SERENA LIN

Future of Sustainability,
Youth Advocate

Serena Lin is a 15-year-old student who aims to bring her visions to life through art, entrepreneurship, and leadership to make a positive impact in the world. 

Growing up an artist and entrepreneur, innovating and executing have stood strong as Serena’s core values since childhood. Often undertaking projects and businesses that were above her skill sets, she challenged herself to appreciate and adapt to each obstacle along the way. Her experiences with setbacks and learning through entrepreneurship and art are what led her to be the way she is now; continuously creative, always adapting, and incredibly ambitious.

With these skills, Serena was elected to represent her grade in Student Government, personally working to create a sustainable and affordable clothing option for her school’s community. After 4 months of discovering her love for public speaking/debate, she won 35th speaker out of 420+ people and top 32 teams out of 220+ at the 49th Harvard National Forensics Tournament (the biggest high-school level debate tournament in the world). Her passion for social justice and the environment translated onto her artworks, where in the past 2 years she has won 1 Gold Key, 5 Silver Keys, and 2 Honorable Mentions at the Scholastic Art Competition in addition to being twice published. Her drive and excitement for learning led her to strive for growth and “doing” rather than just “thinking”.

In the future, Serena hopes to gain a strong business education and deepen her interests in social science, design, and sustainability at UPenn, her dream university. She also plans to gain real-world experience in business and create her own start-ups or organizations that can satisfy her dream of making a change in the world.