Four outstanding LGBTQ undergraduates have been selected nationwide for this Fall’s Victory Congressional Internship.
The Victory Congressional Internship (VCI) is developing the next generation of out public leaders. This Fall’s ten-week program will include a rigorous virtual weekly leadership development series and mentorship component. Victory Institute is proud of our continued and growing partnership with the LGBT Equality Caucus and other LGBTQ-friendly members of Congress; in-person placements will occur in Summer 2021 due to COVID-19.
Natalie Adams-Menendez
Hometown: Lawrence, Kansas
School: Stanford University
Pronouns: She/Her
Natalie Adams-Menendez is a rising senior at Stanford University who is majoring in International Relations with Honors and minoring in French and Human Rights. She is interested in the intersection of human rights and security, particularly in combatting war, genocide, and terrorism and in ensuring the rights, opportunities, and protections of racial and ethnic minorities, women, and LGBTQ+ folks. Natalie has been recognized by Stanford University for her academics and her engagement with the campus community. In 2019, she was published by the university, awarded the Boothe Prize Honorable Mention for her writing, and recognized by Stanford’s El Centro Chicano y Latino for her leadership. On campus, she has been the president of student organizations such as Ritmo, Stanford’s bachata dance team, and Habla, a volunteer student group that provides free ESL lessons to Stanford workers. Natalie is also a part of the Stanford Class of 2021 Cabinet, Hermanas de Stanford, and La Familia de Stanford. As a proud Latina and member of the LGBTQ+ community, she loves to engage in conversations about intersectionality and works to increase intersectional representation in spaces such as the dance community, academia, and government. After graduation, she hopes to attend graduate school or law school and to pursue her goal of working in government or with the United Nations on conflict resolution and human rights issues. Natalie is excited to be a part of the Victory Congressional Internship program and to have the opportunity to apply her passions to policy and public service!
Katerina Marroquin
Hometown: Lillington, North Carolina
School: Georgetown University
Pronouns: She/Her
Katerina Marroquin is a first-generation Latina student at Georgetown University studying Anthropology with a double minor in Public Health and Education, Inquiry, and Justice. Throughout her life, Katerina has dedicated herself to activism and empowerment, primarily to promote immigrant rights, LGBTQ+ rights, educational equity, and health equity. On campus, Katerina has held titles such as Director of Communications for Hoyas for Immigrant Rights, Kalmanovitz Initiative for the Labor and Working Poor Fellow, Georgetown Scholars Program Mentor, and an immigrant advocacy caseworker for the Center of Social Justice. Currently, Katerina is a Stapleton Fellow for the Georgetown Anthropology Department, which gives her the opportunity to study the health autonomy and resilience of Latinx LGBTQ+ youth in DC. After graduation, she hopes to work with activist movements in her home state of North Carolina or in DC to fight for equitable health and education policies for immigrant communities from a federal level or through non-profit.
Nathan Terrell
Hometown: Morehead, Kentucky
School: Western Kentucky University
Pronouns: He/Him
Calling the small Eastern Kentucky town of Morehead, Kentucky home, Nathan now finds himself located in Bowling Green, Kentucky as a junior at Western Kentucky University, where he is a member of the Pete and Dixie Mahurin Honors College. He hopes to use his studies in Political Science and Economics to become a strong advocate for the generational issues that rural communities face. Through experiences and stories from his hometown, Nathan has developed a deep passion for helping and supporting diverse leadership in rural communities. He hopes to use his talents in the future to become a strong advocate for rural leadership development. At school, he serves as the Speaker of the Senate for the Student Government Association where he has gotten the chance to serve on university committees and is a student admissions and alumni ambassador. He also was selected for the US-UK Fulbright Summer Institute where he studied marketing and branding at the University of Westminster and completed the ‘Future Leaders in a Global Age’ workshop. With each leadership experience, he hopes to bring back knowledge to his hometown community and Eastern Kentucky. In his spare time, you can find him cooking and taking long runs. After graduation, Nathan hopes to attend law school.
Matthew Zheng
Hometown: Sacramento, California
School: Stanford University
Pronouns: They/He
Matthew Haide Zheng (they/them & he/him pronouns) is a rising third-year undergraduate at Stanford University, double majoring in Anthropology and Political Science with a minor in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Matthew’s academic interests include geopolitics, critical theory, political anthropology, critique of authoritarianism, and the political economy of neoliberalism. These interests led him to conduct research at Stanford’s Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the Post-Conflict Research Centre in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and to study around the world, including at United World College of the Atlantic in southern Wales. His leadership and community service includes serving as a Steering Committee member of the Cardinal Free Clinics, the Undergraduate Assistant at The PRIDE Study, creator and lead of a queer multi-faith community initiative at Stanford Queer Student Resources, and as a member of Stanford’s steelpan band Cardinal Calypso. Matthew also cultivates an art practice as a drag performer. In the future, they will pursue an MD/MPP in the hopes of forging a career in global governance.
