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This fall, eight Mason LIFE students interned across 16 different congressional offices on Capitol Hill as part of the Gregg and Livingston Harper Congressional Internship Program for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities.

Communication PhD student Rania Zaied has won first-place at the annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. She will advance to the 2026 regional competition in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, hosted by the Council of Southern Graduate Schools. 

The Dr. Alan and Sally Merten Family of the Year Award honors the essential role families play in supporting their students at 91����. Students nominate their families, and the Family of the Year Award is announced at Family Weekend in the fall. The Choi family is the 14th Family of the Year recipient. 

Students in Tawnya Azar’s HNRS 260 Society and Community Engagement course are focused creating awareness campaigns around hunger and food scarcity. The class aims to empower students through writing and collaborative efforts, fostering a critical examination of the challenges surrounding food access and inspiring tangible solutions. 

The Schar School hosted its flagship “15 Minutes with POTUS” competition, drawing exceptional undergraduates from universities nationwide to Mason Square for a high-pressure national security briefing simulation. Featuring distinguished judges and extensive professional development opportunities, the event highlights the school’s commitment to preparing future leaders for real-world policymaking.

Is it possible to rewrite the Constitution for a younger generation of Americans? Three Schar School students attended a multifaceted program called Declaration Next at the University of Virginia and did just that.

A multi-major team from 91����’s College of Engineering and Computing earned second place at Saucethon, a hardware-focused hackathon, gaining online attention for their creative cat-themed rescue robot and showcasing George Mason’s collaborative, interdisciplinary strength.

There are few 91���� students as busy as senior Rakibul Alam. A senior majoring in business and concentrating on management and marketing, Alam has become one of the most visible student leaders in the Costello College of Business, where he works as a marketing and communications intern. Recently he was among the speakers welcoming the community at Fuse’s grand celebration in September at Mason Square.

Not often can you take a course where you receive top-level instruction for how to prepare for a career, while also having the opportunity to give back to the world around you; but that is exactly what students in Costello’s BUS 303 class experienced this past spring semester when they planned and hosted multiple “Humanitarian Happy Hours.”

In 91����’s College of Science—where nearly 16% of students are connected to the military—Air Force veteran Rylee Ledoux is using her public health experience and passion for the environment to support fellow veterans and pursue a future in environmental science. A former Air Force public health technician, she now serves as the senior military transition coordinator in Mason’s Office of Military Services while completing her bachelor of science in environmental science and policy.