Serena T. (IN A NUTSHELL)

Serena is a senior at Stanford University majoring in Symbolic Systems with a concentration in Early Childhood Development. Serena’s greatest passions are (1) understanding how children learn and (2) leveraging that knowledge to enhance children’s engagement and enjoyment in their own education! From spending her gap year as a childhood enrichment teacher in Singapore for students aged 1-7 years old, to tutoring low-income preschoolers through the Haas Center of Public Service, to designing technological tools that cultivate early literacy and self-efficacy, Serena’s expertise lies at the intersection of early childhood education, psychology, and technology. At Stanford, she also strives to be an advocate for social impact and ethical innovation. In her Junior year, she served as Co-President of the Stanford Social Entrepreneurial Students Association (SENSA). She created and taught a Social Entrepreneurship Bootcamp to 70+ Stanford students, comprising a curriculum based in Design Thinking that teaches students how to create and pitch a social impact venture. Upon graduating from high school, she was one of 259 students out of 160,000 in the world to achieve a perfect score of 45 in the IB Diploma Program, alongside being a Brother Patrick Trophy nominee for outstanding achievement and deep interest in theatre/performing arts. She was also named her school's highest performing student in Theory of Knowledge—a subject involving the philosophical inquiry of knowledge itself. Learning and the pursuit of knowledge bring her such joy, and she hopes to spark that same love in her students!