Melissa Mukuna Works Towards a Career in Social Development
Melissa Mukuna ‘23 has spent her time at William & Mary learning about the myriad of ways that she can leave the world better than how she found it. As a child, conversations with her family about social and economic issues across the African continent and a lifelong passion for writing brought Melissa to William & Mary hoping to combine these two fields.
As both a William & Mary Scholar and a James Monroe Scholar, Melissa felt empowered to take classes in a variety of subjects like theatre, government, philosophy, and English. She is pursuing a Government major and Theatre major and hopes to work at a progressive think tank or non-profit as a researcher or political analyst focusing on social development.
Outside of class, Melissa is a member of Amnesty International and the Innocence Project on campus; she is also a member of the W&M Intervarsity chapter and is involved with the theatre department on campus. Melissa has also been accepted into the 2021 Fall DC Semester program and is excited to get experience in a city that plays such a crucial role in the state of the world.
Melissa is a student researcher for the Integrative Institute of Conservation’s 2021 cohort: she and the rest of the Highland team are developing a proposal for an integrative conservation laboratory at the property. She hopes that this laboratory will benefit William & Mary and the local community at Highland as a property that contributes to Virginia’s work in conservation, environmental justice, and educational justice.
