Name: Leilani Soriano
Class Year: 2025
Major: Mathematics
Hometown: Bel Air, MD
Internship Organization: Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Association Coalition (SEAMAAC)
Internship Title: Intern
Location: Philadelphia, PA
What's happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!
This summer, I worked in SEAMAAC’s Community Development, Civic Engagement, and Hunger Relief departments. The work I am most proud of and most invested in is with Civic Engagement’s Counter-Disinformation program. I wrote a project proposal for SEAMAAC’s newsletter for counter-disinformation, which included a vision and objectives to guide purpose and writing style. I also attended APIAVote’s 2024 National Leadership Summit and Presidential Town Hall. With Community Development and Hunger Relief, I got the chance to know South Philadelphia and its residents more intimately. It brought me such joy interacting with SEAMAAC’s community in different contexts, like in the Growing Home Community Gardens on Mercy Street and Emily Street and outside the food pantry when I re-registered over 150 clients for the new fiscal year.
Why did you apply for this internship?
Thoai Nguyen, CEO, came to speak about SEAMAAC for my Introduction to Health Studies Class at Haverford my first-year spring, in 2022. I also resonated with SEAMAAC’s mission, which is to support and serve immigrants and refugees and other politically, socially, and economically marginalized communities as they seek to advance the condition of their lives in the United States. Thank you to the Summer of Service Program that encouraged me to pursue my internship at SEAMAAC.
Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?
Thi Lam, Deputy Director, my supervisor, challenged me at the beginning of my internship to learn how to look at programs and processes with a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Lens. I developed a simple question that unlocked a new and complex way for me to analyze the world I live in: “Why are things the way they are?” This question has been integral to most of the work I have accomplished in the past two months. I often go back to this question when I walk around Philadelphia, comparing Passyunk Ave to South 7th Street, or Tioga and Society Hill.
I exercise a DEI Lens when writing for the counter-disinformation newsletter, asking myself another simple question: “How can I make this accessible and inclusive?” Bad actors intend to suppress voters by disseminating disinformation, and they target AAPIs to make them feel voter apathy or afraid to go to polling stations. The tone we use and the style we write in must be accessible and inclusive to reduce stress and create security in our political processes, so that everyone can participate in voting. Every voice matters, and every vote counts. Register to vote!
Was this internship what you expected it to be?
SEAMAAC takes place as my first professional experience in my own history, and interning here has truly been more than what I thought it would be. I did not realize organizations could care deeply about their neighbors and their community. I also did not realize people could be humble and kind in a workplace. SEAMAAC’s mission, vision, and people inspired me to envision my own future and the kind of world I want to live in 10 or 20 years from now. I hope my future jobs will make me feel inspired and hopeful, just like SEAMAAC.
Career & Civic Engagement Center Mathematics