Alumni
Tina He
|
Tina has been involved with various service organizations since day one at Vanderbilt, and is especially passionate to help vulnerable populations. She continued her service interests by volunteering at the American Red Cross and Circle K with a wide range of events, two of the organizations she was already involved in during high school. She tutored elementary and middle school students on math and scientific experiments through Pencil Projects and Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science. Tina also went on an Alternative Spring Break trip to Kentucky to help people improve their natural and social environment.
Through further study of financial behavior, Tina tried to think about the causes of economic imbalance in some areas, and she concluded that lack of financial skills and education are the two major factors. Hoping to spread the scope of financial independence, Tina volunteered at United Way Nashville--Tennessee Alliance for Financial Independence (TAFI) by researching the Small Dollar Loan Program which aims to bring unbanked households into the financial mainstream. Having analyzed and visited several Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) sites at Tennessee, she implemented a VITA site at Vanderbilt to help low income population with their tax returns. During 2012 tax season, the site served approximately 200 clients. Meanwhile, Tina started Moneythink at Vanderbilt to promote financial literacy to urban youth.
Tina spent her summer 2012 in Kenya to help bring solar energy to local communities as well as foster financial education training among microfinance clients. She travelled throughout the coastal province in Kenya to understand the needs of power source and promote solar products. She also developed current microfinance clients’ passbook by adding financial education principles to ensure their financial behavior. Returning back as a senior, Tina plans to continue volunteer at United Way Nashville, Moneythink, VITA program along with other exciting opportunities Nashville community has to offer.