SA Senior’s Summer Internship Fuels Passion for Computer Science

When Sophie Chew ’25 began looking for a summer internship, she knew she wanted to find one where she could combine her passions for computer science and accessible education. 

“As someone who has relied heavily on free resources for studying, I want to contribute to accessible education to allow other students to benefit in the same way.”

Sophie noted she has used many free online resources when studying for her classes. She benefitted from these resources so much that she started finding ways to help other students prepare better for their classes. 在圣安德鲁, she has done peer tutoring with Mu Alpha Theta Math Honors Society and became an online tutor with 校舍.世界, a free peer-to-peer tutoring platform.    

She was alerted to an advertisement for a new company, Daewoong学院, looking for high school students passionate about computer science and creating educational resources. Sophie immediately applied for the volunteer-based, all-virtual internship.

“他们的使命激励了我. I was fascinated with their use of AI to achieve it. Alongside contributing to the site content, I [would also be] learning tons of industry-level software engineering concepts that I [could] apply and see reflected on the site, which is incredibly fulfilling and, 坦率地说, 很酷的!" 

Daewoong学院 is dedicated to promoting educational equity through free, 优质在线资源, specifically for those preparing for the SATs. The website went live at the end of August. 

Sophie's role involved collaborating with high school students across the country over Zoom to create digital SAT problems and curriculum through the use of generative AI. 在她实习初期, she was asked to lead a team of eight other high school students as they worked together to create more content. 

“We tried to make it as close as possible to the digital SAT,” she said. “It’s a great review platform, and I hope students will find it helpful.” 

The internship was supposed to end in August; however, 苏菲给创始人留下了深刻印象, 李彼得, so much that she was one of three students chosen to be mentored and asked to continue her internship with the company. Her new role as a software engineer has involved her taking on more advanced projects. She is currently working on a full-stack development project, building an admin tab for the website that allows the organization to filter and manage contact forms. She hopes to complete this project by the end of the semester.

Sophie’s interest in computer science is not new. 从九年级开始, she has been taking computer science courses at Saint Andrew’s and has been a member of the FTC Robotics team. 今年, she will be one of the team’s captains and is taking AP Computer Science courses in Cybersecurity and Data Structures. 

她把这归功于像奥巴马这样的老师. Uriarte for inspiring her to foster her passion for computer science. Mr. Uriarte was the one to suggest she attempt to build an app on her own. He suggested she try creating a task management app for the robotics team. The app has helped the team log and track hours worked and tasks that need to be completed. 

The success of the first app led Mr. Uriarte to encourage her to attempt to make another app using Swift, but this time for the 上学校’s math and writing labs. The app would look to solve check-ins and attendance. Sophie hopes to expand the use of the app to include club activities and attendance as well. She is working alongside the 上学校 administration and hopes that the app will be used at Saint Andrew’s. 

"It's been an absolute joy having Sophie as a student these last two years,” said Mr. Uriarte. “Her passion for all things Computer Science is matched only by her empathy in finding ways to use her knowledge to better the community around her."

展望未来, Sophie wants to continue exploring different specializations within computer science and plans to pursue the field in college. 以她的干劲和激情, she’s well on her way to making significant contributions to both technology and education.