Scholarship Recipients

Since 2013 a Buffalo Public School graduate committed to studying issues related to human rights and/or social justice has been awarded an Alison Des Forges Memorial Scholarship. These four-year scholarships have been awarded as follows. 

LAVIBA AKTHER

Laviba Akther was born in Bangladesh and moved to the U.S. when she was twelve years old.  Buffalo was her first home in the U.S.  She graduated from Grover Cleveland International Preparatory, where she was President of the National Honor Society (NHS) and held numerous leadership posts during her high school years.  She is a Biomedical Sciences major at the University at Buffalo with a passion for finding answers to healthcare problems in impoverished countries.  

Christabel Htoo

Christabel Htoo is a Burmese American who was born and raised in Buffalo.  She attended the Charter School for Applied Technologies, which afforded her the opportunity to intern at the M&T Tech Hub as well as shadow at local dental offices through the school’s internship program.  She also participated in the Erie Niagara Area Health Education Center Program, which enabled her to explore healthcare issues and disparities in the Erie Niagara region, and interned at the Jacobs Institute.  She is an advocate for Democracy in Myanmar and volunteers for the organization Global Movement for Myanmar Democracy in her free time.  She is also an active member of the Burmese community in Buffalo.  As a member of the BMICF Youth Group, she aspires to make healthcare accessible to her community.  She is majoring in Computer Science at the University at Buffalo.   

Moontaha Ullah 

Moontaha Ullah was born in New York City and moved to Buffalo at the age of ten.  She graduated from City Honors School, where she was the president and founder of the Henna Club, and was involved in the Multicultural Club and the Keeping the Dream Alive Committee.  She is currently studying as an intended nursing major with a minor in psychology at the University at Buffalo.

Kinja Bagalwa

Kinja was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and moved with her four siblings to Uganda until the family was granted asylum in the U.S. They were placed in Salt Lake City in an area filled with refugees from around the world. She learned how to speak English and connect with others who are different from her. Two years later, the family settled in Buffalo, where she attended Hutchinson Central Technical High School. As a cadet in the JROTC program, she learned how to mentor, facilitate events and be a better citizen. She also participated in clubs and activities such as French, Biking, Connect Life Club, Guitar, Cross Country, and UB’s Upward Bound Program. She is majoring in Speech and Hearing Science at the University at Buffalo. As a person who has struggled with speaking due to a speech impediment, she wants to help others become better communicators.

Nanzeeba AhmAd

Nanzeeba was born in Bangladesh, moved to New York City at the age of three, and recently moved to Buffalo. She graduated from Olmsted High School, where she was the President of the Olmsted Working Leadership Team. At the University at Buffalo, she majored in Biological Sciences with a minor in Public Health and participated in a public-health focused study abroad program to Jamaica. (See “A Transformative Trip to Jamaica,” in UB Now and “Addressing Public Health on the Ground in Jamaica” in UB International.) Nanzeeba is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Genetic Counseling at Columbia University. As a future clinical genetic counselor, she hopes to advocate for the use of genetics and genomics to promote social justice in health care in underserved communities.

Hannah Keller

Hannah is an accomplished singer and dancer at UB majoring in Theater and Dance.  She is exploring ways that theater and music might advance the cause of human rights by raising awareness and helping post‐conflict communities to heal. She was involved in a showing of The Laramie Project at UB, shedding light on LGBTQ rights. Born in Buffalo, she attended City Honors School, where she was involved with the City Honors Model UN team, and won an Honorable Mention and Best Delegation at the Canisius College Model UN Conferences in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Hannah Annunziata

Hannah studied Environmental Geosciences at UB focusing on how global climate change impacts the development of human rights around the globe. She is now pursuing a graduate degree in the UB Department of Geology. Born in Buffalo, she attended City Honors School, where she was involved in the Student Council and helped to start Cardinal Craze Spirit Week to bring students together at the start of the school year.

Anna Blatto

Anna graduated from UB in 2018 with degrees in Sociology and Urban Studies and Public Policy. During her senior year as an intern, and after graduation as an AmeriCorps Communications and Research Fellow, she worked with the Buffalo-based Partnership for the Public Good. Her work there included research and she produced a publication on the history and manifestations of segregation in Buffalo. She continues now as a part-time Research Associate focused on advocacy and outreach for the 2020 Census and on water affordability in the City of Buffalo. Her areas of interest include social equity and justice, racial and spatial segregation, neighborhood effects, affordable housing, and transportation. She is particularly interested in social and urban public policy, and intends to pursue graduate work in those fields.  She was born in Buffalo and attended City Honors School, where she was actively involved with the Model United Nations program and developed an active interest in human rights issues, social justice, and gender and race inequalities. 

Ledeebari D. Banuna

Ledeebari is Ogoni and was born in Nigeria, where her family was active in defending the rights of the Ogoni people against the military government and Shell Oil Corporation.  After coming to the United States, Ledeebari attended City Honors School.  She graduated from the University at Buffalo (UB) with joint degrees in Political Science and Business Administration.  During her time at UB, she was a Western New York Prosperity Program Fellow and a HSBC Scholar.  She is currently a graduate student at Pennsylvania State University, where she is studying Rural Sociology & International Agriculture and Development.  She is a National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) Program Fellow learning about regenerative landscape science.  She recently published her first article and is involved in a collaborative research project on “Indigeneity in Africa”, which resulted in a conference presentation.  She served as secretary of the Pan-African Professional Alliance, a graduate student group which raised over $7,000 for their Give Back to Africa Fund initiative.  She is particularly interested in women’s and environmental rights and policy, decolonial and sustainable development in Africa, agroecology, ethnobotany, and traditional knowledge systems.