Paul Finkelstein is a second-year J.D. student at Duke Law School interested in the intersection between democracy and the law. Paul currently serves as the president of the Duke Law Chapter of the American Constitution Society. Prior to law school, Paul studied music at Dartmouth College and worked as an orchestra administrator in Saint Paul, MN.
Saralyn Carcy is a senior from Junction City, WI studying Public Policy, History, and Spanish. While at Duke, she interned at Duke’s Office of Government Relations, the US Department of Commerce, and the district office of US Representative Ron Kind. Saralyn joined this Bass Connections team to study the health of our nation’s democracy and to better understand the disparate impacts of electoral policies on different communities. Saralyn enjoys watching black-and-white movies, attending Duke basketball games, and scrapbooking in her free time.
Eric Gim is a junior from Brea, CA, studying Public Policy. Eric has previously served as a Kenan Institute 2020 Scholar, where he worked with the New York Immigration Coalition to develop a legal blueprint that would amend an education law in the state of New York, and was also a Hart Leadership Political Engagement Project Fellow, where he researched the intersection between race and human trafficking. In his free time, he loves playing golf, cooking new recipes, and going weightlifting. After Duke, he plans to work in management consulting before going to graduate school to pursue a JD/MBA.
Karam Oubari is a Syrian-American senior at Duke studying public policy. He is passionate about international democracy issues, development, and sustainability. Aside from Bass Connections, he has been involved in the Duke Arab Student Organization, Hart Leadership Program, and Kenan Refugee Project, among other things.
Mac Hoeve is a rising senior from Verona, WI, majoring in Economics (BS) and International Comparative Studies (BA) and minoring in Cultural Anthropology. At Duke, they are currently a Co-President of Blue Devils United and work part-time as a Research Assistant at the Third City Project. They are interested in development economics and hope to work in international development after graduating. In the future, they hope to attend an economics graduate program. Outside of work and academics, Mac enjoys playing soccer, hiking, and going to the farmer’s market.
Clara Bonzi Teixeira is a rising senior from Bethesda, MD, majoring in Public Policy (B.A.) with minors in Cultural Anthropology and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. She is currently serving as a Research Assistant at the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy. Clara is prelaw and her interests include international development and immigration policy. In her free time, Clara enjoys doing yoga, painting, and curating playlists.
Darshan Vijaykumar is a Junior from Modesto, California. At Duke, Darshan studies Computer Science and Public Policy and is involved in clubs that operate at the intersection of these two passions. Darshan joined this bass connection team because he believes that our Democracy is currently at a crossroads and the actions we take in the next decade will determine our country’s outcome for the next century. In his free time, Darshan enjoys playing tennis and basketball and watching Golden State Warriors Basketball games.
Victoria Hernandez is a senior from Miami, FL studying Political Science and Psychology. At Duke, she is an ESL tutor for Gente Aprendiendo Para Nuevas Oportunidades, a tour guide for the Duke Admissions Ambassadors, and a GED tutor for the Duke Justice Project. She plans to attend law school and is interested in restorative justice and immigration law. Victoria enjoys reading, the NYT crossword, and running outside academics.
James Gao is a junior studying Statistics and Public Policy, originally from Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and Hamilton, Ontario. He worked on the Age and Data subteams of the Measuring Democracy project. James is interested in democracy reform and policy issues, the intersection of climate change and financial risk. Last summer, he interned for the Vote Save America campaign at Crooked Media. On campus, he is involved with the Duke Democrats and the sketch comedy group Inside Joke. He hopes to attend law school and someday serve as a legal advocate.
Yadira Paz-Martinez is a sophomore from Clinton, North Carolina, majoring in Public Policy with a certificate in Human Rights. She currently serves as political chair for Mi Gente, treasurer for Define America, senator for Duke Student Government, and a volunteer for the Durham Public Library. She also served as a Service Opportunities in Leadership (SOL) fellow for the Hart Leadership Program at Sanford. Yadira’s interests include researching racial and economic disparities and inequities towards communities of color while assessing educational levels and turnouts. Due to her experiences as a farmworker, she is focusing her future studies on human rights for farmworkers, including labor rights, human trafficking, immigration and migration, and wage rights. She plans to pursue higher education after Duke to understand how community members can best implement their solutions to combat the inequities their communities face.
Olivia Smith is a rising junior from Los Angeles, CA, studying Public Policy, Environmental Science and Policy, and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist studies. At Duke, she serves on the Polis Student Committee, is a Sexual Assault Prevention Team peer educator, and works part-time at the Goodson Law Library. Her interests include reproductive justice, environmental policy, sex work decriminalization, criminal justice reform, and animal welfare. She has interned at Rock the Vote and the Center for American Progress and hopes to work at an advocacy organization after Duke.
