In Action

Not a tragedy. Congratulations to Nick Mosca, MS ‘02, who won Harvard Divinity School’s 2013 Billings Preaching Prize on April 13th, delivering a sermon about humor in the Gospels. The contest has taken place annually since 1904.

Innovation Explanation: Jason Young, MS ’02, was recognized by American Express and Ashoka as one of forty-five future leaders in social entrepreneurship in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. He is the founder of Mindblown Labs, a start-up that makes mobile games that teach young people financial literacy and other 21st Century Skills. Jason will take part in the2013 American Express Emerging Innovators Campaign.

In Successful Fashion: following her graduation from Penn this spring, Alixandra Kriegsman, MS '09, will begin her job as a marketing coordinator for Conde Nast, the publishing house for magazines such as Vogue, New Yorker, GQ, and Vanity Fair.

Let the Sun Shine In:Angela Oh, MS ‘11, and Christina Vourakis, MS ‘12, have partnered up to establish an official Harvard chapter of Project Sunshine, an organization that partners with local hospitals to help support programs related to arts, crafts, education, and social services for children who face medical challenges. They are looking forward to initiating creative new programs at Tufts Floating Hospital in Boston this semester and beyond.

Word Lovers Unite! Graphic artist Veronika Heckova-Wu, MS ‘03, and her husband, Albert Wu, have recently launched Lexigrams, a new kind of visual dictionary designed to help people learn and retain complex English words using artistic illustrations that touch on universal cues and themes. Thus far, Lexigrams has over 100 illustrated word definitions and it continues to grow.

Entrepreneurial Spirit: Congratulations to Shilpa Bhongir, MS ‘12, who was recently elected co-coordinator of Occidental College’s student-run community outreach organization, Oxypreneurship. Among the many projects they will be working on is helping to organize Occidental’s first TEDx event in March.

Setting the Bar: new Columbia Law School alumnus, Florentino Salazar, MS ‘04, continues to impress as he recently passed the New York Bar Exam. Congratulations!

You can’t make it up: Diego Renteria, MS ‘07, is a contributor for a new book put together by journalist and author Sam Quinones, Tell Your True Tale. The book is a compendium of nonfiction stories that reflect experiences of seven first-time authors who grew up in East Los Angeles, and it originated from a workshop that Quinones put together with the goal of getting new writers working on stories about their own lives; true stories that read like fiction.

The windy galaxy: Erik Shirokoff, MS ‘98 will take his work in astronomy to Lake Michigan this June, as he joins the faculty of the University of Chicago as an Assistant Professor. Congratulations!

Presidential Advisory: President Obama’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans has a new member as Jason Young, MS ‘00, was recently appointed to help, “create lasting public-private partnerships that will empower young people throughout the country with financial capability skills.” Jason is the CEO and co-founder of MindBlown Labs, a financial literacy software company based in Oakland. Congratulations!