Advocacy Committee

Co-Chairs: Sophia Dimitrova (sofiad@sas.upenn.edu), Justin Cho (choyongs@seas.upenn.edu)

Projects:

Committee Chairs:
Sophia Dimitrova Sophia is the current co-chair of the Advocacy committee and a Penn sophomore in the College majoring in International Relations. She is from Sofia, Bulgaria (but not named after the city). At Penn she is involved with the Assembly of International Students in both the Advocacy and ILINC committees and the Penn Vegan Society whenever she has time. She likes dancing, ballet being her favorite. She also loves traveling, especially going on trips to NYC, reading fashion and spiritual books, and joking with her friends. Having recently become a vegan, her current ambition is to learn how to cook and bake. Unlike Malika, however, she actually cannot eat Nutella because it is not vegan, so she is stuck with peanut butter.
Justin Cho Justin “Joaquín” Cho is a freshman in SEAS studying BE. He is currently the Freshman Representative in AIS with Amanda Acosta and a co-chair on the Advocacy Committee with Sophia Dimitrova. He was born in Korea, but grew up in Taiwan, studying at an American school. As a freshman rep, his aim for this year is to promote international and cultural awareness at Penn by hosting events primarily for the freshman class. His goals as a member of the Advocacy committee is to influence the school’s direction on financial aid concerning international students and to help both new and old international students ease into the Penn community by providing essential information as early on as possible. He looks forward to working with his fellow AIS/Steering members and to listen to your suggestions! :D


Committee Members:

Committee Members:
Vincent Chang Vincent is in the class of 2015 majoring in Bioengineering and minoring in Engineering Entrepreneurship. His hometown is Taiwan, where he enjoys all the delicious food and hilarious TV shows. Outside of AIS Advocacy, Vincent is also on the boards of Penn Taiwanese Society, Global Development Collaborative Inc., Penn Pre-Medical Student Association, and ILINC. Vincent loves to design websites, conduct medical research, and build relationship with people from other universities. Currently at the top of his bucket list is to visit all the Ivies. Some funny facts about Vincent are 1) his favorite animal is squirrel, 2) his closet only contains black or white clothes.
Malika Kadyrova Malika means Queen in Arabic. Mali for short. Sophomore in the College, double-majoring in Classical Studies and Comparative Literature. Don’t mind the deceptively absent accent; she hails from Moscow, Russia, where it is not always cold, thank you very much. Apart from AIS, Mali is in Yalla Middle-Eastern Dance and Drum Troupe, Onda Latina, and Classless TV. Mali likes to get unironically enthusiastic about things, and will always choose Nutella over peanut butter. She likes piña coladas and getting caught in the rain (if she has an umbrella and wellies).
Shelina Khanna Hi everbody! I’m Shelina and I love AIS and the international scene
here! I’m from Bombay, Hong Kong and Dubai. Out of everywhere I’ve
lived, I’ve had the most fabulous time here at UPenn, studying finance
at Wharton. My friends think I’m secretly French because I speak
French and the concept of a donut is still rather obtuse to me but I’m
actually just secretly Malaysian-Bulgarian. I’m an epicure in that I
am a connoisseur of trash; among other things I like: playing Chopin,
collecting gemstones, bad karaoke, Iranian art, silly Hong Kong
comedies, cats and exotic foods. I’m always up for adventures so if
you’ve got one, let’s talk. I’m also involved with Penn International
Sustainability Association (PISA), and Penn Speech and Debate.
Turan Orujlu Hi, I’m Turan. I’m studying Economics in the College (’13). My hometown is Baku, Azerbaijan. Besides AIS Advocacy I am also involved in AIS IMO and Penn Chess Club. I love history, movies, football, and Pro Evolution Soccer. My favorite football club is Bayern Munich!
Vincent Koech NA
Adriana Saman

 Adriana comes all the way from Ecuador, South America (where the weather is actually nice all year long). She is in the School of Arts and Sciences class of 2015. Passionate about international development issues, she wants to double major in Economics and International Relations. She speaks four languages: French, Italian, Spanish, and English (Portuguese coming soon!).  Besides AIS Advocacy, she is also involved in the Penn Microfinance initiative for Nicaragua, is the director for Alumni Outreach in ILINC, and is also part of the International Affairs Association. She loves Latin American music (to dance and listen to), and to meet people from different cultures.

 

 

 

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