Joining hands with CUNY Interns



Hashir Ali

Web Developer

Hashir Ali is pursuing a degree in Computer Science and works as a web developer at RICH. He is passionate about web development and strives to create user-friendly, dynamic websites. His journey in technology began with a fascination for coding and problem-solving, which led him to explore various programming languages and technologies. At RICH, Hashir has contributed to enhancing the website's functionality and user experience, implementing new features and optimizing existing ones. His commitment to continuous learning and innovation drives him to stay updated with the latest industry trends. Hashir embodies the RICH Principle of "I am Motivated" and is dedicated to making a positive impact through his technical skills and creativity.





Nuzhat Chowdhury

Project Manager

Nuzhat Chowdhury is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics at CUNY Hunter College. She aspires to earn a Ph.D. in Physics and work in the Astrophysics field. Nuzhat is committed to her academic and professional endeavors, with a well known work ethic. She has a passion for her studies and desires, in hope of making a positive impact in many communities. Nuzhat is a collaborative team player, skilled in fostering effective communication and coordination among her colleagues. During the summer of 2024, Nuzhat's creative, interpersonal, and organizational abilities were an asset to the RICH CUNY Interns team. She gained skills in web development, design, and research through the team's ambitious, “RICH Spaceship”project, a game designed from her inspirations and love of outer space. Its purpose is to attract students to the RICH Google Classroom. In her time here they were able to implement phase one of the project.





Yussuf Sakoor

Marketing Assistant

Yussuf Sakoor is majoring in Psychology at Queens College CUNY. As a RICH intern, he used his psychology interest in describing human behavior to research and create marketing videos targeting middle schoolers for the RICH organization. Great team player, and develops collaborative relationships with his colleagues. While also helping to contribute to the "RICH Towards The Future" project, he embodies the "I am responsible" principle of RICH.





Rifah Thakur

Research Assistant

Rifah Thakur is currently pursuing a dual major in Sociology and Psychology at City College of New York. She loves studying the intricacies of human behavior at both the individual and community levels. Rifah is driven to become a Therapist with the goal to guide and support individuals who struggle with mental health. Known for her empathetic and organizational skills, she closely resonates with the RICH Principle of “I am Considerate” and drives herself to improve her interpersonal relationships to foster positive change within her community. Rifah's time at RICH helped her cultivate a better understanding of the importance of how to carry out research through developing relationships with her team members while also contributing to the "RICH Towards The Future" project.





Joel Vasquez

Web Developer

Joel Vasquez is studying for a degree in Computer Science at Baruch College and works as a web developer at RICH. He aspires to have a career in Data Science but is also interested in Machine Learning and AI. His passion for technology stems from his love for video games. His enthusiasm for video games drove Joel to study Computer Repair in high school where he built computers to further share his interest with his community. Studying Computer Science has also brought him closer to the software field and has motivated him to learn more about how computers function both hardware and software-wise. At RICH, Joel successfully helped to launch the "RICH Towards The Future" project while at the same time collecting data and feedback to further enhance its effectiveness. He also created the search functionality for the RICH website utilizing his knowledge in the languages of Computer Science including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.





Shaine Lomenario

Web Developer

Shaine Lomenario is currently a computer science major at CUNY Queens College. He is very passionate about technology and wants to pursue a software engineer career at Google or Spotify. His responsibilities at RICH include creating/designing the layout and landing for the “new vision” on the RICH homepage. Shaine is very outgoing and friendly. He can always be counted on to be diligent in his work. He incorporates every RICH Principle into his everyday life. He maintains optimism and is constantly seeking new opportunities to improve his well-being. Shaine is launching the “new vision” for RICH to encourage adults aspiring to make a difference and looking to attend higher ed and possibly CUNY.





Guangqing Yuan

Web Developer

Guangqing Yuan attends Queens College studying computer science, and plans to become a software developer. He has been fascinated by software, computers, and technology since a young age. Known as a flexible person that is open to new experiences, his work as RICH's web developer is focused on designing a web landing page for parents and educators. The website helpingurbankidsonline.com. Guangqing is known to actively take responsibility for his actions and decisions, and is a thoughtful team member. He actively listens to others' opinions and strives to understand different perspectives when implementing his website designs.




Maliha Tasnim

Web Developer

Maliha Tasnim is a rising sophomore at CUNY Hunter College, studying computer science. She aims to become a software engineer. Apart from her passion for computer science, she is also deeply interested in drawing and reading. Described as a highly motivated and goal-oriented individual, Maliha excels as a web developer and has exceptional organizational skills. She embraces the RICH Principle "I am responsible for my behavior", and holds herself accountable for completing tasks efficiently. Maliha's focus on details quickly earned her recognition from the RICH organization for her digital savvy personality.










Sadia Ishak

Project Manager for RICH Website

Congratulations to our Queens College Intern, Sadia Ishak, on her graduation and remarkable accomplishments! Sadia, your work ethic, vision, creative talent, and management of the RICH organization’s website development team are extraordinary! We at RICH wish you the very best and I look forward to our continued relationship and partnership!” - Jacqueline Dawson, Ph.D. (December 2022)





Janeen Hyatt

Media Communications Intern

Janeen Hyatt, a junior majoring in Forensic Psychology and minoring in Anthropology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, is a Media Communications intern at RICH. She managed the various RICH social media platforms during the 30th-anniversary campaign and produced, hosted, and edited the three 30th-anniversary podcast videos promoting how students and parents can use the RICH guiding principles to practice and encourage self-affirming behaviors for personal and academic success. When Janeen is not interning at RICH or dedicating time to her studies, she attends music and performing arts productions, practices digital photography and graphic design, writes poems, and spends quality time with her family and friends. With her passion for advocating for individuals with limited access to mental healthcare due to their culture, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, Janeen aspires to be a Clinical Psychologist and Certified Behavioral Analyst.





Angela Haxhari

Media Communications Intern

Angela is a sophomore at CUNY College of Staten Island pursuing a degree in Social Work. She is a team member on the RICH Social Media Platforms who works on social media campaign designs which includes the RICH Affirmation Project. Using the RICH Reach for Success Program 4 Guiding Principles, she is formulating affirmations for the social media audience. She is a diligent student and worker who likes to get involved in community events. Angela’s dream job is becoming a school social worker since she is passionate about working with others and helping them flourish. RICH has helped her grow and exemplify these traits by plunging into the social worker mindset to develop campaign messages and focus on the school, community, and family audience.




Olha Kravtsova

Web Designer

Olha is a freshman at New York City College of Technology, working towards earning a bachelor's degree in computer systems. She is responsible for updating the website, including pages such as "CUNY Interns" and the "30th Anniversary". Olha aspires to become a web designer and branch out into full-time freelancing. She has been interested in this field since high school and is taking the next steps to achieve her goals. The RICH Organization has been helpful in increasing Olha’s experience in the field of her interest.










Sadia Ishak

Web-Based Project Manager

Sadia is currently a senior who came on board with the RICH organization in her freshman year at Queens College. She is majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Business Liberal Arts. Working as the RICH Web-development Project Manager, she oversees all creative content designs for the RICH website and its Google Classroom platform. Sadia is the lead mentor who supervises DOE remote interns with the RICH online training project. RICH has allowed Sadia to execute valuable tech skills for the organization’s web-development work-space. She was the 2020 recipient of the Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez Internship Fund. Sadia's dream job is to be the CEO of Google.





Nasir Freeman

Web Developer

Nasir is an undergraduate at Queens College, majoring in Computer Science (BA). He is the backend-web developer intern for the RICH organization who oversees the organization’s server-side web application and works with the front-end developers on implementing APIs for the website. He collaborates with the web-development team to ensure the seamless integration of all applications and databases. Nasir's hobby is designing websites and practicing his web development skills. He’s been busy building basic websites since the age seven and his dream job is to become a software engineer in the game development field.





Shriyansh Tripathi

Web Developer

Shriyansh is a sophomore at CUNY Queens college majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Mathematics. He interned at RICH back in 2020 where he created the "Snacking for Smartness" project for middle school students. He has experience in front-end and back-end web development, along with knowledge of database servers. He is an excellent problem solver who takes the initiative and ownership of projects and proactively resolves issues. Furthermore, he also has hands-on experience in Cybersecurity and Cloud technologies such as Amazon Web Services (AWS). He has a passion for tutoring in mathematics and computer science and has been doing freelancing work for the past 2 years. He aspires to become a software engineer at a FAANG company.





Sadia Ishak

Web-Based Project Manager

Sadia is currently a junior who came on board with the RICH organization in her freshman year at Queens College. She is majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Business Liberal Arts. Working as the RICH Web-development Project Manager, she oversees all creative content designs for the RICH website and its Google Classroom platform. Sadia is the lead mentor who supervises DOE remote interns with the RICH online training project. RICH has allowed Sadia to execute valuable tech skills for the organization’s web-development work-space. She was the 2020 recipient of the Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez Internship Fund. Sadia's dream job is to be the CEO of Google.






Lisa Zheng

Lead Social Media Intern

Lisa is a senior attending Queens College where she is majoring in Media Studies with a minor in Business and Liberal Arts. She is the lead social media intern at RICH where she interviews RICH graduates, guides RICH's high school interns in accomplishing their internship goals, and creates social media campaigns that advertise the success of these efforts. One of the campaigns that she worked on, "Then & Now", is featured on the RICH website and social media pages. She wants to be an experiential event manager or a brand manager in the future. RICH has made Lisa realize how important it is for youth to be self-aware and know that they matter in order to achieve their life and school goals.





Nasir Freeman

Web Developer

Nasir is a junior at Queens College, majoring in Computer Science (BA). He is the backend-web developer intern for the RICH organization who oversees the organization’s server-side web application and works with the front-end developers on implementing APIs for the website. He collaborates with the web-development team to ensure the seamless integration of all applications and databases. Nasir's hobby is designing websites and practicing his web development skills. He’s been busy building basic websites since the age seven and his dream job is to become a software engineer in the game development field.




Hannah Fischbein

Social Media Intern

Hannah is a Freshman at Queens College, majoring in Advertising and minoring in Business and Liberal Arts. She is the lead campaign builder at RICH, where she works with the Product Manager to shape the direction of social media. Hannah crafts creative ideas and develops, produces, and manages social media and ad campaigns, such as the "Then & Now" campaign, Black History Month, and the Reach for Success podcast publicity. RICH has given Hannah experience with the ins and outs of the social media marketing industry and provided the invaluable opportunity to be a lead mentor for DOE interns. She plans to expand her career by entering other areas of marketing, such as product and brand marketing.





Hassan Amjad

Web Developer

Hassan is currently a junior at Queens College who is pursuing a Bachelors in Computer Science. He is passionate about pursuing a career in web development and has experienced various internships in this field, as well as participated in several projects and hackathons. He is currently working on expanding his web and iOS development skills. RICH has given him a chance to implement and expand his front-end web-development skills in a remote work-based environment. Hassan also worked with the RICH back-end developer to implement the "Then & Now" webpage. His vision is to build his own startup one day.









Contributions deductible under 501 (c) (3) approved by IRS.