Sharing excitement for learning
A year from now, Harvard senior Lam Pham plans to be teaching and researching higher education in Vietnam. Senior Qi Yu expects to be in a library engrossed in her first year of med-school studies, and senior Abby Schiff likely will be in a lab conducting HIV research for a vaccine against AIDS. As they pursue different paths, they take with them their shared experiences of serving as mentors to local schoolchildren through the Harvard Allston Education Portal. Established in 2008, the Ed Portal brings Harvard’s strengths of teaching and research to the Allston-Brighton community. Each year more than 20 undergraduates provide free mentoring in science, math, and writing to more than 100 neighborhood children. The Ed Portal has helped to foster a passion for education, leadership, and public service among the undergraduate mentors. Half of the mentors are graduating this May and are going on to pursue professions as doctors,...