In the spring of 2017, the Gardner Fellowship convened an Alumni event that brought together the 2017-2018 Gardner Fellows and those from previous classes. The event featured panels of Gardner Alum on networking, graduate programs, law, business, non-profit organizations, and other post-graduate careers, and was a huge success. Since then, the spring Alumni Event has become an annual part of the Gardner Fellowship.

In addition, the program has developed an Alumni Council, which runs the annual Alumni Event, and has also developed a mentoring program to connect current Gardner Fellows with Gardner Alumni.

Veronica Bido

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Leadership Position: Communications
Veronica Valencia Bido graduated from Rutgers in 2020 with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. While at Rutgers, Veronica founded the Moot Court Association and served as President of the Rutgers Mock Trial Club. She also interned with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in the Quality-of-Life unit and served as a volunteer tutor for incarcerated students through the Petey Greene Program. Veronica is passionate about advocating for international human rights and women's empowerment throughout the world. During her undergrad, Veronica volunteered as a crisis response and legal court advocate for the Department of Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance. Served as a student ambassador for the Douglass Women's Residential College and Rutgers University as a whole. As an advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, Veronica worked on policy and legislation to mandate all student leaders at Rutgers be trained on DEIB issues. She also is part of Cap and Skull. In her spare time, Veronica still volunteers as an intern for the National Network for Refugee and Immigrant Rights. She is excited for the opportunity to serve the Baltimore community as a Work First fellow and is currently working with the ex-offender reentry program and bail diversion program.

Nick Hansen

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Leadership Position: Secretary
Nick Hansen graduated from the School of Arts and Sciences in 2016 with a major in political science. At Rutgers, he was the Vice President of the Rutgers University Debate Union and an Eagleton Undergraduate Associate. He also wrote a bi-weekly column for the Daily Targum focused on transit and infrastructure. He enjoys novels, podcasts, and hiking. He works in insurance and lives in New Haven County with his partner, Emily, and cat, Goose.

John Milligan

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Leadership Position: Programs
John Milligan graduated from Rutgers in 2020 with a major in political science and a minor in environmental policy, institutions and behavior. He was involved with Students for Environmental Awareness during his four years on campus, becoming the treasurer then later vice president. Most recently, John worked as a Pharmacy Technician at Walgreens, administering COVID vaccines and running COVID rapid antigen tests. Currently he hopes to find work in environmental non-profit / governance space. John enjoys reminiscing about good times, consuming an alarming amount of memes / tweets, and soaking in the sun in the great outdoors. He lives outside his small North Jersey hometown with his mother, who appreciates his handiness and height very much.

Michelle Wong

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Leadership Position: Outreach
Michelle Wong graduated in 2020 with a B.S. in Supply Chain Management and a B.A. in Political Science. During her time at Rutgers, Michelle held leadership roles in the Rutgers Sustainability Coalition and UNA-USA. Michelle now works at Johnson & Johnson in the Global Operations Leadership Development (GOLD) Program, a cross-sector supply chain rotational program, where she is currently completing her rotation with Janssen Value Chain Management before moving to her next role as a manufacturing supervisor for digital surgery. In her free time, she enjoys going on walks with her dog, listening to music and podcasts, playing tennis, and eating obscene amounts of food.

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Fellow Accomplishments

Here are just a few of our Alumni outstanding achievements:

  • Bioethics research fellow at the NIH
  • Fullbright recipient in Macau
  • Fulbright ETA recipient in Wroclaw, Poland
  • Fulbright ETA recipient in Malaysia
  • Doctoral student at UC Berkeley in Jurisprudence and Social Policy
  • Doctoral student at UT Austin in Sociology and Demography
  • Doctoral student in Political Science
  • Doctoral student in Anthropology
  • Lawyer (Yale Law School)
  • Law student (Rutgers)
  • Masters in African Studies (Cambridge University)
  • Masters student in the Rutgers Graduate School of Engineering
  • MSc student Politics and Government in the European Union program at the London School of Economics
  • Molecular biologist
  • High School teacher, North Carolina
  • Teach for America participant
  • Peace Corps Volunteer, Georgia

...And so much more!

We are so proud of all of the Gardner Fellows, and look forward to seeing what they accomplish next! You can read more under their biographies.