USAP Brazil Profiles

We are extremely proud of their great achievements and successes. Below are the profiles of some of our Brazilian students from the Class of 2018.

More USAP Brazil profiles

CLASS 0F 2018

Iago Bojczuk
University of Oregon's Clark Honors College '18

Iago BojczukIago Bojczuk is currently a sophomore studying Journalism and European Studies at the University of Oregon, where he studies as a full-tuition recipient at the oldest Honors College in the United States. Iago is from Atibaia, countryside of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Being the first member of his family pursuing a university degree, he never thought that one day he could study in another country notwithstanding that he is from a low-income background. He managed himself to go from poorly educated to highly qualified academically, motivated on a personal level, and with a keen sense of social responsibility.

During his first year at the University of Oregon, Iago was the only freshman awarded the "25 Ducks Award: Ducks with Potential to Change the World." Out of 24,181 students at the University of Oregon, 25 outstanding Ducks have been selected. From passion for climate change reform to women’s rights, these Ducks all have something in common: they’re looking to change the world, and using their personal experiences and hardships to do so. During his first year at the UO, Iago traveled to Sendai, Japan to be a delegate for the Children and Youth Forum within the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. During summer 2016, Iago is moving to New Haven, Connecticut to work as a instructor of Journalism and Public Relations for Explo at Yale University. He will also be working as a volunteer for an NGO in Buenos Aires, Argentina, thanks to an Ambassador Travel Grant by Omprakash Foundation.

Before moving to the U.S., Iago attended a rural school during his first two years of High School before transferring to a technical program in Business Administration at Etec Prof. Carmine Biagio Tundisi. This is where he matured and had outstanding opportunities due his merits. During this time, Iago engaged himself in several activities, such as academic Olympiads and community service. After being awarded a gold medal in the Brazilian Olympiad on Astronomy and Astronautics, and due to his academic performance at his new school, Iago was hand-picked through a state-wide selection process to spend one month in the United States learning English in Portland, Oregon. This was a very competitive scholarship, granted to those who are considered the best students of the public education system in the state of São Paulo. Once back to Brazil, Iago was admitted to several public universities in the country, including the University of São Paulo, considered the best one in South America. Since Iago is passionate about different cultures, languages and people, he knew that he would have many more opportunities academically and personally if he attended college abroad.

Deferring his admissions in Brazil, Iago was part of the U.S. Opportunity Funds Program by the EducationUSA, a USAPer and a mentee from BSCUE (Brazilian Student Council on Undergraduate Education), an organization run by Brazilian college students attending top universities in the United States. In his first application attempt, Iago was denied by almost all schools he applied to but he did not give up. After a very hard year, Iago developed new ambitious projects in Education and social entrepreneurship. In March 2014, Iago was the only Brazilian delegate at the Preparing Global Leaders Academy, hosted in Amman, Jordan.

Nathália Leite do Santos
Bryn Mawr College '18

Nathália Leite do SantosNathalia was born and raised in a community in the wonderful city of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. She enjoys spending her time writing, developing ambitious projects, taking care of her little nephew and niece, and helping her sister in a veterinary clinic. Although Nathalia was raised surrounded by violence and with not many academic opportunities, she managed herself to find the best education available and stand out brilliantly. She has been awarded a full-scholarship to attend the Elite School, one of the top high-schools in Rio. Due to her outstanding academic and personal skills, Nathalia was part of a selective group of students in the country to be selected for the Opportunity Funds Program, by the EducationUSA in Brazil. In addition, with the support of Prep Program from Fundação Estudar, Nathalia has been admitted at Bryn Mawr College and Rutgers University & waitlisted at MIT and Mt. Holyoke College.

Nathalia is fascinated about Mathematics and has received the Arquimedes Scholarship, maintained by the private sector donations and offered to the best Undergraduates of Mathematics at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, where Nathalia was admitted with a full-scholarship. Since a very early age, Nathalia was interested in the field of sciences, mainly due the significant role that her father, a former military man, played on her personality and dreams by stimulating her curiosity and motivating her to achieve things in a high-level. Nathalia has received honorable mentions in the Brazilian Chemistry Olympiad and in the Linguistics Brazilian Olympiad, besides of being a bronze medalist in several other Mathematics competitions in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Nathalia has also been volunteering as a translator for TED Talks and Google Webmasters. Currently she works as a mentor in a pedagogical project at her former school with the goal to help students throughout the application process to U.S. College and Universities.

Nathalia has received a full-ride scholarship to attend the high-prestigious Bryn Mawr College, in Pennsylvania, as a peer of the Class of 2018. She is a Physics and Creative Writing major, and hopes to integrate these majors by creating innovative projects in the Brazilian Public Education.

Anderson da Silva Duraes
Duke University '18

Anderson da Silva DuraesHard-working! This is the correct adjective to describe Anderson da Silva Duraes. Anderson is a senior student majoring in chemistry at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), one of the top research-oriented universities in Brazil and Latin America. In addition, he had two semesters of studies at Siena College and a summer research project at Duke University. His studies in the United States were funded by the Brazil Scientific Mobility Program, which provides scholarships to the best undergraduate students from Brazil for one year of undergraduate study at colleges and universities in the U.S. At Duke University, during the summer of 2013, Anderson was supervised by Dr. Weitao Yang, a world-renowned theoretical chemist and the Philip Handler Professor of Chemistry, and Dr. Weitao's postdoctoral research associates: Dr. Helen van Aggelen and Dr. Stephan Steinmann. There, Duraes applied standard electronic structure methods to get more insight about their respective descriptions of electronic (quasi-)degeneracies.

On top of his coursework in chemistry, Anderson Duraes has taken additional coursework in advanced mathematics. His coursework in advanced mathematics has consisted of higher-level, strongly proof-oriented mathematics courses, such as Real and Complex Analysis, Topology and Abstract Algebra, which are only required for students majoring in mathematics. Moreover, due to Anderson's scholarly achievement in mathematics, he was inducted into the Pi Mu Epsilon National Mathematics Honor Society, the non-secret U.S. honor society whose purpose is the promotion of mathematics and recognition of students who successfully pursue mathematical understanding.

Beyond that, Anderson has been selected to the Opportunity Funds Program through a very competitive nationwide selection process. The Opportunity Funds are funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State and run through EducationUSA Offices in Brazil. The Opportunity Program has assisted Duraes with up-front costs of applying to graduate degree programs in the United States. With this distinguished support, Anderson Duraes was accepted to seven first-rate U.S. graduate schools and to University of Hong Kong. Besides, he was awarded the Cherry L. Emerson Award from Emory University in recognition of his outstanding academic achievements and his potential to excel as a research scientist. After much deliberation, however, Anderson has decided to return to Duke University to join its prestigious Doctoral Program in Chemistry.

In the Fall of 2014, now as a graduate student, Anderson Duraes does look forward to working closely with Dr. Weitao Yang again to help in the development of theoretical chemistry. Furthermore, the Opportunity Funds Program will cover the initial costs to begin studies, such as SEVIS and visa fees, travel to U.S. and Duke, and one-time settling-in allowance, as the last phase of the Program.

As Anderson always says, he is very grateful to God for all the opportunities given to him and for meeting amazing people who do believe in his potential as a research scientist and have helped him in his graduate school applications. Anderson, the EducationUSA and USAP team wish you all the best in your future research endeavors!

Cassiano dos Santos
Babson College '18

Cassiano dos SantosOriginally from Sergipe, the smallest state in Brazil, Cassiano has always carried the greatest dreams he could think of. Being the first family member to pursue a higher degree, he has been engaged with political and social activism since early in his life. He had been a volunteer to a children’s playroom of a local hospital, as well as created volunteering projects aimed to teach English to secondary students. During high school, he was an elected state representative for an international mechanism aimed to enable the youth participation in decision-making on the education policies. In addition, he had been the president of the state chapter of AFS Intercultura Brasil, an international NGO that provides intercultural learning opportunities for students from around the globe.

Academically, Cassiano has participated with honorable mentions in mathematics and linguistics olympiads and graduated from high school among the top students of his class. He had received national and international recognition in two writing contests, by which he was awarded short academic experiences in Colombia and Paraguay. In 2012, he was selected by the US Embassy, among thousands of applicants nationwide, as a Youth Ambassador and as so he traveled to the USA in an educational and diplomatic experience for three weeks.

Subsequently, British Petroleum and AFS Intercultural Programs selected Cassiano as a Global Citizen of Tomorrow and, by that program, he studied his senior high school year in Chicago, IL. Back to Brazil, he was admitted to two of the best law programs in the country: at the University of Brasília (UnB) and at the Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC/SP). Now, he is looking forward to living the dream of studying college in the United States and exposing himself to academic and professional challenges. Finally, Cassiano hopes to be an entrepreneur in the future and affect people’s lives in a very positive way.

Victor Domene
Harvard University '18

Victor DomeneWhen his mother asked the 7 years old Victor what he wanted to do when he grew up, she expected a childish answer: "a soccer player", "a policeman" or maybe "an astronaut". Rather, Victor promptly answered: "I want to be Bill Gates". Even back then, he already knew what he wanted for his future: to study Computer Science in the United States.

Born in São Paulo, Victor studied in public schools until he entered ISMART, an NGO that awards talented students who cannot afford for the very expensive private education in Brazil. Because of that, he received a full scholarship to Colégio Bandeirantes, one of the most traditional high schools in the country. This opportunity created many others in Victor's life. He was always in the top 3 of his class; he received awards in several National Scientific Olympiads, including Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry and Informatics; he participated in volunteer work; he learned several programming languages by himself; and he dedicated a great part of his time helping fellow students at school, by mentoring and tutoring them. In the second year of High School, he participated in MLAB (Mentoring and Language Acquisition in Brazil), a program from Harvard University where 15 undergraduates came to São Paulo to mentor 15 high schoolers. Victor was truly inspired by the Harvard students' stories and accomplishments; he wanted to be where those people were. It was after this program that Victor focused entirely on his childhood dream of studying abroad. He entered the Opportunity Grants and the Prep Program, which assisted him with the application process. After a whole year of preparation, Victor was admitted to Princeton University through Early Action and to Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Duke through Regular Decision. He was also admitted to the Engineering School of the University of São Paulo (POLI-USP), to Engineering at UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) and to the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA).

Victor has decided to attend Harvard University and he intends to major in Computer Science and minor in Economics. He wants to come back to Brazil and help improve the Brazilian educational system by bringing technology into schools and giving opportunities like the ones he had through ISMART and EducationUSA to others.