Executive Board

Board Members

Isha Thapar

Isha is an undergraduate student at Baylor University aspiring to attend medical school. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Undergraduate Journal for Science and Technology at Baylor, Global Health Chair in Alpha Epsilon Delta, and a member of the Multicultural Affairs committee in Student Government. Isha is passionate about the benefits of higher education, and strives to help socioeconomically disadvantaged students overcome barriers to social and economic prosperity. In 2016, she organized a career camp for girls to foster interest in pursuing higher education, and she received the Girl Scout Gold award for this project. She created Collegiate Foundations in 2020 to provide students with the tools to succeed in higher education regardless of their backgrounds.

Ruhi Thapar

Ruhi is an undergraduate student at Baylor University. She will be matriculating into Baylor College of Medicine after undergrad. Ruhi is involved in Baylor Student Senate, Pre-Health Leadership, and Baylor Undergraduate Research in Science & Technology. She has been working with Communities in Schools since middle school, and is very passionate about uplifting socio-economically disadvantaged students through mentorship. She strongly believes in the merits of pursuing higher education, and thus seeks to remove barriers that prevent students from achieving their full potential. She helped establish Collegiate Foundations, and looks forward to collaborating with board members to expand the organization and help even more students.

Nelda Zuniga

Nelda is dedicated to supporting students at risk of dropping out of school. She worked with Buckner Children and Family services for seven years as case manager before joining Communities In Schools of Houston as a student support specialist in July 2012.  She worked at Spring Branch Middle School where she made a significant impact on the lives of many students. Nelda believes in engaging with families to ensure that students succeed in school. In November 2020, she joined SBISD as a Dropout Recovery Specialist. She works to assist the school district in engaging students and improving school attendance.

Kavita Gill

Kavita has been mentoring with the Spring Branch ISD Spring Board Mentoring Program since 2013. She has mentored at various middle schools as well as with the Collegiate Challenge program at Memorial High School. She believes in instilling in her mentees a love of learning and a dream of pursuing higher education. Her motto is that hard work and persistence always bring dividends. She has noticed that most students for whom English is a second language lag behind in reading comprehension skills and as a mentor she constantly endeavors to build up reading and communication skills in the students she mentors. She has helped her mentees build confidence and aspire for promising careers.

Roma Nayyar

Roma is an undergraduate student at Rice University, pursuing a degree in Biological Sciences with a Certificate in Civic Leadership. She has served as director for Camp Kesem Rice, as Outreach Chair for Medical Humanities and is a Peer Academic Advisor and New Student Mentor. Roma has worked with the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety and assisted in curriculum creation for the VA Quality Scholars Program. Roma is a student intern at Doctors for Change and is enthusiastic about addressing health inequities. She joined Collegiate Foundations in 2021, and is passionate about its mission to address educational disparities through mentorship and increasing accessibility of higher education. 

Meg Espey


Meg is an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, double majoring in social work and communication and leadership. She is the VP of Philanthropy for the University Panhellenic Council, serves on the membership committee for TEDxUTAustin, and is a member of the Texas Alpha chapter of Pi Beta Phi. Meg became involved with the Communities In Schools program in middle school, volunteering at summer camps. Through her course work and volunteering with groups, such as the Boys and Girls Club of Austin, Meg sees firsthand the value and benefit of mentorship and relationship building. Knowing that she can make an impact on someone’s life is what determined her degree plans and what motivates her every day. Meg is honored and excited to be a part of Collegiate Foundations.


Advisors

Saurangshu Pandey: Senior Engineering Manager, Google

Meenu Sharma: Professor of Business Management and Business Technology, HCC

Ankur Suri: Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Washington