Elaine Sandoval Carrasco and Tahsi Rabbani, both students at Connecticut College, have each been awarded a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace grant to support their community-focused initiatives this summer, according to an April 29 announcement.
The Davis Projects for Peace grants aim to encourage young adults to develop innovative responses to significant global issues. This year, more than one hundred students from partner schools are selected annually to receive the award.
Sandoval Carrasco’s project, titled “Classroom of the Totorales: Peace and Heritage for Huanchaco,” will take place in her hometown of Huanchaco, Peru. The initiative is designed as an open-air environmental curriculum targeting local children who are vulnerable due to poverty and xenophobia. “Children in this area face high rates of family conflict and exclusion from safe recreational and learning spaces,” Sandoval Carrasco said. She explained that because caregivers often migrate for work, many children spend unsupervised hours in coastal zones such as beaches or markets where they may be exposed to risks like child trafficking. Over eight weeks, about 33 marginalized children aged 8 to 14 will participate in workshops on traditional skills, science education, conflict mediation, and documentary filmmaking about their community’s oral history. Sessions will be led by local fishermen, women leaders, migrant families and indigenous elders with support from Otra Cosa Network and the Huanchaco Artisanal Fishermen’s Association.
Sandoval Carrasco said her goal is community building through shared heritage: “Together we will build an intergenerational and intercultural community that will expand the participants’ protective support networks…and foster empathy and mutual respect.”
Rabbani’s project focuses on mental health awareness among schoolchildren in rural Bangladesh with her initiative “Shanti Corner: School-Based Mental Health Support Systems.” Rabbani recalled how she first encountered mental health resources after moving from a rural area into a city school environment: “I learned that struggling emotionally is not shameful…This experience opened a door to self-expression.” Her project aims both to reduce stigma around mental health issues such as academic stress or trauma while providing practical coping strategies. After training teachers and student leaders at Char Fakira High School in Companiganj region—her home district—the team will set up Shanti Corner as a dedicated safe space equipped with educational materials and privacy areas for conversations. Programming there will focus on peer-led education around mental well-being.
“A student who can manage distress…is a citizen who can contribute to a more stable and peaceful community,” Rabbani said. She added that equipping young people with emotional literacy does more than help individuals; it helps build healthier societies overall.
Davis Projects for Peace was established by Middlebury College in Vermont in 2007 “to encourage young adults to develop innovative, community-centered and scalable responses” according to Middlebury’s website.
