Meet Yilan

Yilan Shi

Junior Class Math Instructor & Volunteer Interview Committee

Meet our incredible volunteer, Yilan Shi! As a Math Instructor, she dedicates her time cultivating the math and critical thinking skills of our students on a weekly basis. The personal coaching our students receive from instructors such as Yilan has resulted in an average SAT improvement of 215 points for our Class of 2021!

Yilan is also passionate about expanding the MMSF mission and is a member of the Volunteer Interview Committee, where she helps identify qualified candidates to join our community. Visit https://www.mindsmattersf.org/join to learn more and apply to be a volunteer at MMSF today!

“MMSF has given me the change to be a part of my students’ journey to higher education and academic self-confidence.”

What Is Your Favorite Part of Minds Matter? The relationships I develop with my mentees, co-instructors, and the community building within, and beyond Minds Matter. We're providing not a point-solution for students, but an entire ecosystem of resources, support, and mentorship. Additionally, I want to give a huge shout-out to my Junior Instructor co-lead, Walta, co-programming directors Arvind and Will, and my volunteer cohort peers for giving me the warmest welcome and making me feel part of the MMSF family from session one!

What Is Your Favorite Minds Matter Memory? The week we worked in parabolas and seeing all my students show up on a Saturday morning super engaged and excited to attack the challenges together! Even though we are still working primarily through Zoom, I can feel their engagement through the screen, and that the mentees really appreciated our work together.

How Have You Benefited Personally From Your Experience at Minds Matter? Minds Matters has given me a pivotal opportunity to further educational opportunities for young students. As a first generation immigrant who struggled with cultural, socioeconomic, and language barriers, I felt pretty isolated in the formative years of my academic journey. Thus, I deeply resonate with Minds Matter’s mission statement of closing the opportunity gap. What we do extends beyond parabolas and linear algebra—it’s an opportunity to be a mentee's greatest cheerleader and north star as they navigate the tricky maze of higher education and make their next steps into college and beyond. I feel grateful and lucky to join as a Junior Instructor!

What Is a Fun Fact About You? I used to be the quietest kid in school, but since becoming a startup company founder, I have pushed past a lot of personal insecurities and acquired greater confidence in public speaking. I feel less embarrassed about expressing myself—and I think that is a really healthy attitude not just in entrepreneurship, but also in higher education and in pursuing our academic goals. It's exciting to see how I can use those experiences to help in the mentees’ journeys in developing confidence in both their own academic abilities as well as outside the classroom.

What Does Minds Matter Mean to You? Minds Matter represents community, cohesiveness in mission, and compassion.

What Inspired You to Become an Instructor? To empower and engage students during some of the most impactful years of their primary education.

What Goes on During the Saturday Sessions With the Students You Work With? We work with students through a series of pre-programmed math lessons. The sessions are divided between a brief group overview of core concepts, followed by individual work, concluded by group review of the practice problems. Some alternative Saturdays, we focus solely on practice test preparation, whereas in other sessions we focus on coursework that roughly follows their respective schools’ programming. Each few weeks, we rotate to a new block, such as from linear algebra to trigonometry.

What Has Been Your Favorite Social Event or Gathering? The Mentors Matter Concert! Chris and Michelle Kuo are such incredible pianists, and it was lovely to hear from both Pranay, our Summer Learning Co-Lead, and Kelly, a senior mentee, about their experience with Minds Matter! And, of course, as the first in-person fundraiser in two years, it was great to meet fellow volunteers!