Team Members - Brazil

Shaun graduated from Duke in '08 with distinction in Theater studies and English and now lives and works in New York City. Last summer, Shaun flew to Peru with three South American friends to film a documentary about Participatory Budgeting, a democratic system which has allowed poor people to see desperately needed projects completed in their communities. While at Duke, he spent a lot of time making short films as well as acting in and directing plays and musicals. Shaun hopes to one day produce and direct for television.

Jessica is a rising senior majoring in Political Science (International Relations concentration) pursuing a certificate in the Study of Ethics. She is a member of Precision Step Squad (Duke’s non-Greek step team), Passport (an internationally-themed magazine), and the Center for Race Relations. She enjoys traveling as much as she can, and spent 2008 traveling and studying in Vietnam, China, and South Africa. She enjoys photography, sports, learning random languages, and spending time at the beach! She plans to work or do research abroad for a year after graduation before returning to the States for law school.

Justin Liu is a rising senior double-majoring in Economics and Chinese. He devotes his time to Duke University’s Taiwanese Students Association as well as his selective living group, Brownstone. He spent the fall of 2008 studying abroad in Italy and has traveled extensively throughout Asia. He loves snowboarding, surfboarding, longboarding and skateboarding. After graduation, he plans to continue his studies in law school.

Carol will soon be a junior majoring in Public Policy and minoring in Russian. She spent last summer in Russia eating bread and is looking forward to upgraded meals in Brazil. Carol likes to write, but doesn’t think she’s very good at it (a bad sign when you’re trying to go into TV journalism). At Duke, she is a part of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Camp Kesem, and a violinist for the Duke Chamber Players. Carol plans on working for nonprofit organizations and serving cancer patients right after graduation.

Maya graduated from Duke in ‘09 with a degree in Biology. She hopes to continue her education by getting a Master of Public Health and then working in international and sustainable development. During her undergraduate career Maya was an active member of the Chronicle – Duke’s independent daily newspaper – where she was first a journalist and then a photographer and associate photography editor. Her work with the Chronicle sparked her interest in Students of the World. This trip to Brazil will be Maya’s first post-graduation project, but she looks forward to many more exciting and fascinating life opportunities.