Ilyana B. (IN A NUTSHELL)
Hi! My name is Ilyana and I'm a recent Yale grad from London, England. In high school, I was most involved in debate and journalism. I was the chief editor of my school newspaper and started a linguistics magazine and blog for literature and opinion pieces in languages other than English. I spent most of my weekends catching trains at unholy hours to participate in debate tournaments across the country. In response to the striking gender disparity I encountered, I convened the SPGS Women's Open, a free debate competition for women and non-binary debaters, through which I hoped to promote greater inclusion in the debate. In my senior year of high school, I co-founded a tutoring non-profit for young people affected by the Grenfell Tower disaster, a devastating fire that disrupted the education of many children in West London. This was a profoundly moving experience that kindled my interest in pedagogy and mentorship. I continued teaching at Yale, where I worked my on-campus job as a writing partner at Yale's Centre for Teaching and Learning.
Outside the classroom, I am most passionate about criminal justice and legislative advocacy. At Yale, where I double majored in philosophy and cognitive science, I became more engaged in grassroots social organizing during the pandemic, where I worked remotely as a research assistant for criminal legal and human rights clinics at Yale Law School, and exchanged letters with people in prison to raise awareness of the dangerous public health conditions in these facilities. My experience in legislative advocacy began during my freshman year of college when I co-founded a non-profit dedicated to reducing the barriers to entry for justice-impacted people to higher education. I testified before government committees, wrote articles and reports, and organized conferences and meetings with Yale leadership to change admissions policies and enable justice-impacted people to pursue the higher education they need to better their lives and imagine a more hopeful future after prison. These experiences were what motivated me to pursue impact litigation as an intern at the ACLU, and now, as a paralegal for the ACLU's Criminal Law Reform Project in New York, where I will be working this year.
As your child's mentor, I hope to encourage them to organically and independently develop their interests and curiosity. With over 6 years of experience as an educator, I promise to teach in a way that is engaging, creative, and inspiring -- pursuing topics that your child is interested in; relating abstract, theoretical concepts to real-world applications and experiences; and working together with your child to turn their burgeoning ideas into material projects they can be proud of and excited about. Through my academic and extracurricular experiences, I have accumulated skills across various software, including Photoshop and Adobe InDesign, and so I would also love to work collaboratively with your child on designing passion projects outside of their classes -- whether it be a blog about an issue they care about, a website advertising a company they want to start, or an arts magazine. My goal is to make your child excited about learning and pursuing their passions!
