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Yasser Aponte

International Affairs and Religious Studies, BA
Security and Resilience Studies, MS

Graduated in 2022

Yasser Aponte became a Foundation Year scholar and enrolled at Northeastern in 2016. Initially indecisive, his interest in traveling and experience exploring different religious texts in high school led him to a double major in International Affairs and Religious Studies. 

Related Schools & Departments

Northeastern student Yasser Aponte works at The Food Project to help deliver fresh food to local communities in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Yasser’s Path

Yasser was in the Foundation Year program at Northeastern. The program was a rigorous deep dive into core subject classes that helped Yasser bridge the gap between his high school and college experiences.

Foundation Year

He took Issues in Cities and Suburbs with Professor Erin Graves in Fall 2018. As someone deeply invested in urban life, he found the course was an enlightened look at the problems endemic to cities.

Political Science Course Catalog

Yasser joined the Boston Beer Company as a Program Operations and Event Assistant for his first co-op. He worked on inventory, public relations, brewery events, and workspace organization.

The Boston Beer Company

He implemented community gardens all over Boston on deserted plots of land during his time as the Northeastern Campus Director for the campus’ United Nations Millennium Fellowship.

The Millenium Fellowship

Yasser maintained a farm in Dorchester for The Food Project. He harvested crops, distributed produce through donations and food markets, and worked on overall logistics.

In the middle of Boston, he’s growing food for good

In 2020, Yasser won the Community Service Leadership award, given to students who show exemplary community engagement. He was recognized for his work at The Food Project, Northeastern Crossing, and more.

Community Service Leadership Award
Student walking in distance.

He graduated 2022 with his Bachelor’s in International Affairs and Religious Studies and his Master’s in Security and Resilience Studies, through Northeastern’s PlusOne program.

Yasser Aponte on LinkedIn
“I am very grateful; I am very blessed to have had the opportunity to take my academic and research and apply them to the real world. It makes me feel like an advocate for knowledge, for education, it makes me feel humble.”

Ultimately, Yasser aims to give back to his community by creating opportunities for others to thrive.

More Student Paths

Charles T. Wallace-Thomas IV

  • Charles took "Sustainable Renewable Energy Development in the Global South" with Professor Shalanda Baker, which pushed him to further question systems as they exist, no matter their entrenched in society.
  • He did community service as part of the Ujima Global Leaders Program through the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute. He worked on the Timebank team, helping give back to local communities.
  • Charles split his time for his first co-op between the Center for Economic Democracy and the Boston Ujima Project, where he analyzed studies on community needs, including infrastructure and childcare.
  • He was one of the co-creators of the #BlackAtNU campaign and advocated for racial literacy courses and a restorative and transformative justice center on campus.
  • Charles made his own research project- a macroeconomic index to measure democratic participation in municipal economies, partnering with NU, the Columbus Foundation and the Center for Economic Democracy.
  • He worked at the Participatory Budgeting Project as a Program Associate, helping city systems and other organizations actively decide how to invest money across different spaces.
  • Charles graduated in 2022. ..

Casey Greenleaf

  • Casey took Global Markets and Local Cultures. After traveling, she better saw how the coursework mirrored real life, and knew her education was preparing her for the world.
  • She went on a DOC to Argentina and Uruguay, and become highly proficient while living in Buenos Aires and visiting the glaciers of the Patagonia region.
  • Casey completed her first co-op at the Museum of Fine Arts as a community arts program assistant. She gained valuable hands-on experience assisting in arts classes for local communities.
  • She joined the Sociology & Anthropology Student Association during her third year. It allowed her to get to know her fellow students and mirrored the small school experience she loved.
  • Casey studied abroad in Nepal for her capstone thesis. She lived alone for a month while she researched and wrote about the lived experience of climate change in the lower Himalayas.
  • She worked for the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, founded by Professor Sarah Wylie. She produced promotional videos, developed a virtual research event, wrote event programming, and more.
  • Casey graduated in 2020. ..

Sunita Pfitzner

  • Sunita took Revolution, Civil War, and Insurrection, taught by Professor Risa Kitagawa. The course invited students to question the motives behind acts of violence against governments.
  • She traveled on a Dialogue of Civilizations to Jordan and Egypt; while there she grew interested in Middle East politics and the Arabic language.
  • Sunita worked at the Institute for Economics and Peace in Sydney, Australia, where she analyzed data on the corruption of police forces in Mexico.
  • Sunita was a member of the International Relations Council and traveled abroad with the club to compete in Model Arab League, Model NATO, and Model UN conferences.
  • Sunita conducted research with Berna Turam, developing a greater understanding of the Mediterranean migrant crisis. She also researched the feminist response to Covid-19 with Val Moghadam.
  • She graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2022.
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