Hailing from 27 U.S. states and 23 countries, Bryant University’s Class of 2029 is moved in, ready to start classes, and excited to make friends and get involved in new activities. But for many of the students, their work to make a difference has already begun.
Meet two international students from the university’s incoming class who are taking part in the 4MILE (Multicultural and International Leadership Experience) program and have made it their goal to effect positive change:
A passion for aiding others
For Maria Clara Ribas Mendes Gontijo ’29, there’s nothing better than being able to assist those around her. The incoming first-year student worked to enhance access to education in her home country of Brazil by establishing an institute to democratize education as a high school junior.
“I love helping people and making a little bit of change in the world,” she says.
In her down time, Ribas Mendes Gontijo taught free English classes once a week and writing classes twice per week to prepare her peers to take Brazil’s ENEM exam (equivalent to the United States’ SATs).
“In Brazil, we have courses for writing, but a lot of them you have to pay for,” she notes.
Ribas Mendes Gontijo also launched a podcast called “Voices of Everyday Life” through the institute. Her mission for the program was to show that everyone has a story to tell and to highlight that you can learn a great deal from listening to the people around you — whether you already know them or you’re just meeting them for the first time.
Coming to Bryant as a Politics and Law major, Ribas Mendes Gontijo has always been curious about the inner workings of government.
“Politics can be complicated, and a lot of people don't want to talk about it, but I really like to understand how things work and how we can work together better,” Ribas Mendes Gontijo says, noting that she chose her major because of the variety of career paths she could pursue following graduation.
Gearing up for her first year of classes, Ribas Mendes Gontijo — a member of Bryant’s Women’s Leadership Living Learning Community — has been enjoying 4MILE, an immersive week-long orientation designed to empower incoming international and domestic students through cultural exploration and leadership development.
“I have been talking with a lot of people from other countries, and everything feels familiar and comfortable even though we are from different cultures,” Ribas Mendes Gontijo says. “The 4MILE peer counselors have been amazing and are always talking with you and making sure you have what you need.”
A hunger for knowledge
Mariana Espinal José ’29 lives and breathes research. So much so, that she connected with several other high schoolers from across the globe through the Incognito Blueprints Research Program to collaborate on a study looking at the economic challenges of e-health implementation. The group’s findings were published in the Journal of Knowledge Learning and Science Technology in December of 2024 — an impressive result for the young researchers.
“I love learning about new things and working on research papers is just a different way of doing that,” says Espinal José, who grew up reading research papers for fun and has a particular affinity for social science research.
When she wasn’t researching, Espinal José spent her time creating a program that reinforced English skills within her community. Hailing from the Dominican Republic and growing up bilingual, she was shocked to learn how wide the wage gap was in the DR between people who spoke English and those who didn’t.
Wanting to change the narrative, she started an initiative to teach English in cooperation with several public schools. Garnering approximately 100 volunteers, the program eventually expanded to include the arts at the request of students.
“I wanted to leave my community better than I found it,” says Espinal José, who also created a Model UN program for underserved kids and took on the position of CEO for Only the Young Activism, a youth advocacy program.
At Bryant, Espinal José plans to major in Economics and continue her research in that field. She’s also interested in studying how biometrics like face ID or finger ID could be implemented into electoral systems to expand online voting.
Having learned about Bryant through a college fair, Espinal José knew she’d found her new home for the next four years after touring the university’s campus.
“My tour guide was incredible, and we hit it off really well,” she says. “I enjoyed how small the campus is, the business programs, and all the things that Bryant is doing with AI. There are so many things that were ticked off my check list, and it became my dream school.”
The 4MILE program, Espinal José notes, has been an amazing opportunity to start making the most of that dream.
“It’s pretty busy – we’re clocking 10- to 12-hours a day,” she says, with a laugh. “But it’s so fun. I’ve met so many people, and it’s a great way to get more acclimated to campus. I feel so much more prepared to start my Bryant experience now.”