concerts.
Pearl Zhang (she/her/hers) is currently a Master’s of Education candidate at Harvard University Graduate School of Education, where she strives to create equitable educational opportunities for people with disabilities and engineer inclusive assistive technologies for students with disabilities. She graduated with a BA in Computer Science and a BA in education from Swarthmore College in 2023. She was an American Association of People with Disabilities fellow, a software engineer intern at the US Access Board, and a Coding It Forward fellow. In her free time, she loves going on long walks, reading fiction, and trying out new recipes.