Katherine Streit
Graduate Student Assistant

At the Penn Women's Center, Katherine's primary focus is coordinating the Penn Women's Mentorship Program.  She loves working with such dedicated and mature young women, and is excited for a great year!  Katherine is a first-year graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is pursuing dual masters degrees (MSW and M.S.Ed) through the School of Social Policy and Practice, and the Graduate School of Education.  She is a 2011 graduate of American University in Washington, DC, where she double-majored in Sociology and Psychology, and obtained a minor in Special Education.

As part of her Masters in Social Work program, Katherine spends three days a week in a field placement in Philadelphia.  This year, she works at Webster Elementary School in Kensington doing school social work, focusing her work on targeted intervention on a student, school, and community-wide basis.

As an undergrad, Katherine studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, for six months.  She spent her semester taking courses at the University of Cape Town, and volunteering at a local orphanage in the afternoons, tutoring and teaching life skills.  During her time in college, Katherine also founded and led American University's Best Buddies chapter, a nonprofit that pairs up college students with individuals in the community who have an intellectual disability in one-to-one friendships.  She was also the president of the Peace and Empowerment Project, a student club that raised funds for "sponsor sisters" in Rwanda to complete a work-training and entrepreneurship program, and coordinated awareness campaigns on women and children in developing countries.  Katherine has a passion for social justice, advocacy work, and volunteering.

Katherine has lots of experience working with children, and with both children and adults with special needs and developmental disabilities.  She has been a long-time volunteer with the Special Olympics and has worked at several summer camps, including as an English as a Second Language teacher for adults.  She has completed internships with Special Olympics International, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the National Coalition for the Homeless, American Youth Policy Forum, and the Child Care Resource Center.  During college, she also participated in several alternative spring breaks -- her favorite being to New Orleans to work with St. Bernard's Parish and Habitat for Humanity!

Katherine is brand-new to Philadelphia, and in her (fleeting) free time, Katherine loves exploring Philadelphia, finding new places to study around UPenn, visiting friends from college in DC, attempting to keep up with the education reform movement, skyping with friends in South Africa, and traveling home to Rhode Island to spend time with her family and baby niece!