From the president
Faith Applegate, University of Pennsylvania Class of 2025, is a highly motivated and effective leader with a genuine commitment to public service. A native of West Philadelphia, she was engaged with the community around Penn even before her matriculation, mentoring youth in long-distance running as an Americorps VISTA and volunteering with Philabundance to support individuals experiencing hunger. At Penn, Faith has been actively involved in several civic and community engagement initiatives, including as a writing coach for local high school students through Robeson Writes, a math and literacy tutor through West Philadelphia Tutoring Project, and a mentor through Asian Students Promoting Identity, Reflection, and Education (ASPIRE). In the summer of 2023, Faith was selected to participate in the Penn Program for Public Service internship, coordinated by Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships. She facilitated youth advocacy activities through the High School Voter Project as an intern. She developed a research proposal—which she has since implemented—for a new student organization called Aspiring Educators at Penn for undergraduates interested in pursuing a career in education. Faith has consistently proven herself as an exceptional leader and agent for positive social change on and off campus.
Personal Statement
Growing up in Philadelphia, I have witnessed vast educational disparities that I hope to tackle throughout my career, starting in the classroom as a teacher and eventually becoming an educational decision-maker. I believe that teaching is an act of social justice in the way that effective educators are able to cultivate the next generation of civic-minded leaders and support the upward mobility of youth. As an attendee of some of the best public schools in Philadelphia, I received this kind of transformative education and hope to emulate the amazing teachers who have made me who I am today. As an aspiring educator of color, I am also passionate about diversifying teacher pipelines while improving general teacher recruitment and retention efforts. I currently serve as a student advisor for Penn’s work with the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s “Aspiring to Educate” grant, helping to recruit more teachers of color and STEM teachers. I also co-founded Aspiring Educators at Penn, an organization that provides undergraduate students at Penn interested in exploring careers in teaching or education more broadly with pre-professional workshops, events, and resources, partnering with Penn’s Graduate School of Education and Netter Center for Community Partnerships.