"With $35 and a contact in New York, my mom applied for political asylum," says Oriana Riley. Oriana is a rising sophomore at Stanford University interested in politics and creative writing. When she's not working on Econ PSets or ignoring her PWR homework, she writes for the Stanford Daily and works for the Law Library. In her free time, she goes on long runs and writes short novels.

"Black students were routinely punished more harshly–in terms of detention, suspension, and expulsion to alternative schools–for the same offenses as white students, including dress code violations, selling snacks, and leaving campus for lunch," says Michael Brown, describing their experiences growing up in Houston. Micheal is a senior at Stanford majoring in African and African-American Studies with a minor in Political Science. They were born and raised in Houston, TX before moving to Palo Alto, CA. They are passionate about politics, philosophy, music, media, and popular culture.

"Since the Lebanese Civil War of 1975, Lebanon has been mutilated, tortured, and destroyed by mafia lords comfortably sitting on a pile of crimes and obstructions," says Tiffany Saade. A rising junior at Stanford majoring in Political Science and minoring in International Relations, Tiffany was born and raised in Lebanon, in the midst of political instability and corruption. Her dream is to return to her country and participate in the much needed reform on the political, governmental, judicial and constitutional levels.