Unconventional students at Rice: Coffee to a career

Like many college students, Baker College senior Ana Builes loves coffee. So much so that she drinks it at 9 p.m. and the caffeine barely affects her. She has such a passion for coffee that she taught a student-led class about it.

For the Colombian-born French studies and policy studies major with a minor in poverty, justice and human capabilities, it only makes sense to do what you love.
Builes received this year’s Roy and Hazel Zeff Fellowship, which supports a year of world travel and independent study. She will use the fellowship to visit Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam, Ethiopia and Rwanda. “I chose these countries because they are representative of the major regions of coffee production and will provide a global perspective on coffee farmers,” she said.