Become a Peer Mentor
The Community Impact Internships Program is successful due to the leadership and work of the Peer Mentors! Community Impact Internship Program Peer Mentors are upperclassmen who have already participated in the Community Impact Internships Program. It’s their responsibility to lead and mentor the CIIP cohort.
Peer Mentors are assigned to a placement area and CIIP intern group throughout CIIP and serve as another layer of support to the interns.
Have questions? Contact [email protected]
Peer Mentor Cohorts
Take a look below and get to know some of our Peer Mentors from this past summer experience.
2024 Peer Mentors
Dua Hussain 26′
Hometown: New Castle, DE
Majors: Anthropology & Medicine, Science, and the Humanities- concentration in Writing Seminars
2024 Placement: Keswick Multi-Care Center
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
In resident art, we had a pop-up class in which a poet came in to teach about how to write poetry. In that class, the residents spent a lot of time reflecting on their lives and writing about it. It became very emotional, but I will never forget that day because of how much I learned about them and their lives. I got closer to some of the residents and it made the rest of my summer so much better.Seeing Inside Out with my mentees
Makaila Hyman 26′
Hometown: Baltimore, MD
Majors: Political Science
2024 Placement: Mayors Office of Immigrant Affairs
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
My favorite experience this summer was seeing Inside Out 2 with my mentees!
Nicole Rivas 24′
Hometown: Cheverly, MD
Majors: International Studies, minor in Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies
2024 Placement: Asylee Women Enterpise
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
My favorite experience this summer was participating in Community Lunches and getting to know the Asylee Women Enterpise community, including AWE clients (asylum seekers), volunteers, and my colleagues. I also enjoyed the Scavenger hunt around Baltimore with my mentees!
Anusha Sarkar 24′
Hometown: Chester, NJ
Majors: Public Health, Cognitive Science
2024 Placement: Esperanza Center
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
My favorite experience this summer was a team lunch we took to celebrate one of the staff member’s birthdays. I got to try food from a local restaurant I hadn’t been to before, and hear the stories of how some of the staff came to America and why they choose to work with the immigrant population in Baltimore City. I really enjoyed being able to connect with the team more and to hear their amazing stories and histories in the city.
Bersabe Tilahun
2024 Placement: MOMCares
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
My favorite part of this internship was the alignment with my personal passion for assisting marginalized communities, particularly as I became more aware of the profound disparities in maternal health outcomes for Black women.
2023 Peer Mentors
Frank Meng ’24
Hometown: San Jose, CA
Majors: English, Sociology
2023 Placement: Baltimore City Public Schools Engagement Office
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
Working with wonderful people and mentors who equipped me with not only reflective and honest feedback that helped me professionally but also life lessons that revolutionized my understanding of how to be a good advocate and a lifelong civil servant.
Carlos Gamboa ’25
Hometown: Miami, FL
Majors: International Studies, Public Health
2023 Placement: The Office of Councilmember Zeke Cohen
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
My favorite experience from last summer was attending a community meeting in Upper Fells Point. I provided updates on district-wide initiatives while also collecting questions and concerns from local residents to share with Councilmember Cohen. This experience, and other opportunities I had to engage with the citizens of Baltimore, forged a connection between me and the community.
Diksha Iyer ’25
Hometown: Dearborn, MI
Majors: Public Health, Economics
2023 Placement: Out For Justice
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
I loved the weekly BITES sessions with my CIIP cohort that were hosted by the CSC. Each week, I found my previous knowledge and conceptions about the topics discussed challenged and reshaped. It was a wonderful experience to be able to go through eye-opening discussions about the various roots of inequality and possible solutions with a group of diverse peers.
Rebecca Baxter ’25
Hometown: Olney, MD
Majors: Biomedical Engineering
2023 Placement: Corner Team Inc.
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
The scavenger hunt during orientation!
Estelle Yeung ’24
Hometown: Clinton, NJ
Majors: Public Health, International Studies
2023 Placement: Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
My favorite experience from last summer was helping to staff BHRC’s policy advocacy campaign for overdose prevention sites at NoMu NoMu!
Brahein Richardson ’23
Hometown: Sicklerville, NJ
Majors: Chemistry, Spanish
2023 Placement: The Black Church Food Security Network
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
Traveling to North Carolina to visit some of the Black Farms within BCFSN’s network.
Mimi Avril ’25
Hometown: Miami, FL
Majors: Psychology, Public Health
2023 Placement: Center Baltimore Partnership
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
My favorite experience during the summer was the activity we did during orientation, where half of us formed a circle sitting on the ground, and the other half walked around and gave taps and light touches in response wonderful feelings we gave each other. I cried because I felt so touched, appreciated, and embraced.
Fatima Baloul ’25
Hometown: Alexandria, VA
Majors: Public Health
2022 Placement: Shepherd’s Clinic
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
Meeting life-long friends through CIIP 🙂
2022 Peer Mentors
Genesis Aire ’23
Majors: International Studies, Sociology, and Writing Seminars
2021 Placement: Dent
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
My internship last summer was entirely remote except for the last day when there was a field day for the Denters at Patterson Park. It was my most memorable experience from last summer because I was able to meet my coworkers and Denters in person for the first time. It was really fun playing all these games and competing with the kids.
Caroline Colvin ’23
Hometown: Fairbanks, AKMajor: Vocal Performance
2021 Placement: DewMore Baltimore
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
Weekly Bites of Baltimore Sessions!
Deleted: Siena DeFazio ’23
Major: Public Health
2021 Placement: No Boundaries Coalition
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
National Night Out where I got to run a political education game I created to incite discourse about food access.
Sigrid Edson ’23
Hometown: Falls Church, VAMajors: Sociology and International Studies
2021 Placement: Station North Arts District
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
My favorite experience from last summer was supporting logistics for community events at the Ynot Lot, a public event space in Station North. Doing this work, I got the chance to meet many amazing artists and community organizers working in Baltimore, learn new practical skills, and start to feel at home in a new neighborhood of the city.
Cionne Gates ’23
Hometown: Atlanta, GAMajor: Psychology
2021 Placement: By Peaceful Means
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
My favorite experience was leading a poetry workshop on the last day of summer camp for the age group (3-7 yrs old) I’ve been working with the entire summer. They made acrostic and free verse poems with their names or positive experiences they cherished during their time with me as a teacher, and it was very heartwarming to witness.
Laís Santoro ’23
Hometown: Downingtown, PA
Majors: Public Health and Environmental Studies
2021 Placement: Whitelock Community Farm
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
I loved hearing stories from community members and talking to the people that would walk by the farm, even if it was a 30 second interaction or a 30 minute one and they stuck by to chat. We also had community meals most Fridays and used produce on the farm, shared a meal and some love !!
Stacey Tang ’24
Hometown: Mount Olive, NJMajors: Public Health and Behavioral Biology
2021 Placement: Thread
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
My favorite experience from last summer was watching the students that I worked with at Thread grow throughout their entire summer school program. Seeing them open up more and more and engage in the activities I prepared was super rewarding and fulfilling experience.
Koye Oputa ’24
Hometown: Old Bridge, NJMajors: Cognitive Science
2021 Placement: Episcopal Refugee and Immigrant Center Alliance (ERICA) and Asylee Women Enterprise (AWE)
What was your favorite experience from last summer?
I enjoyed getting to know ERICA and AWE program participants, some of whom I am still in contact with today!
2020 Peer Mentors
Sarah Abdellah ’22
Majors: Public Health Studies and Neuroscience
2019 Placement: 29th St. Community Center
Edwin Arriola ’21
Major: Molecular and Cellular Biology
2019 Placement: CentroSOL
My favorite experience from last year was meeting up with my fellow interns for dinner or for salsa at the sandlot. I made a lot of amazing connections with my fellow interns and really found a support group that motivated me through any tough times I had over the summer.
Yvette Bailey-Emberson ’22
2019 Placement: Child First Authority at Robert W. Coleman Elementary School
One of my favorite moments was when I was walking pre-k students over to Coppin University for a basketball game. Some of the kids fought over holding my hand and were interrupting each other to tell me stories or show me dance moves. It was so cute and I was so happy that the kids had welcomed me into their world.
Jevon Campbell ’22
Majors: Biology and Applied Mathematics and Statistics
2019 Placement: Dent Education
My favorite experience from last year was the Dent Education final showcases (both at our site and the bigger one) where all the students got to show off their work to family members, friends, and community members. It was great to see all the things the students accomplished and see how far they came over the school year. I was really proud of them.
Lyle Carrera ’22
Majors: Public Health Studies and Political Science
2019 Placement: FreeState Justice
Getting to know and learn from the rest of the cohort–seeing what motivates them, checking out what they enjoy, leaning on their experiences and expertise–is what made CIIP more than just an internship program for me. Beyond just being fun people to hang out with, the people in CIIP are true advocates for their communities and inspirations in my life.
Smitha Mahesh ’21
Majors: Philosophy and Bioethics
2018 Placement: Child First Authority, City Springs Elementary/Middle School
My favorite experience last summer was exploring the numerous gems of Baltimore — in food, dances, music, and cultures!
Charlie Nguyen ’21
Majors: Public Health Studies and Economics
2019 Placement: Episcopal Refugee and Immigrant Center Alliance (ERICA)
I don’t know if I can narrow down one specific favorite experience with ERICA last summer, but I loved getting to know the people in our program. My supervisor and I also got to attend an advocacy training in DC where we got to talk to our representatives (or rather, their staffers), which was pretty exciting!