Light Fellowship
Meet the Fellows.
Young people ages 12–24 step into the roles of creator, collaborator, and changemaker through original projects, sustained mentorship, and meaningful contribution.
2025–26 COHORT
Different questions. A shared belief in possibility.
Fellows pursue work that grows from genuine curiosity: women’s health, poetry, dance, identity, filmmaking, environmental stewardship, music, intergenerational story, fashion, wonder, and more.
The Fellowship is not an internship. Fellows are invited to develop voice and agency through original work while contributing to Pseads’ evolving programs, partnerships, workshops, and community.
Creative Initiative
A spark of curiosity and a drive to explore or express ideas creatively.
Commitment to Inquiry
An openness to new perspectives and a desire to approach learning with care.
Community Spirit
A collaborative mindset and willingness to contribute to positive change.
Growth + Resilience
A readiness to grow in confidence, voice, and self-expression.
2025-26 Lambert Light Youth Fellows
Click Fellows’ names for project pages or toggle bios to read more about their research, creative work, and community impact.
Amalya Rajparia
12th Grade · Lead FellowProject Focus: Women’s Health, The Impact of Birth Stories
A longtime member of Pseads whose Fellowship research explores how birth stories shape women and families across generations.
Amalya designed and carried out an independent project combining structured data and more than 100 participant interviews. Her work led to a peer-reviewed journal publication, a keynote on maternal narratives, and an audio documentary. She also mentors newer Fellows and has helped expand access to learning opportunities for young people.
Margot Agnew
Santa Rosa Junior CollegeProject Focus: Social Psychology – Reclaiming the Creative Self
A writer and multidisciplinary creative interested in the conditions that allow people to express themselves freely and truthfully.
Margot’s creative practice spans poetry, stories, painting, photography, guitar, and songwriting. Her Fellowship inquiry centers creativity, authenticity, reinvention, identity, and the challenge of giving form to experiences that can feel difficult to name.
Lucy Bakowski
Univ. of California, ChicoProject Focus: Social Psychology – Poetry and Transformation
A lifelong poet exploring art as a source of self-discovery, social imagination, and connection.
Lucy has been writing since childhood and is developing a first collection that already includes hundreds of original poems. Her interests move across poetry, stage, photography, open mics, feminist issues, social and environmental justice, and the ways art can differently open hearts and minds.
Leila Colbert
10th GradeProject Focus: Social Psychology – Identity Politics and Civic Engagement
A current Fellow exploring identity, civic life, and the ways young people encounter participation and public voice.
BIO HERE
Maisie Ferner
12th GradeProject Focus: Environmental Care – Nature, Health, and Juvenile Arthritis
A longtime Pseads participant combining poetry, outdoor learning, environmental care, and a desire to support others.
Maisie is part of an experiential outdoor-education program and has participated in Pseads through volunteering, filmmaking, and poetry. Her Fellowship work brings together personal experience, nature, social care, and environmental connection.
Amanda Harris
Dominican University of CAProject Focus: Social Psychology – Dance, Identity, and Liberation
A dancer, choreographer, movement educator, writer, and artist exploring the human experience through movement and language.
Amanda’s background spans contemporary and classical ballet, modern dance, flamenco, tap, hip hop, jazz, West African dance, and Dunham technique. Her Fellowship work draws on performance, education, poetry, writing, identity, and a deep hunger for understanding.
Elizabeth Lamorte
12th GradeProject Focus: Social Psychology – The Power and Necessity of Wonder
An artist, songwriter, filmmaker, volunteer educator, and creative collaborator interested in wonder as a human capacity.
Lizzie writes and produces music, makes visual art and film, and has volunteered in elementary classrooms through Hope on the Rize. She founded a film club and an Awe + Wonder Club and is especially interested in how creativity helps people grow, connect, and shape the future.
SenSaSheri Maasera
Dominican University of CAProject Focus: Social Psychology – The Adultification of Black Girls
A professional dancer and inaugural Pseads Fellow whose work connects movement, social justice, spirituality, and human development.
SenSaSheri’s Fellowship research used ethnographic interviews and analysis to explore the adultification of Black girls and its impact on inner life. She also serves on the Pseads Mother Tree Council, continuing to uplift youth voices through Hope on the Rize.
Abbie Morehouse
11th GradeProject Focus: Social Psychology – Fashion, Identity, and Sustainability
A writer, journalist, athlete, and environmental advocate exploring fashion as both self-expression and environmental system.
Abbie writes for her school newspaper, plays varsity volleyball, and has led local environmental advocacy around single-use plastics. Her Fellowship project examines fashion through cultural, personal, media, and environmental lenses.
Isabella O’Brien
Univ. of California, BerkeleyProject Focus: Documentary Film – Storytelling for Change
An emerging filmmaker and visual artist using documentary storytelling to connect environmental care, education, and tangible change.
Isabella has participated in Pseads writing, poetry, and filmmaking since elementary school. Her visual art and environmental films have received recognition, and her Fellowship work centers documentary film as a way to uplift communities and make meaningful change visible.
Claire Palmer
12th GradeProject Focus: Social Psychology – Passion, Purpose, and Vitality
A current Fellow exploring what helps people experience passion, purpose, and vitality in their lives.
BIO HERE
Zara Prime
12th GradeProject Focus: Environmental Care – Photovoice and Stewardship
An artist and outdoor learner combining photography, painting, music, poetry, and environmental advocacy.
Zara has participated in Pseads as a volunteer, filmmaker, poet, and Fellow. Her project brings together visual storytelling and environmental stewardship, drawing on her love of outdoor learning and creative practice.
Nadia Rajparia
9th GradeProject Focus: Social Psychology – The Healing Power of Music
A current Fellow exploring music as a source of healing, relationship, and human connection.
BIO HERE
Edie Stubblefield
Dominican University of CAProject Focus: Social Psychology – Identity and Embodiment
A dancer and writer exploring how people experience their bodies, emotion, attention, and self-perception.
Edie is a graduate of the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA Program and helped inspire the first Fellowship cohort. Her research examines dancers’ relationships with mirrors, embodiment, emotional processing, and mental health, with a longer-term interest in neuropsychology.
Emma Ulvestad
8th GradeProject Focus: Social Psychology – Creative Confidence and Connection (BLOOM)
A poet, filmmaker, workshop leader, and inaugural Fellow whose work creates spaces for younger students to feel seen and creative.
Emma created and leads the BLOOM workshop series for elementary students, centered on creativity, reflective writing, and community. Her spoken word and creative guidance have helped many students find their voice.
Amara Watson
12th GradeProject Focus: Social Psychology – Storytelling Across Generations
A current Fellow exploring the ways story can move between generations and deepen connection.
A current Fellow exploring the ways story can move between generations and deepen connection.
Lily Wild
8th GradeProject Focus: Social Psychology – Poetry of Identity and Self-Worth
A current Fellow using poetry to explore identity, self-worth, and the language people use to understand themselves.
A current Fellow using poetry to explore identity, self-worth, and the language people use to understand themselves.
Gracyn Gellert
3rd Grade · Junior FellowProject Focus: Environmental Care · Food as Story and Connection
BIO HERE