Chris Barna is a San Diego native who attends High Tech High International as a junior. He is very passionate about international affairs as well as the general welfare of humanity. One of his heroes is Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist who has brought worldwide attention to the genocide in Sudan. Chris is also an active member of his Boy Scout troop and has done over 300 hours of service around the San Diego area. In
school, he has worked on many unique projects such as creating a computer game based on the life of Edward R. Murrow and directing a film mimicking the style of a British comedy. When he is not studying his favorite subject, English, Chris can be found surfing at one of San Diego’s many beaches or rock climbing at an indoor gym. Next year, Chris plans to start a newspaper at his school and, in the future, he hopes to pursue a career as a foreign correspondent.

Julie Gantz

Bishop's School

This coming year Julie will begin her sophomore year at The Bishop's School. She is a San Diego native who, until this past year, has been predominantly homeschooled. She feels that this "nontraditional" type of learning has allowed her to experience and study areas of interest in a more in-depth manner. For example, she spent a year studying the Civil Rights Movement culminating in a paper about Brown v. Board of Education for which she won first place in the National History Fair. During this study she interviewed people such as Peter Irons and Jack Greenberg, which gave her first hand accounts of the knowledge and involvement in the struggle for civil rights.

Julie has played volleyball for many years. Last year she began waterpolo and has added it to her list of favorites. She has volunteered at the San Diego Zoo for four years serving in the ZooCorps program for teenagers, which is aims to educate Zoo visitors about conservation and environmental awareness. She has also vounteered registering voters at Naturalization ceremonies. From this she became aware of the great diversity of peoples becoming American citizens, and enjoyed interacting with them on their day of celebration.

Julie has a passion for learning about history and how it shapes and influences the present. She would like to study law and focus on civil rights.

Quin Herron

High Tech High International

If you asked a friend of Quin Herron’s how to describe him in one word they would probably take a couple seconds and then respond, “Irish”. This is mostly because of the green converse that he often wears, along with headphones playing traditional Irish music and maybe an Irish Flute, if he has class that day. Quin is a young man who can go from being totally calm to full of excitement in a matter of seconds. He is the kind of person that, if he’s interested in the subject enough, can almost shock you with enthusiasm.

Quin was born in Plano, TX, but has lived in San Diego for most of his life. His interest in the world is fed by a daily dosage of National Public Radio and the BBC. He recently passed the tenth grade at High Tech High International where he is on the Improv Comedy team and participates in Model United Nations. He enjoys presenting in front of people and has been in a few plays and theatre programs. His coming school year will be spent on a Rotary Scholarship in Gembloux, Belgium where he will be in his junior year. In his spare time he enjoys writing, reading, and playing the Irish Flute.

Zealan Hoover

Bishop's School

Zealan Hoover will be returning to The Bishop’s School as a Junior in the upcoming school year. He has attended Bishop’s since seventh grade where he is an avid waterpolo player, and very involved in community service.

After returning from the WorldLink program at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice last summer, Zealan spearheaded an awareness campaign for children’s rights. Through an on-campus club, which he co-founded, he arranged presentations to all of his schools grades, and raised over two thousand dollars for Kenyan students. His time and effort paid off when he received the Presidential Community Service Award for the second time in a row, and received faculty endorsement to begin planning a larger educational event for the upcoming school year. Now he hopes that he can further supplement what he learned last year in order to continue serving as a conduit between the IPJ, and his schools student body.

The topics of this summer’s internship are very important to him, as he feels that our country is currently tottering on the edge of two drastically different paths - "on the road to providing true freedom and full rights to all Americans, and serving as a model for the world." At this critical time in our nation’s history, Zealan is proud to be in a position to spread awareness about this topic, and its gravity, to those who may not understand it as well. He is looking forward to a fun and educational summer, and hopes that the final product of this year’s interns will continue the fine tradition set by his predecessors.

Jackie Schulze

Bishop's School

Jackie Schulze is a senior at The Bishop’s School. She is captain of the girl’s varsity tennis team and editor of the yearbook. This past spring she participated in the National High School Model United Nations Conference in New York, where she had the opportunity to interact with students from all over the world and discuss key global issues. She says she has learned that world peace and justice requires communication, cooperation, mutual understanding and a commitment to preserving human rights and dignity. This conference inspired her to pursue additional learning opportunities through the WorldLink summer internship.

An honor roll student and committed volunteer, Jackie has received the George W. Bush Presidential Award for outstanding community service for three straight years. Her volunteer interests include Habitat for Humanity, the Monarch School, Special Olympics and Poway Senior Center. She is an active member of the Poway Chapter of National Charity League and the San Rafael Catholic Youth Ministry. Jackie hopes to attend college in New England to study communications.

Contact Information:

Karla Alvarez, WorldLink Program
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110-2492
Phone: 619-260-7509