Haley Simpkins
Oct 31, 2025
Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, wakes early, its streets alive with vendors’ calls, the rumble of blue-and-white minibuses, and the scent of strong coffee drifting from corner cafés. Amid the bustle, Kauner Shacklette, a senior architecture student in the University of Kentucky College of Design, walks toward the city’s YMCA. As an inaugural recipient of the Institute of International Education’s (IIE) NextGen Service Fellowship, he has been tasked with putting his design knowledge into action by reimagining spaces that could help this community hub better serve its people.
