Terra Lawson-Remer

Assistant Professor of International Affairs

The New School
72FifthAvenue, Room 702
New York, NY 10011
(212) 206-3524 x3976

February 20,2014
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To Whorn tt tvtal Concern:

I am writing this letter to endorse the New Challenge Competition project Los
Guardianes de la Selva. I had the pleasure of having Jonathan Leonard and Alix Schroder
in my "Resource'Cuise" class during the Fall 2013 semester. Both Alix and Jonny are
talented and charismatic student leaders bnd are more than qualifie{ to lead this project
Jonathan Leonard had an exegrplaly perfurmance in my class, earning himself an A for
the semester.'He went above ahd beyond with his research, reaching out to organizations
in the NGO community for advicd and'feedback. His efforts served to gather outstanding
research for his team's.examination of international financial institutions (IFIs) that lend
to extractive industry'projects. He was further able to demonstrate this information in an
organized and digestible way. Jonathan's work was so irnpressive to me that I took him
on for my own social innovation eideavor, one that is at a similar level of development to
Los Guardianes de la
r
.

Selva.

Alix

Schroder was an audit student in my class. The course carried a heavy workload and
demanded a dual-pronged theoretical and practical mode of thinking. Alix successfully
balanced her challenging workload, which included three credit courses on top of my
class, and was a major contributor of valuable research to her project team. Additionally,
I am a reader on Alix's graduate thesis and can attest to her strong work ethic, excellent
writing skills, and intellectual creativity. Furthermore, as the coordinator of The New
School's AID group, she has demonstrated a robust talent for organizing and working
effectively in a team setting.

I endorse Los Guardianes de la Selva for several reasons. A major reason for the project's
likely success is the team's acceptance and use of constructive criticism. I was the first
faculty member to review and critique Los Guardianes de la Selva at the GPIA graduate
conference in Spring 2013. At that time the project was in a conceptual stage, and needed
a lot of additional research. Jonathan has madQ a concerted effort to take my advice into
account and has worked to expand his group's knowledge base to new horizons, as well
as address concerns which myself and other advisors have risen.

It takes a certain type of entrepreneurial spirit and big picture view to comprehend and
manage all the moving parts of a cross disciplinary project such as this. I can confidently
say that, based on my personal interactions with them, both students possess these
attributes. Jonathan, in particular, demonstrates the passion and wherewithal to make this

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project succeed. I currently have Jonathan assigned to an organ izationalecosystem

mapping project for my own start-up. The skills he will leam on my learn are directly
applicable to the manageme'frt and growth of his own project. I sincerely and firmly
endorse Los Guardianes de la Selva as a project that shows great promise_and is
ing from the New Challenge.

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