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Millennium Fellows 2021

Ten students from the University of South Florida have been selected as 2021 Millennium Fellows. The Fellowship, a collaboration between the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and Millennium Campus Network (MCN), is a semester-long leadership development program that convenes, challenges and celebrates bold student leadership to advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals both on campus and in communities.

This year, more than 20,000 young leaders applied for the fellowship from 2,200 campuses across 153 nations. Only 136 campuses in 30 nations were selected to host 2021 Millennium Fellows based on the caliber of applicants and cohorts. USF is among only 26 American universities selected to host fellows this year.

The selected students are each working on a project to advance one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. This year, the Millennium Fellows at USF will help establish a drug prevention coalition, increase academic equity, create an app to easily find sustainable products, increase school supply sustainability, encourage youth to become involved in humanitarian causes, and promote mental health awareness among students.

“It is our great privilege at the University of South Florida to support the work of our 10 UN Millennium Fellows and advance sustainable development initiatives that improve our society,” said USF Provost and Executive Vice President Ralph Wilcox. “We congratulate our Fellows, whose leadership and commitment to meaningful change exemplifies the strength of USF's commitment to social responsibility.”

USF’s cohort of 2021 Millennium Fellows includes:
Kailani Hood
Cell and Molecular Biology major
Expected graduation: Spring 2023
Project title: Founding USF Drug Prevention Coalition
This project will establish a drug prevention coalition at USF that will be tasked with spreading awareness of the dangers of substance misuse through educational seminars and advocating for policy reforms at both the state and national level.

Steven Long
Anthropology major
Expected graduation: Summer 2023
Project title: The Higher Opportunity Initiative
The Higher Opportunity Initiative will increase academic equity in the Tampa Bay area by giving at-risk high school students the opportunity to gain "simulated acceptance" into the University of South Florida for one weekend. They will visit campus and create a positive association with the college environment while being provided resources that can help make their collegiate goals a reality.
Sean Schrader
Business Management major
Expected graduation: Spring 2022
Project title: Sustainable School Supply Kits
The kit will include pencils that can be replanted, a bamboo ruler, a cotton pouch, and a metal pencil sharpener, all contained in a biodegradable box. Essentially, these kits would eliminate the use of plastic in school supplies that can be repurposed in other ways aside from their primary purpose.
Paula Souto Stefani
Management and Business Analytics major
Expected graduation: Spring 2022
Project title: ShopSmart
ShopSmart is a sustainable application that has the main purposes of informing consumers to make educated decisions towards a product's sustainable impacts and helping them see which products best adheres to their lifestyle preferences and dietary restrictions. The idea of the app is to not only provide to customers information about products that meet their dietary restrictions (saving consumers shopping time) but also educate them about companies’ sustainable impacts.
Nafisa Uddin
Biomedical Sciences and International Studies major
Expected graduation: 2024
Project title: Project Butterfly Effect
Project Butterfly Effect is an initiative with the aim to encourage youth to get involved with humanitarian causes. Like the theory that shares its name, the project is based on the principle that simple, individual actions can lead to huge impacts. Project Butterfly Effect specifically emphasizes the plight of underprivileged children and will work to galvanize privileged youth to act against the obstacles facing underprivileged youth by highlighting a specific issue and encouraging young people to use their talents, have empathy, and develop leadership skills to participate in or create events that directly address the specific issue.
Padma Vasanthakumar
Biomedical Sciences major with an Entrepreneurship minor
Expected graduation: Spring 2023
Project title: H-Art-Fulness for All
This project provides virtual sessions to promote mental health awareness among students. Through these sessions, students are introduced to simple and effective coping strategies like Heartfulness meditation and art therapy to ensure that all students can pursue their education with good health and well-being
Prakash Vasanthakumar
Biomedical Sciences major with an Entrepreneurship minor
Expected graduation: Spring 2023
Project title: H-ART-fulness for All
This project provides virtual sessions to promote mental health awareness among students. Through these sessions, students are introduced to simple and effective coping strategies like Heartfulness meditation and art therapy to ensure that all students can pursue their education with good health and well-being.