Jamila Peguero on Creating a Justice-Focused Network for Social Workers
Sign up for notifications about the Enlight Fellowship Summer 2026! Before graduate school, the idea of starting something of her own wasn’t even on Jamila Peguero’s radar. “I’m the first in my family to go to undergrad, the first to go to grad school,” she shares. “Owning something, creating something—it wasn’t something I was […]
IDEA Con, Boston’s Premier Student Entrepreneurship Conference, Continues to Grow
The George Sherman Union buzzed with entrepreneurial energy on October 25 as 540 attendees, representing over 40 schools across the Northeast, gathered for the eighth annual IDEA Con, presented by Innovate@BU. This year’s conference, the largest in its history, brought together student innovators who are tackling everything from sustainability in fashion to accessibility in education. […]
How Megan Kwan is Building Community Among Artists in Boston
Sign up for notifications about the Enlight Fellowship Summer 2026! Megan Kwan (CFA’27) came into the Enlight Fellowship with a vision: to bridge the gap between Boston’s art students and the real-world skills they need to thrive beyond graduation. As a College of Fine Arts major and entrepreneurship minor, Megan understood firsthand how individual […]
Meet the First-Year Innovation Fellowship Fall 2025 Cohort!
The newest Fall 2025 cohort of students in the First-Year Innovation Fellowship (FYIF) has arrived! FYIF is a semester-long program at Innovate@BU that empowers Boston University first-years to explore innovation and entrepreneurship through hands-on projects, mentorship, and community-building. Meet the cohort: Ananyah Amaram (ENG’29) is originally from Petersburg, Virginia and is studying Computer Engineering. Ananyah […]
Ishtiyaq Shajahan Shares His Vision For Food Equity in Boston
Sign up for notifications about the Enlight Fellowship Summer 2026! Ishtiyaq Shajahan (CAS’26), a political science major eager to make a difference in his community, spent his summer in the Enlight Fellowship through Innovate@BU, where he launched a new nonprofit and explored the systems behind community-driven change. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, with family roots […]
Zachary DaSilva-Grondin on Finding Community and Inspiration Within the Enlight Fellowship
Sign up for notifications about the Enlight Fellowship Summer 2026! Zachary DaSilva-Grondin (Sargent’28) began his summer feeling exhausted. Fresh off a medical brigade in Guatemala, he entered the Enlight Fellowship unsure of what to expect. But, by the end, the community he found reshaped his perspective on his role in tackling some of the […]
Patricia Porekuu on Empowering Ghanaian Women with Financial Literacy
Sign up for notifications about the Enlight Fellowship Summer 2026! Patricia Porekuu is a seasoned development practitioner from Ghana with over 15 years of experience in HIV, TB, and malaria programs, and she has spent her career educating and supporting underserved communities across Sub-Saharan Africa. When she arrived at Boston University’s School of Public […]
Riya Sandler Starts Conversations About Cord Blood Donations with her Enlight Fellowship Venture
Sign up for notifications about the Enlight Fellowship Summer 2026! Riya Sandler (Sargent’27) spent her summer splitting her time between the labor and delivery floor of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the innovation lab at Innovate@BU. Through the Enlight Fellowship, she combined her clinical interests with her entrepreneurial drive to launch a new venture aimed […]
Daniel Wijaya (CAS’25) Bridges Tech Skills and Community Service in Enlight Fellowship Program
Daniel Wijaya (CAS’25) never expected a newsletter buried three swipes down in his email would reshape his approach to entrepreneurship. The computer science and economics double major with a business administration minor had exposure to entrepreneurship through his brother’s ventures, but uncertainty about the risks kept him on the sidelines. “Before the Enlight Fellowship program, […]
Enlight Fellowship Opens Doors for Political Science Major Hannah Martin
When Hannah Martin (CAS’25) first stumbled upon the Enlight Fellowship application, she had little knowledge of entrepreneurship or innovation. A political science and English major with pre-law aspirations, Hannah viewed social impact primarily through a policy lens. Yet that random online discovery would change not only her summer plans but her entire career trajectory. “My […]