RefugArt 2024 - Meet the Team!

RefugArt 2024

The Executive team consists of 13 eleventh-grade students who've been diligently working to plan this year's event since the Fall of 2023.

Additionally, they have worked alongside Marta Vernet, Valentina Pollini, Javier Caparros, and Hannah Chandler to make the most of the event and broaden the opportunities for change! Below, you can get to know a bit more about each member of the team.

We would also like to thank the previous RefugArt Executive board for setting such a strong foundation for success in both our year and in future years.

Madalena Aires de Sousa Vieira

Madalena is a Portuguese student who has been at ASB for 10 years. She is very passionate about educating young adults on the global issues present in our current world and helping with these issues in any way she can. For her, her position in the communications sector of the RefugArt executive team is a creative outlet where she can create enticing visuals to promote the event and ensure the community is consistently aware of the refugee crisis throughout the year. She is very excited about being a part of this impactful project and can't wait for the event!

Catalina Raventos Portabella

Catalina is a Spanish ASB student passionate about activism and humanitarian aid, and helping out however she can to improve issues of global importance. She has always been fond of hands-on creative work, and is excited that RefugArt offers both of these qualities. For her, RefugArt is an opportunity to take action, no matter how small, to improve the increasingly worsening issue of the refugee crisis. She is excited to be an involved member of the community, and cannot wait for others to see the work her and her teammates have done so far!

Julia Freer

Julia was born in New York City and moved to Barcelona where she started at ASB in 2014. In fifth grade, she participated in the memorable 2018 RefugArt, and she is now even more excited to play a role in the organization of this important event. Julia believes the refugee crisis is an issue that needs our attention. RefugArt brings people together in a creative and compassionate way and is a great opportunity for our community to learn more about and raise funds for this critical cause.

Gabriella Reiss

New this year, Gabriella is an American student who is passionate about global activism and loves to write. Working to address and bring awareness to the refugee crisis through hands-on activism and support is an amazing opportunity, and an important aspect of addressing global issues. As such, Gabriella is excited to be able to participate in this through RefugArt. As a member of the newspaper, Gabriella is looking forward to applying her writing skills in order to aid our mission.

Lucia Puigjaner Montesinos

Lucia is a Spanish student at ASB. She has formed part of the ASB community for 7 years, she is companionate, outgoing, and an extrovert. RefugArt was an opportunity for her to learn more about global issues, and attempt to give back to the people.

Nicolas Cano Luengo

Born in Barcelona, Nicolas Cano Luengo is an ASB student that is responsible for the organization of the Day Event for RefugArt. He is a junior-year student that has lived in Mexico for 4 years and attended both International as well as French schools across the world. Nicolas has been at ASB for 4 years and has been avidly interested in the refugee cause throughout his entire life, though volunteering in Mexican organizations as well as helping organize events in 9th grade. He is part of the day event as he very strongly believes in the power of raising awareness and educating children on the significance of real issues throughout the world.

Julia Cummins Gutierrez

Julia is an Irish and Spanish student who has been at ASB for 14 years. She has participated in RefugArt-related events since she was in 4th grade and is very excited to be taking on a bigger role this year. She is highly social, very active in the community, and is passionate about creating awareness about big problems in our world. In her role as one of the organizers for the night event, Julia has been making use of her organizational and social skills to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Marcos Garzo Dominguez

Marcos Garzo is one of the students on the Executive Board for RefugArt 2024. He is a junior-year student at the American School of Barcelona with an affection for helping those in need, such as in this case refugees. He was born in Barcelona, Spain, but lived for 2 years in Amsterdam, Holland. Marcos has been at ASB for 14 years, and over time, he has become a part of Refugart in many ways. Firstly, when he was very young, he used to attend the RefugArt events that his sister organized. Then, in 9th and 10th grade, he became part of RefugArt as a lynx class and also volunteered in the night events. Lastly, to further grow his passion for RefugArt and help refugees around the world to the highest of his capability, in his Junior year, he became a part of the Executive Board to plan and organize this year's night event. He is very excited to be a part of this year's RefugArt Executive Board and to work very hard to make the best possible event.

Ela Tomruk

Hi, I am Ela in 11th Grade and I moved to Barcelona in 2020, in 8th grade. I am very passionate about RefugArt because I think the Global refugee crisis has a huge importance on the world, and I believe that people should take action to raise awareness about this topic, especially in schools. I am working on organizing the evening event where we will do a silent and live auction to raise money for the cause of our theme this year, 'sports and play'. I chose this role because I like organizing events, and also I think it is important to raise awareness in our school through activities such as this.

Claire Geuther

Claire is an American and German student new to ASB. Refugart is an opportunity for Claire to showcase her love for art, creativity, leadership skills, and giving back to the community.

Mateo Knuth Escobar

His name is Mateo Knuth Escobar, and I'm from Barcelona, and he’s a member of the refugart team. He's been in this school for 4 years and has participated in other RefugArt events before like for example helping with the auction paintings and more. He is working on the sports section team with two other students and Javi Caparros. This team is working on an event where almost everyone will participate in this and enjoy doing some sport. He has chosen this role on working on the sports event to show how passionate he is, because he believes that doing sport spreads his passion to others.

Olaf Mirangles Gallegos

His name is Olaf Mirangels and he was born in Germany, he is currently active in the sports group inside Refugart. Last year Olaf already participated and helped in events related to refugart, some being helping in the auction and building boats to carry around elementary school. By being part of the group this year, he demonstrates how passionate he is towards helping others as well as being a well organized and responsible student. He hopes the event this year will be successful and that the group as a whole will be able to gather the most amount of money possible for the best cause.

Pol Sarrá Sevilla

My name is Pol, and I'm part of the 2023-2024 RefugArt Committee. I am Spanish and was born in Barcelona. I moved to Saudi Arabia when I was 9 years old and stayed there for 3 years. I joined the RefugArt Committee because I believe that everyone in the world should be born with the same opportunities as everybody else. In my opinion, no matter where you are from or your skin color, you should have the same doors to success as everyone else. That's why this project matters so much to me. I’m part of the sports team, where our ultimate goal is to organize a fundraising running race event. I work alongside my mates Mateo and Olaf and our supervisor Coach Javi to make this happen. I took part of this team of the RefugArtCommittee because I have always been an active athlete and once again believe that everyone should be able to participate in sports without any limitations.

Ms. Valentina Pollini

Refugart Mentor and Advisor

Ms. Valentina has been collaborating with RefugArt since the beginning of the program with her expertise in event management and communications. Recently joining the high school service learning team, she takes great pleasure in supporting and guiding students through their inspiring projects and experiential learning.

Ms. Hannah Chandler

Refugart Mentor and Advisor

Ms. Hannah has always been passionate about Service Learning. From spending a gap year before university in an urban peace corps to volunteering with refugees in Greece, Hannah believes that empathy, compassion, understanding an action can help us connect with others and improve the lives of those in need as well as those who are able to assist. Hannah loves the way the RefugArt is a school-wide event that engages our entire ASB community through awareness, action, and collaboration.

Ms. Marta Vernet

Refugart Mentor and Advisor

Ms. Marta Vernet, a founder of RefugArt, is passionate about education and connecting the youngest ones with the community through Service-Learning programs. She is a divergent thinker, working all projects from the grassroots.

Refugart means HOPE, to empower future change makers.

Mr. Javi Caparros

Refugart Mentor and Advisor

Hi, my name is Javier Caparros. Since 2022, I have been a dedicated member of ASB, contributing as an assistant in service learning projects. My passion extends to my active involvement in RefugArt, where I work fervently because I genuinely believe in the profound, long-term impact it creates for both the students engaged in the projects and the refugees we aim to assist

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Website Editor:

Madalena Aires de Sousa Vieira

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