Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham University junior Sarah Zahaykevich and graduate student Misha Semenov have been announced as Fordham's nominees for the Allstate NACDA Good Works Winter Team.
 
The Allstate NACDA Good Works Team is an initiative to recognize and honor student-athletes who demonstrate levels of volunteerism and civic engagement that are above and beyond their success and achievements in the classroom and competition. The goal of the program is to provide recognition for these future community leaders, their teams, academic institutions, and the communities they support.

The Allstate NACDA Good Works Team builds on the legacy of the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, which has been recognizing college football players for their off-the-field good works since 1992, by honoring 60 additional student-athletes across the winter, spring and fall sports seasons (20 student-athletes per season – 10 male and 10 female) across all sports and all divisions.
 
Zahaykevich, a double-major in Math and Computer Science, with a minor in Humanitarian Affairs, has made multiple service contributions in her career at Fordham. She works with Fordham's Volunteer Corps, where she canvassed local restaurants to collect surplus food for low-income housing initiatives. Here, she played a key role in improving a process that emphasizes using data and logistics to make community efforts more efficient.

In working with different Ukrainian organizations in Manhattan, she has promoted cultural awareness and humanitarian outreach. Here she has deployed research and analytical skills to help people understand the humanitarian challenges resulting from war, complementing her more data-driven problem-solving skills. Most recently, she has been selected for a highly competitive volunteer fellowship with the United Nations, where she will directly apply my data skills to map and assess climate-conflict risks in South Sudan.

At Fordham, she has also displayed this deep commitment to using technology to empower others. She is a student leader at the University's new AI Hub, where she is leading projects to develop educational programs that will help middle-school age children think through the questions of ethical AI use and digital responsibility. She has also created a program that links the Hub to our Institute for International Humanitarian Affairs, to expand the impact of each by creating training programs to equip local humanitarian workers with better tech skills. This builds on Sarah's position as the Student Director for the Humanitarian Student Union, where she works to spread awareness about the integration of policy, technology, and community advocacy at weekly meetings meant to help other organizations in the Bronx and abroad.

Throughout, she says, service is "an integral part of my learning -- it is through helping others that I've discovered how to use my skills." She plans to build on this work in her senior year and as she enters her post-collegiate life by applying data projects to humanitarian challenges.
 
Athletically, Zahaykevich received ECAC All-Regional honors and was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team while academically she is a Dean's List student, recipient of a Jogues Scholarship, and has been named to the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll.
 
Mischa's volunteer work has been connected to young people, and builds on his experience as a young person from Ukraine dealing with the difficulties of being from a war zone. He has worked closely with the Community Schools Consortium as a volunteer social worker, helping middle-school and high-school students who needed guidance with school or personal issues. He has also coached swimming and run soccer practices for kids from the Bronx who often came in with little structure or confidence.

Much of his work has also taken place on campus. He has volunteered to help other international students adjust to the U.S., serving as a careful mentor: answering questions, explaining processes, and supporting them "through the stress of being far from home."

Mischa emphasizes that, "All of this felt natural to me because I know how much small acts of support can change someone's day. And if you have power to make someone's day better - you also have the power to make their life better."

He adds that his family lives in a war zone and that "everything I do is shaped by that reality." Seeing what his community is living through gives real meaning to his long-term goal of using his degree to "help rebuild Ukraine after the fighting ends."  

Throughout his time at Fordham, he has contributed in a steady and useful way in both our local and international community.
 
A graduate transfer to Fordham from Lewis University, Semenov is a CSCAA Scholar All-America. He participated at the 2023 and 2024 NCAA Division II Championship as a part of the 200 and 400 freestyle and medley relays and was a bronze medalist at the 2024 Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship in the 200 freestyle relay while also winning the 100 backstrokes at the 2023 Conference Carolinas Championship, while taking silver in the 50 and 100 freestyle.