Polygence on Building Equitable Mentorship Systems for Personalized Learning
Key Points
-
Mentorship programs that emphasize personalized, student-driven learning foster critical thinking, curiosity, and resilience in learners.
-
Equity in mentorship requires scalable systems that provide access to under-resourced communities, ensuring all students can benefit from these opportunities.
In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Shawnee Caruthers sits down withย Jin Chow, co-founder and COO of Polygence,ย Rahul Patel, founder of Hypothesis to Hardware, andย Zohra Khawaja, founder of Hearts Against Homelessness, to explore how equitable mentorship and personalized learning systems can empower students to thrive. The conversation delves into the transformative power of mentorship when it becomes more than just a “nice-to-have,” highlighting how mentorship systems that prioritize student agency, critical thinking, and curiosity can create meaningful, scalable, and equitable learning opportunities. From the role of expert mentors to the integration of AI in education, this discussion emphasizes the importance of meeting learners where they are and creating pathways for all students to succeedโregardless of their circumstances. Tune in to hear inspiring stories of impact and actionable strategies for building mentorship systems that work for everyone.
Outline
- (00:00) Introduction to the Getting Smart Podcast
- (06:05) The Impact of Personalized Learning
- (08:49) Zohra’s Journey and the Future of Mentorship
- (24:38) Passion Projects and Student Agency
- (29:47) Overcoming Challenges and Accessibility
- (36:16) Recognition, Impact, and Closing Thoughts
Introduction to the Getting Smart Podcast
Shawnee Caruthers: You’re listening to the Getting Smart Podcast. I’m Shawnee Caruthers. Last week, I took a group of real-world learning fellows from Kansas City to Longmont High School to learn about innovative best practices. One thing was crystal clear: mentorship really works when it stops being a “nice to have” and becomes infrastructure. In Longmont, mentors aren’t parachuting in for pieces and platitudes. They’re woven into the week, matched to student interest, synced to coursework, and backed by a host city that treats talent development like a civic responsibility. As one Longmont leader put it, once mentors are on board, they start speaking to their colleagues, and before you know it, students are being impacted in positive ways.
That’s a spark for today’s conversation. If experience is the expectation, mentorship is the on-ramp, and the real question is how to build systems that make it reliable, scalable, and equitable. How do we match well, keep the workload realistic, and line up paid opportunities so first-generation and under-resourced students don’t have to rely on luck? To dig in, I’m joined by three guests who live this work from different angles:ย Jin Chow, co-founder and COO of Polygence, a personalized research platform where students drive passion projects with expert mentors;ย Rahul Patel, mentor and PhD-trained biomedical research and AI specialist, and new founder of Hypothesis to Hardware, applying AI to accelerate life science innovation; andย Zohra Khawaja, youth leader and founder of Hearts Against Homelessness, bringing a student lens on what meaningful mentorship actually feels like. Let’s talk about building mentorship that moves beyond good intentions into durable practice and why it’s a lever so many communities, including all of our own, can pull right now. Jin, Rahul, Zohra, welcome to the podcast.
Jin Chow:ย Great to be here. Thanks for having us.
Zohra Khawaja: Thank you.
Shawnee Caruthers:ย Absolutely. Yes, thank you. So good to see you all. Jin, I’ll start with you. I mentioned that you are the co-founder and COO of Polygence, the personalized research program that empowers students. What I would like to know is, for our listeners who are new to this idea, can you walk us through what the journey looks like for a typical student around project-based learning and expert mentorship?
Jin Chow:ย Yes, absolutely. What’s really interesting about our platform is that we meet students where they’re at. Whatever the student is interested in doing a project onโwhether it’s biomedicine, neuroscience, French history, art history, or whatever it might beโwe find the perfect subject fit for them in a mentor. That mentor might be someone like Rahul, who has a PhD or is currently studying in a PhD program, or they might be an industry expert, like a Wall Street trader or a NASA engineer. We pair them on our platform, where they meet online over the course of usually 10 sessions, but it can be more, to work on a tangible outcome of a project.
Sometimes it’s a research paper; other times, it’s something more creative, like an organization or a podcast. Students meet over the course of three to six months with their mentors to work on this project, and they finish the program with some kind of tangible outcome, whether it’s a paper or something more creative.
Shawnee Caruthers: Through your process, which sounds really significant, meaningful, intentional, and thoughtfulโall of the great adjectivesโyou have brought over 6,000 learners and 2,500 mentors together, which is a feat for sure in just over six years. What does that mentor-student pairing process look like, and how do you ensure that it’s a good fit? I know you said you kind of do it as interest-aligned, but sometimes even when it’s interest-aligned, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good fit. So what is your process?
Jin Chow:ย Yeah, that’s a really good question. The match is seriously where the secret sauce is and where the spark is, right? If we believe in mentorship, we really believe in the power of that individual to inspire the student, get them to fall in love with learning, and really love the subject. We actually have a whole team dedicated to matching. Our student operations team is made up of educators and pedagogues who care deeply about the student experience. They look at our students’ applications, their interviews, and they intimately know the mentor base really well so they can suggest and recommend matches.
As Rahul knows, and as you also mentioned, Shawnee, it’s not always a fit. It might be the perfect subject area fit, but it may not be a personality fit, or there might be time zone scheduling issues that make it such that the student can’t work with this mentor. That’s why we have what we call a mentor satisfaction guarantee. If after the first session, or maybe even the first two sessions, you feel like you’re just not clicking with this mentorโeven though they’re studying exactly the thing you want to do your project inโwe do a rematch because we understand that sometimes these things happen.
The other thing I’ll mention is that a lot of times, we get parents who ask, “Hey, can I actually have a mentor from Harvard or from Chapel Hill or from Cornell, because that’s where I want my kid to go?” We often have to do a little bit of reeducation of the families so they understand that the most successful projects we’ve seen are when the personality is a fit and when the subject matter is a fit. We’re trying to instill a sense of curiosity in students, and that’s the most important thing. The brand name attraction is always going to be thereโit’s very naturalโbut it’s something we have to work with and against at times.
The Impact of Personalized Learning
Shawnee Caruthers: Rahul, as a mentor, talk to me about what your experience has been.
Rahul Patel:ย Yeah, I think Jin hit it out of the park there. She characterized all the different nuances really well and shed a lot of light on it. Just to add a couple of things from the mentor side, the Polygence team does a great job. I am always super excited when I’m paired up with a student. Those initial sessions are so fun in terms of starting to explore that subject matter interest but also the personalities.
I’m someone who certainly benefited from having mentors that aligned well in both dimensions of subject matter and, letโs say, working style or mentorship style more broadly. So that’s something that I emphasize a lot. There are actually some great opportunities within the Polygence platform, like the Launchpad program, for example. I think that’s fantastic, where students are able to almost do what I would call graduate rotations but with different mentors. They chat with three different mentorsโthey could all be in the same area or in different areas. Just because there are three different folks, they’re naturally going to have three different personalities.
Something I emphasize in those sessions with my students is, “Tell me about how you like to work. How do you like to communicate? Do you want someone more hands-on, more hands-off?” All those important aspects outside of the alignment on the technical side of things just make for an amazing experience on the mentor side. I’m sure Zohra has some insights on the student side.
Zohra Khawaja: Yeah, definitely. I think it was really obvious how careful Polygence was when I first applied and when I was accepted. The process was really easy for me as a student. I know when I first applied and got in, I was a little bit nervous about who was going to end up being my mentor because I wanted it to go well. I was lucky enough that the first match ended up working perfectly, and I really enjoyed how she taught me and how she led me along my research journey. It was just a really good fit, which I think is so important.
A lot of the time, younger people aren’t even necessarily going to speak up if it’s not a great fit. They’re just going to stick with what they have and stay silent. I remember one of the first things my mentor told me was, “If this doesn’t seem like a good fit for you, that’s totally fine. I want this to be a good experience for you.” I remember thinking, “Okay, I have a chance. I am able to talk about what I need and vocalize that and get to where I need to go by communicating.”
Zohra’s Journey and the Future of Mentorship
Shawnee Caruthers: Zohra, like you said, fortunately, you were able to have a perfect fit the first time, but fully recognizing that is not always the case. If a young person is listening to this and they’re struggling with what words to use to have the experience that works for them, what advice would you give them to speak up and have that agency?
Zohra Khawaja: Yeah. I think something I tell myself a lot when I’m in that position where I know I need to speak up is that it might seem like a really big deal in that moment, but you have to think about your future and where you want to be going. If you know that where you are or who you’re working with is not going to aid you in your journeyโeven if they’re trying their best and it’s just not a good meshโyou have to think about your future and what is best for you.
I’ve been very lucky with my education system and just growing up that this way of thinking has been very available to me. Being able to vocalize when something is wrong is a very hard lesson to learn when you’re younger. It’s about being able to put yourself first in a sense and recognize, “I need to think about my future and where I want to go. If this isn’t necessarily helpful for me, I need to be comfortable vocalizing that.”
Shawnee Caruthers:ย Jin, your platform allows learners to center in on what their needs are, even if they didnโt grow up having the same kind of experience as Zohra, where agency was built into the system. Your mission is to equip students with critical thinking skills to thrive now and in the future. In the era of AI and instant answers, why is this skill more important than ever? How does Polygence allow students to specifically build it?
Jin Chow:ย Yeah, really good question. I really love the way Zohra talked about it in terms of students having to learn how to speak up for themselves but also having to think for themselves and not just accept whatever is being given to themโkind of like school style, where kids are just being force-fed information and set curriculum.
There was actually a recent study released by MIT that showed the effects on the brain of over-relianceโor just reliance in generalโon AI. They compared students who wrote essays only using AI, only using their own brain, and using Google search. They found that students in the AI group showed a lot less neural activity in their brain and also had a harder time remembering what they wrote afterward. Itโs interesting, sad, and alarming all at the same time.
Part of the reason my co-founder, Yosh, and I started Polygence was to preserve the most human elements of student learningโcritical thinking and curiosity. These two things are the reason we started Polygence, even before AI and COVID. It was in 2019 when we started. As you said, in this world we are now in, where AI can really short-circuit learning in a lot of ways, itโs even more important that students learn how to think for themselves. Those skills are going to be important no matter how good AI gets. Youโre still going to need to learn how to make decisions in social situations, about your career, or how to interact with your bosses.
That skill will never go away and will only get more important. Thatโs why weโve designed the program so students are in the driverโs seat. This is not a traditional tutoring relationship. We actually tell our mentors, “You are not a tutor. Youโre not a classroom teacher. You are there to guide the student, but the student should be in the driverโs seat.”
We measure a metric called “talk time” with our mentors, where we tell them how much theyโve talked in relation to the student. We actually want the mentors to speak less because we want the students to drive the process. Thatโs very different from any other kind of school-based learning experience or run-of-the-mill AP tutoring or SAT tutoring.
We also tell the mentors that theyโre there to help guide and scope the project with the student, but in no situation should they be feeding the student a project plan. This comes as a surprise to many families who are maybe expecting, “I pay tuition, so why am I not getting a project? Why are you not just giving me a project for my child to do?” But we believe that the time and struggle of figuring out the project and collaborating with the mentor is where the most learning happens and where a lot of critical thinking skills are developed.
Passion Projects and Student Agency
Shawnee Caruthers: And even when keeping the student at the center, that doesnโt mean the relationship canโt be reciprocal, right? Just because the mentor is talking less doesnโt mean theyโre not also getting something super meaningful from this mentorship relationship. Rahul, you mentioned that you had mentors when you were growing up, and now youโre paying it forward by being a mentor. From your perspective, how do you feel like youโve been impactedโnot only by your own mentoring experience as you were growing up but also as a mentor now? Youโre obviously helping learners and creating that space for them, but I would assume youโre also getting something super meaningful back. How are you being affected by it?
Rahul Patel: Yeah, sure. Thatโs a great question. The quick answer is the students provide way more value to me than I could ever provide to them. I learn more from my students and have such a strong sense of fulfillment every second I spend with them. I hope a fraction of that is enjoyable for them and that Iโm able to provide some level of insight thatโs helpful.
Itโs an incredibly reciprocal relationship, as you mentioned. Iโd say some of the best mentors I had throughout my career were the ones that didnโt always align perfectly on subject matter expertise. I worked with folks who had PhDs in physics and chemistry, and I was a trained biologist. But those individuals happened to be working on a project or a research goal that was unifying. The way they thought about questions and the project was very different from my own biological orientation and scoping of ideas.
That being said, what made it really helpfulโbeyond this common interest on the projectโwas really the soft skills and personality aspects. I would describe a lot of these individuals as incredibly patient, kind, generous, and thoughtful. Those qualities are much more important than labels like physicist, chemist, or biologist.
Thatโs similar to how I approach the projects that Polygence students work on with me. As Jin mentioned, the students are in the driverโs seat. From session one, I tell them, โHere are the things I geek out aboutโthe topics Iโve worked onโbut tell me what excites you. Thereโs no expectation that you work on something Iโve spent a decade on. Itโs really about whatโs going to excite you. Am I the right person technically to help you with this?โ
If a student wants to work on something beyond my scopeโletโs say theoretical geometry, which I know nothing aboutโwe may mesh really well on the personality side, but Iโm not the best subject matter expert. But when you have that fit, thatโs where the magic happens. Thereโs a lot of learning.
As a mentor, especially when you give the students the support to pursue the questions theyโre most passionate about, you actually learn a lot on the subject matter side. My students, for example, might pursue a project in biomedical research plus AI, and I learn a lot from them on the technical side as we work through the project.
As a mentor, youโre given the opportunity to propagate the best qualities of your previous mentors but also adapt your own style to meet the needs of a new generation. What my students have really taught me is that, at this early career stage, the way theyโre able to communicate with professionals is astounding to me. It makes me really excited for when they go off to college and throughout their academic careers. Theyโre really well poised. I think Zohra mentioned this tooโbecause theyโre in the driverโs seat of their education and their project, itโs probably the best feeling in the world to see that you had a small finger on the scale to help move that person in that direction.
Zohra Khawaja: I can almost guarantee that your students are probably getting just as much as youโre giving from what you said before. But yeah, I think itโs so cool being able to hear about what itโs like from the mentor side because, obviously, Iโve only ever really been part of the mentee side of it. It was really kind of a shock to me when I first started my project because most of your school curriculum is just kind ofโyou sit in class, your teacher writes stuff on the board, you learn everything you need to know, and then you go home, you practice, and then you have a test. Thatโs it. Itโs very step one, step two, step three.
When I came into Polygence, it was all of a sudden, โOkay, youโre interested in this. Hereโs some stuff thatโs related to it. Go research that.โ Then Iโd come back, and my mentor would say, โOkay, youโve researched it. Here are some ideas. Go and figure it out.โ It was very much the perfect combination of, โHere, Iโm guiding you, but also, this is your project, your paper. Iโm not writing it for you.โ
That was really exciting for me because I got to learn just for the sake of learningโnot to be quizzed on it or so a grade would show up on my transcript. That was very jarring, just coming into my first session and realizing, โOh, okay. This is my project. Itโs not my mentorโs and my project. Theyโre helping me. Theyโre guiding me. But Iโm the one thatโs really, as Jin said, in the driverโs seat.โ It allowed me to be a lot more proud and fulfilled when I finished that project because it was really me sitting down and knowing, โI did this. I had help. I had guidance. But this is what I was able to put my mind to and create.โ
Rahul Patel: I think Zohraโs spot on. As a mentor in this situation, you really have to be that support for the student. When we really think about it, itโs something quite unusual for someone to go from the classroom, where theyโre being taught in a traditional way, to being self-sufficient and motivated. One of my favorite things about Polygence is that in all of the recordings with my sessions with my students, I always say, โThis isnโt like school. Iโm not grading you. Iโm not judging you. Iโm literally here to just help. Anything you need to succeed, thatโs what Iโm here for. Thereโs no A, B, C, D, or F in this situation. If anything, if youโre not learning, succeeding, and having fun, thatโs a failure on my end.โ
I think it just creates this incredible collaborative dynamic. Thatโs probably one of the most fulfilling parts of being a mentor. Itโs cool to hear from Zohraโs side that, as a mentee, thatโs also jarring and challenging but still rewarding for the student.
Jin Chow:ย You both are going to make me cry. This is basically the reason why we started Polygence and the experience weโve hopefully given to 6,000 students over the past six years. One more thing I wanted to add, listening to you both talk, is that I think this kind of experience, as you said, Zohra, is jarring because itโs often the first time a student has ever been asked, โWhat do you want to do? What do you want to learn? What do you want to make out of it?โ
Shorts Content
Overcoming Challenges and Accessibility
Shawnee Caruthers:ย Jin, as you think about your workโand weโve talked about a lot of the positive sides of mentorshipโwe also recognize that sometimes learners have greater challenges to overcome before they can even get into the space of being mentored. How do you work alongside those learners to ensure they still have access to these opportunities while also recognizing some of the very real-life challenges they may be experiencing?
Jin Chow:ย Yeah, good question. I think the most basic answer to that is the reason why we designed the program to be one-on-one. The reason why most of our programs are one-on-oneโand we do have some programs that are in small groupsโis because we want to make sure the mentor can work with the student and meet them where theyโre at, no matter what life challenges they might be going through.
Weโve worked with refugee students before. Weโve worked with students who are experiencing very difficult, traumatic experiences at home or politically. The fact that it is a one-on-one mentorship experience makes it such that it can be 100% personalized, and thatโs something thatโs really important to us.
Now, because itโs one-on-one, tuition is also higher, which makes it less accessible in some sense to certain students. Thatโs why we have our own scholarship program that weโve had since day one of Polygenceโs existence. We award scholarships to students who come through our need-based financial aid program. We look at students across the world who apply, who meet that income threshold, and we look at our mentor availability to make judicious decisions.
Itโs always really difficult. I always want to accept all the students, but at the same time, we want to make sure we compensate mentors because this is hard work and itโs a lot of time for the mentors.
Rahul Patel: Yeah, just to piggyback off of that, itโs true. One of the things Iโve learned as a mentorโand in many ways, this reflects the kind mentorship I receivedโis that especially in formative experiences, when an experiment isnโt working or progress isnโt made in the classroom, we donโt contextualize why that may be happening. We just say, โYour assignment is late, so hereโs the grade penalty.โ
What really great mentors do is contextualize. They understand that my default reasoning for all my students is, โYouโre all brilliant. Youโre all a lot smarter than me. Youโre going to do much more important things than me.โ Why something didnโt get done has nothing to do with capabilityโitโs probably something else that happened.
When you create that space and talk about things like, โWhatโs on your plate right now? What can we talk about and think through and strategize so we can also achieve this other goal?โ it makes for a really special experience. Often, you have that three-minute conversation, and the student says, โOh, you know, X, Y, Z happened at the school lunch table today, and Iโve just been totally out of it.โ As a mentor, I sit there and say, โThat happened to me when I was 16 too. Why donโt we call this a half session or something? Why donโt you go do something fun? This is not time-sensitive for these reasons. Letโs return to it when your head is clear.โ
Without fail, the student comes back feeling better, the work gets done, and theyโve also felt supportedโnot judged or penalized in the same way that the traditional classroom setting is prone to. But Iโm curious what Zohra thinks about this.
Zohra Khawaja: Yeah, I think itโs so exciting hearing about the inner workings of whatโs happening on the mentor side because, as a student and a youth, itโs amazing to hear about that happening for young people. I think especially students who typically sign up for Polygence are high achievers. We care about getting our work done, doing it well, and doing it in order and on time because we donโt want to disappoint ourselves or our mentors. We donโt want to seem like weโre not at the level we should be.
Even with my experience with my mentor, it was very flexible. Basically, every session we did was a half session. It was very tailored to what both of us needed. When scheduling conflicts came up or something like that happened, it was okay. It wasnโt a big deal.
The example you gave, Rahul, where itโs โThis is late, so this is the grade youโre getting because itโs late,โ without giving any context as to what was happening at home or in the studentโs life, just makes it even harder to speak up and advocate for yourself. Itโs like, โIt didnโt matter that I was going through something. I was penalized because of it, and I just need to work harder when that thing is happening or if it happens again.โ
Setting up an environment where students feel not only that theyโre not penalized for it but that they feel supported throughoutโnot only will they have better emotional and mental health, but their work will probably also improve as well.
Recognition, Impact, and Closing Thoughts
Shawnee Caruthers:ย Zohra, youโre really leaning into the mental health component of your work as well. As a result, youโve been named one of British Columbiaโs Top 25 Under 25, which is an amazing feat. Yes, Rahul and Jin are giving you applause, and itโs so well deserved. You also won an Ingenious+ Innovation Award for your education program. How has this recognition helped you expand your mission for Hearts Against Homelessness? What is your ultimate vision in Canada for your organization?
Zohra Khawaja: First of all, the recognition is obviously something that means a lot. Just knowing that your impact is seen and it matters is so important. Especially as a young person, having those kinds of awards behind you is very important for being heard and listened to.
Although that recognition is amazing and feels great, I think itโs also a little unfortunate that there are a lot of young leaders who donโt have the awards behind them and are taken a little less seriously. But itโs definitely been super important for getting our mission out there and allowing other people to learn about it.
Even just the impact weโve been able to make in a little less than a yearโnot even with the numbers but being able to see the actual youth, understand their stories, and learn about themโhas been incredible. Iโve had the opportunity to talk with ministers of education and district principals. Iโve been able to use my voice to advocate for what I believe all youth need. Seeing that itโs actually being listened to and that there are higher-ups and adults who are taking it into consideration is amazing.
Zohra Khawaja: Even just the impact weโve been able to make in a little less than a yearโnot even with the numbers but being able to see the actual youth, understand their stories, and learn about themโhas been incredible. Iโve had the opportunity to talk with ministers of education and district principals. Iโve been able to use my voice to advocate for what I believe all youth need. Seeing that itโs actually being listened to and that there are higher-ups and adults who are taking it into consideration is amazing.
It makes me so grateful that Iโve been able to have this journey of impact. Iโm a senior student now, but even in university and beyond, I want to continue scaling this and getting to a point whereโnot just in Canada but all over the worldโhomelessness is something that is talked about for students. Itโs not something that is stigmatized or dragging students down. Our main mission is to make sure every youth can thrive and feel safe and supported, no matter how or where theyโre living.
Itโs been really amazing to see that the impact is getting somewhere and is actually making a change in communities. That recognition of the work mattering is really important, especially for young people. When I was starting out, it took me a while to tell myself, โIโm actually going to do this because I can make a difference.โ
Jin Chow:ย So proud of you, Zohra. So incredible.
Zohra Khawaja: Thank you.
Rahul Patel: I was just going to say, listening to Zohra, itโll be great to see the longitudinal stories of these 6,000 students and where they end up. My guess is theyโre going to go very far and have far-reaching impact. Zohraโs just a great example of that, and I think we should all be so proud of what sheโs accomplished.
Shawnee Caruthers: Thatโs the perfect way to close our conversation. This has been beautiful and, as Rahul said, very inspirational. Zohra, I love when you said, โI can make a difference.โ Thatโs what we want all learners to feel. Thank you all for your time and for sharing your hearts and your stories. Zohra, good luckโweโll be following your journey for your program, and we are supporting you.
Guest Bio
Jin Chow
Jin Chow is an academic-turned-entrepreneur from Hong Kong. Her academic journey, which spans tutoring new immigrant teenagers in Hong Kong, mentoring incarcerated students while at Princeton, and embarking upon a PhD at Stanford has shown her that mentorship is the key to finding oneโs calling in life.
In 2019, she co-founded Polygence from her graduate student dorm at Stanford, along with Janos Perczel. In just over 6 years, Polygence has helped 6000+ learners from 100+ countries grow through projects, and built a community of 2500+ mentors.
Rahul Patel
Rahul Patel is a PhD-trained Biomedical Researcher and AI specialist who is leveraging AI to drive innovation in the life sciences industry as the founder of Hypotehsis to Hardware. Rahul completed his undergraduate training at Rutgers, The State University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, studying Cell Biology and Neuroscience. Here, he gained experience in several areas of biomedical research that focused on the development of new medicines and technologies to treat conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, inflammation, and cancer, leading to multiple publications, grants, and a patent application. Following his BA, he served as a research scientist at Stanford University, where he studied the cells that are targeted in multiple sclerosis. He then completed his PhD in Neuroscience at UNC-Chapel Hill. His National Science Foundation-funded thesis combined engineering, neuroscience, and machine learning. This interdisciplinary approach aimed to develop technologies to evaluate pain in animals to better inform the development of new, non-addictive pain medications. He is a proud mentor of over 50 students in his career.
Zohra Khawaja
Since before high school, HAHโs founder Zohra Khawaja has always had a love for helping her community through volunteer work. But it wasnโt until one of her close friends found herself without proper housing that she decided she should take a leap of faith and start her own organization. Through her own experiences and supporting her friend as she navigated this challenging part of her life, Zohra began to understand the lack of education available for youth on the topic of homelessness. Her friendโs story inspired her to set up programs that could offer the resources, support, and information to youth who were struggling with housing so that no other children had to experience the feeling of being alone while they tackled these incredibly hard situations.
Zohra began selling bracelets and candles to raise funds for her programs. Her fundraising efforts have lead her to launch multiple service programs, all working towards the common goal of supporting unhoused youth in her community. Now, the HAH team works tirelessly to continue growing and expanding so that more youth can be reached and impacted. Zohra hopes to one day have programs that ensure not a single young person in Canada is left without the support they need to thrive, no matter their housing situation.
Links

0 Comments
Leave a Comment
Your email address will not be published. All fields are required.