Fellowship Spotlight: Ashni Patel

Ashni Patel is a second-year majoring in international affairs and economics with a minor in statistics. She was motivated to get involved in politics by Stacey Abrams’ 2018 run for governor, which taught her the importance of working to elect politicians that represent her values and the power that we have to make that change happen. Through the Fellowship, she hopes to gain policy writing skills while giving back to District 118. Her time with the Fellowship so far has taught her the importance of listening to the community and its needs when crafting policy. In addition to the Fellowship, Ashni also serves as a tutor with Athens Prison Tutorial, where she tutors currently incarcerated individuals who hope to get their GED. She is also an Honors Teaching Assistant, wherein she teaches and mentors 14 first-year students in UGA’s Honors College, and is a member of UGA’s Undergraduate Moot Court team, where she presents oral arguments similar to those used in the Supreme Court. She previously worked as a part of the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement. After graduation, Ashni plans to attend law school and eventually work in the intelligence community focusing on human security issues. She will be studying abroad at Oxford this upcoming summer. Ashni loves traveling and learning about new cultures and has been to 9 countries and visited 5 of the 7 continents.