Silver Spring Grad Student Receives Fellowship To Intern In Senegal

SILVER SPRING, MD — Yell Coulibaly of Silver Spring was recently awarded a Boren Fellowship to travel to Senegal as an intern with the National Democratic Institute.

“I’ll be working on election monitoring and support with NDI, but specifically I hope to work with civil society, engaging people who don’t have representation, like women, youth, and people with disabilities," she said, in a release.

The Defense Language and National Security Education Office awarded the fellowship to Couilbay to intern with NDI, which works to promote and protect democracy across the globe.

Coulibaly is a 2020 graduate of McDaniel College, where she majored in political science with a specialization in international studies and minored in French. She currently is a graduate student at Syracuse University, studying international relations with a concentration in Sub-Saharan Africa.

During her six-month term in Senegal, Coulibaly will immerse herself in Senegalese culture and study Wolof, the country's most widely spoken language.

“I hope that with my knowledge and studies, I’m able to create good connections between Senegal and the U.S. that will hopefully lead to prosperity, because the U.S. is also my new home,” she said, in a release. “I know that I’m one person and I can’t do that alone, but hopefully I’m able to have some impact.”