Carleton political science/international relations major Ariana Abadian-Heifetz is an educational thought leader on social-emotional learning, driven by the question of how to break cycles of violence at personal and collective levels. As the head of SEL for a school in India, her work with students, teachers, and parents inspired cultural shifts around freedom of emotional expression, child bodily autonomy, privilege, and social justice. Notably, she designed a novel approach to SEL called The Human Framework for a community of more than 3,000 students and more than 250 teachers, and co-authored an innovative curriculum to foster anti-oppressive identity development, which explores themes of religious diversity and interfaith dialogue, gender and discrimination, and caste and human rights.
Abadian-Heifetz has also authored an acclaimed graphic novel, Spreading Your Wings, to inspire body-positive mindset shifts around menstruation and gender norms. She now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.