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2023 Milken Scholars

Sandra Cheah
University of Pennsylvania

Sandra Cheah is a fierce advocate for gender equality. A National Youth Advisory Board Member for Plan International USA, a humanitarian organization working to advance children's rights and gender equality in more than 75 countries, Sandra collaborated with representatives from the White House, the United States Agency for International Development, and Meta to address online gender-based violence. She has spoken on the importance of diversity and inclusion in politics and recently traveled to Indonesia to launch a Plan International project to activate government leaders to build inclusive spaces for underrepresented groups in politics. 

Sandra, a graduate of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, is a QuestBridge National College Match Recipient, Thrive Scholar, Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship semifinalist, and AP Scholar with Distinction. She is a member of the National Honor Society and attended Indiana University's Young Women's Institute. As a Global Navigators Scholar for the Council on International Educational Exchange High School Study Abroad's World Government Program in Lisbon, Sandra studied Portuguese language and culture, learned about European politics, and researched the Philippines' war on drugs. 

To engage female and nonbinary LaGuardia students in entrepreneurship, Sandra founded LAG EntrepreneuHERship, bringing in guest speakers to teach business fundamentals and lead community-building activities. With the Advocacy Project Club, Sandra co-founded U'N'I' a youth-led company celebrating immigrant identities. U’N’I, has launched cultural events with hundreds of attendees at LaGuardia High School and in the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library branch of the New York Public Library. As co-founder and CEO of Dear GlobalGirls, a platform for sharing personal experiences with social justice issues, Sandra led more than 50 editors, writers and designers who produced 15 magazines on mental health, period poverty and racial injustice. She volunteers for New York State's largest soup kitchen and works with Heart of Dinner to combat food insecurity among NYC’s Asian American older adults. 

Sandra will study economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania and plans a career in business, with a focus on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion). 

All photos should be credited to "Milken Family Foundation" unless otherwise noted.

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