From the president
Herinah Asaah, University of Pennsylvania Class of 2026, is a remarkable student leader, genuinely committed to public service. At Penn, Rinah has been deeply involved with the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, which brings together the resources and assets of both the University and the wider community to help solve local community-identified problems. In summer 2024, Rinah was selected to participate in Netter’s Penn Program for Public Service (PPPS), through which she worked with the Youth-Driven Anti-Violence Program to help local high school students become change agents in their communities. As part of PPPS, Rinah worked closely with teachers and staff at local schools to develop a program, Trans-LEA-tion, that organized multilingual Penn students to provide translation services to support the non-English-speaking students and families at a nearby K-8 school. Rinah has also served in leadership roles in several other programs across Penn, including as Vice Chair of Netter’s Student Advisory Board and as a member of the University-wide planning committee, Penn & Philly: In Action. A fierce advocate for educational equity, Rinah intends to pursue international human rights law after obtaining her B.A. in Psychology, focusing on children’s rights and the right to education.
Personal Statement
My involvement in the pursuit of education equity began in high school as a tutor and as a participant in a program intended for African refugee youth, where I led a number of sessions on digital literacy. Then, I joined Penn’s Graduate School of Education Youth Civic Engagement Research Project, where I discussed current events and conducted research with other high school students. When I came to Penn, my interest in youth service heightened. I began to work for a national nonprofit youth service organization where I established a university chapter and now lead programming for at-promise K-12 children, with the mission of closing the opportunity gap. I continued this mission by working with the Netter Center as a Penn Program for Public Service Intern, an immersive program in which interns work with community partners to address and develop an implementable solution to a social issue they observed. I kept working with the Netter Center through Academically Based Community Service courses, co-developing and launching a translation services program for elementary school families, and serving on the Student Advisory Board. I am also involved in policy research that would support efforts aimed at understanding and reducing youth substance use in Grenada.