RGS Mentors 2024-25

This year we have four Rohatyn Global Scholars Interns, or Mentors, three of whom have been members of previous RGS cohorts. All Interns are part of the Rohatyn Student Advisory Board (RSAB) and help with student events and activities on behalf of the Rohatyn Center.

A senior International Politics and Economics major from Brooklyn, New York, Tessa has a strong connection to the Rohatyn Center; she was a member of the inaugural RGS cohort, and this is her second year working as a RCGA intern and RGS mentor. Tessa is interested in a range of international and humanitarian issues, which has led to a variety of work experiences, including at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (Middlebury Institute of International Studies), the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, the Argentine Council for International Relations, and smaller NGOs. She has just returned from studying abroad at the Middlebury School Abroad in Brazil, where she took classes at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Florianópolis and the Middlebury School Abroad in Argentina, where she direct enrolled at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires. She returns to Vermont with full fluency in Portuguese and Spanish, a better understanding of international relations, and a few funny stories of her adventures along the way. When Tessa isn’t busy with her classes or running across campus to her meetings in the RAJ, she enjoys hiking, running, painting and playing Ultimate with the Middlebury Pranksters. 

Vyas Nageswaran (he/him) is a third-year student from Singapore, majoring in Economics and double minoring in Political Science and South Asian Studies. The only RGS mentor to not have been a part of the RGS program before, he looks forward to embracing the challenges and opportunities that serving as a mentor will bring. He hopes to pursue a career related to public policy/development economics after graduation, having regularly attended RCGA events related to his scholarly interests since his first semester. In his free time, he enjoys reading PG Wodehouse with a cup of coffee, playing basketball, or blogging about philosophy and well-being.

Katysha is a senior from Westport, Connecticut whose affiliation with the RGS community has seen her transition from a member of the inaugural cohort (2021-22) to spending two years as a mentor. Although she majors in International and Global Studies with a concentration in Russia and East Europe, studying in Kazakhstan has shifted her focus to Central Asia. She spent two semesters in Kazakhstan’s capital city, Astana, and she loved exploring other cities in the ‘stans. When it was too cold to travel (up to negative 40 degrees fahrenheit in the winter!), she stayed indoors and pursued her research interests in the relationship between religion and national identity during the early period of the Soviet Union. She continues to explore these themes in her senior thesis, which she works on between attending spin classes and enjoying the TAM.

Hazel is a sophomore from Bloomington, Indiana. She is currently interested in pursuing a major in History with a minor in Spanish. As a member of the third RGS cohort, Hazel has become curious about global patterns of migration, especially in contexts of international refugee crises. She hopes to pursue these interests during her study abroad through the Human Rights Track program in Santiago, Chile. When Hazel treats herself to homework breaks, you can find her in some amazingly crazy outfits throwing a frisbee around, recreating the entirety of Pitch Perfect, or eating some (at times) great food at the dining halls. She is fluent in French and is an intermediate Spanish speaker.