Meet the Summer 2019 Writing Fellows Program DC Class
This month, AF is kicking off the summer 2019 term of the Writing Fellows Program. With a total of 36 students, it’s our biggest class to date! Below, meet the 17 fellows who will make up the DC section of this summer’s class.
Elise Amez-Droz
Elise Amez-Droz is an associate at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where her work addresses barriers to healthcare innovation and access. She is a Young Voices contributor and writes about healthcare. She graduated from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in 2018 and is originally from Switzerland, where she did her undergraduate studies and worked in the pharmaceutical industry.
Joseph Chalfant
Joseph Chalfant is the lead development officer at Lone Conservative and an intern for NewsBusters. He is a political science major at Texas State University and plans to attend law school to study constitutional law after graduation. He is known for being the resident Game of Thrones expert for wherever he works.
Hane Crevelari
Hane Crevelari is a second-year master’s student in the Department of Economics at George Mason University and a master’s fellow at the Mercatus Center. At the Mercatus Center, she is tasked with providing research assistance on topics such as gender and competitiveness, international trade, and immigration. Hane holds a bachelor’s in international business and economics from Utah State University. In fall of 2017, she interned at the Bank Policy Institute, formerly known as the Financial Services Roundtable. Before that, Hane worked as an international trade intern on the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. In her spare time, she enjoys learning new languages, paddle boarding, and writing short essays on everyday economics.
Shane Devine
Shane Devine grew up in New Jersey. He is currently a research intern at the Capital Research Center, an organization in Washington, DC which investigates the nonprofit world. He had previously worked for The Daily Caller after graduating from The New School in New York City with a degree in English and philosophy.
Natalie Dowzicky
Natalie Dowzicky graduated from the University of Richmond with a bachelor’s in leadership studies. She currently works as a researcher for a DC-based think tank dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace. In addition to being a Young Voices Advocate, she regularly contributes to libertarianism.org to examine how traditional political philosophies overlap with the ever-changing sphere of modern politics.
Michael Greco
Michael Greco is the Energy and Climate Change Research Intern at the Center for the National Interest, where he is writing a monograph on water management and environmental challenges in the Middle East and North Africa. He focuses on the nexus of conflict and climate change and would like to dedicate his career to peacebuilding and sustainability. Greco graduated from the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, where he concentrated in conflict resolution in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Bailey Griffith
Bailey N. Griffith is the public affairs and digital media coordinator at the American Tort Reform Association. She previously served in the office of New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez as a boards and commissions analyst, then as the director of public information and policy for the New Mexico Tourism Department. Griffith also served as director of public policy for the New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry. Currently, she is the president of the New Mexico State Society of Washington, DC, team development chair for the St. Jude Walk to End Childhood Cancer, and a member of the Junior League of Washington and the DC Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumnae Association. She is the immediate past national committeewoman for the New Mexico Young Republicans and previously sat on the Executive Committee, Rules Committee and State Central Committee of the Republican Party of New Mexico. Griffith received a bachelor of arts in strategic communication from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
Emily LaFata
Emily LaFata is an operations administrator at Alliance Defending Freedom. She graduated from Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in 2018 with a degree in liberal arts and sciences. Before joining ADF, Emily interned in the communications department of the Heritage Foundation.
Jimmy Lewis
Jimmy Lewis received his bachelor’s in religion as well as his master’s in philosophy from Liberty University. He has published with think tanks and journals, and he has ambitions of becoming a professor and prolific author once his formal education is completed. In his spare time, Jimmy enjoys reading, writing, lifting weights, and smoking cigars.
Trace Mitchell
Trace Mitchell is a research associate with the Mercatus Center and a program assistant with the Liberty & Law Center at George Mason University. Trace is a graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University, where he received a bachelor’s in political science. He is currently pursuing a JD at the George Mason University, Antonin Scalia Law School. Trace is also an alum of the Mercatus Center’s Frederic Bastiat Fellowship.
Christiana Reasor
Originally from Kansas, Christiana received her bachelor’s in political science and economics at Benedictine College. In 2017, she started working in Congress for former Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) while also attending graduate school to earn a master’s in national security and statecraft. Still serving in the House of Representatives as a legislative assistant, she is looking forward to honing her writing skills through this program.
Megan Rohn
Megan is grateful to be back at the Cato Institute, where she is currently the marketing coordinator. She graduated Pomona College in California in May 2018 with a degree in international relations, where she developed an interest for writing about foreign and defense policy and veterans issues. This fall, she will pursue her interest in international relations by becoming a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Lithuania. She also enjoys performing stand up comedy, and loves anything related to dogs.
Justin Roy
Justin Roy holds a master’s degree in history from the University of San Diego and is a program associate at the International Republican Institute. Previously he worked with Americans for a Free Syria as a fellow and with a humanitarian NGO in Greece and Croatia during the refugee crisis and in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. His has been published in Providence, The Federalist, and the National Interest.
Adam Sabes
Adam Sabes is a senior at Mississippi State University where he is studying journalism. This summer, Adam is a communication intern at Americans for Tax Reform. Adam is also a Senior Correspondent for Campus Reform, where he has been writing for the past two years. Adam’s work has been cited by various outlets, including Fox News, Forbes, Newsweek, The Daily Mail, and more.
Joshua Smith
Joshua Smith is a student at Harvard Law School who is interested in free expression and the arts. He has worked with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, PEN America, Sotheby’s, and for private libraries.
Nathaniel Urban
Nathaniel Urban manages the What Will They Learn project at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. The What Will They Learn project is a survey of general education requirements at America’s colleges and universities, and Nathaniel is responsible for tracking the latest changes made to general education programs in higher education. He is particularly passionate about civic education and the role liberal education plays in a democracy. In his spare time, Nathaniel enjoys reading the Great Books, home-brewing, and visiting the Smithsonian Museums. Nathaniel graduated from the Ashbrook Scholar program at Ashland University in 2018 and recently completed the Koch Associate Program at the Charles Koch Institute.
Elad Vaida
Elad Vaida is Government Relations Associate at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. He is also participating in the Heritage Foundation’s George C. Marshall Fellowship Program, and is a graduate of the Heritage Foundation’s Young Leaders Program. Elad has a Master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Penn State University.