Board of Directors
Katrina Zeng
Founder & Executive Director
Katrina Zeng is a rising senior at Princeton Day School who loves to read and listen to music. She is passionate about spreading awareness for mental health and social justice. Hence, she founded Dear Fellow Students at the end of 2020 to put forth her ideas for change. She hopes that Dear Fellow Students can become a safe, comfortable community for youth around the world to share their personal struggles and learn from one another.
Abhigna Koochana
Ambassador Director
Abhigna Koochana is a sophomore in a high school. She enjoys reading, writing, painting, and biking with friends. She joined Dear Fellow Students because she is passionate about advocating for mental health. As the ambassador director, she is committed to spreading awareness about the mission of Dear Fellow Students. Additionally, her ability to meet with other youth leaders further drives her passion for advocacy.
Theertha Aravind
Journalist Director
Theertha Aravind is a high schooler from India. She enjoys dancing, reading, and listening to music in her free time. She joined Dear Fellow Students because it deals with the issue of mental health which is often disregarded by many around her. As the journalist director, she is excited to work with like-minded youth in creating content centered around mental health and other social justice issues.
Aidan Vu
Current Affairs Director
Aidan is a junior from Westside High School. He enjoys reading classic novels, writing in all forms of genres, and is an avid learner of different arts and cultures. He joined DFS because he is committed to furthering its mission to creating a safer space for those struggling with their mental health and reinforcing the notion that no one should feel isolated with their mental struggles. As the Current Affairs Director, he would like to further engage others and spread awareness on the numerous pressing issues of today affecting our generation in a multitude of means.
Heidi Chang
Events Director
Heidi is a rising junior from Presentation High School. She loves to read, journal, and play volleyball during her free time. She joined Dear Fellow Students because she is extremely passionate about spreading awareness for mental health. As the events director, she hopes to organize and create events that can inform people about mental health issues as well as form programs where students can have support and guidance in balancing their mental health with school.
Faith Qiao
Podcast Director, Podcast Co-Host
Faith is a Senior at American High School. She loves reading and writing. She joined Dear Fellow Students for the chance to share her own mental health journey in a meaningful way. As the podcast director, she hopes to create exciting, informational, and conversational content that also gives students the opportunity to share their stories in a more accessible format.
Ambassador Team
Katz Nguyen
Ambassador
Katz Nguyen is an incoming junior in a health based high school. They are normally seen using their creative outlets to express their love for literature and classics. Katz joined Dear Fellow Students as a way to spread awareness and explore different aspects of the online community.
Noumica Putrevu
Ambassador
Noumica Putrevu is a junior at Dougherty Valley High School in the bay area. She enjoys exploring her artistic side with painting, and dancing. Noumica joined Dear Fellow Students because she wanted to be able to reach out and help others who fight for their mental health like she does.
Zoe Stuffers
Ambassador
Zoe Stuffers is an incoming junior at Earl Haig Secondary School. She loves writing, theatre, and film/photography. She joined Dear Fellow Students to diminish the taboo behind the subject of mental health and make room for any conversations surrounding it. Furthermore, she wants to provide learning opportunities on this topic for students and people everywhere.
Natalie Gharibian
Ambassador
Natalie Gharibian is a rising freshman from Glendale, California. She loves to read, write, and dance. Natalie joined Dear Fellow Students to explore her passion of helping others, specifically students, all around the world. In addition, she joined the team to be a part of a supporting and loving family.
Maryam Khalil
Ambassador
Maryam is a senior from Wisdom High School, Houston, Texas. She loves dancing, drawing, and listening to music. She joined Dear Fellow Students because she believes in youth power and that helping each other is the only way to get ahead.
Journalist Team
Lauren Guss
Journalist
Lauren is a senior from West Ranch High School in Santa Clarita, California. She loves crocheting, listening to music, and gardening. She joined Dear Fellow Students because she wants to spread the advice she wishes she had heard during mentally-tough times, and is excited to help those in need of a friend with her writing!
Cassandra Nguyen
Journalist
Cassandra is a ninth grader from Bayview Secondary School. She loves writing, poetry, and painting. She joined Dear Fellow Students because mental health and the discussions around it are hugely and personally important to her, and DFS allows for students to be open and informative about it in a creative way.
Ciara Anderson
Journalist
Ciara is a senior at Hightower High School in Texas, and will be pursuing a degree in Telecommunications and Media Studies at Texas A & M University in the fall. She loves writing short stories, listening to indie rock music, and thrifting in her spare time. Ciara joined Dear Fellow Students to further her writing skills, and find a new space to engage with others who share the same ideas and struggles that she does.
Jillian Whitson
Journalist
Jillian Whitson is a junior at the University of Dayton. With a passion for visual communication, she is majoring in graphic design and minoring in photography and marketing. Jillian joined Dear Fellow Students because she enjoys helping others and believes in the importance of raising mental health awareness.
Journalist
Hannah is a senior from Dubai Gem private school. She loves reading, writing & watching movies. She joined dear fellow student because of her desire to help others whom are struggling with their mental health.
Hannah Amirtharaj
Nidhi Shah
Journalist
Nidhi is a high school senior, studying in Mumbai, India. She is very passionate about psychology and mental health, having suffered from mental health and anxiety issues herself. She wishes to raise awareness and bring a change, and that’s why she joined dear fellow students. Apart from her passion in psychology and mental health, she enjoys designing, writing, reading. She’s also an avid mun’ner and a big cricket and film fanatic!
Kaley Peterson-Mazzola
Journalist
Kaley is a rising junior from Catasauqua High School. She enjoys singing, painting, and watching TV series in her free time. She joined Dear Fellow Students because she wants to help break down society's stigmas about mental health and help others struggling around her.
Thejus Aravind
Journalist
Thejus Aravind is a high schooler from India. He loves reading, painting, listening to music, and playing video games in his free time. He joined Dear Fellow Students due to his passion to advocate mental health and to gain knowledge on various significant mental health topics.
Current Affairs Team
Victoria Su
Current Affairs Coordinator
Victoria is a sophomore from St. Robert Catholic High School. She loves debating, swimming, and solving math problems. She joined Dear Fellow Students because she would love to inspire and be inspired by other peers who grow with each other.
Guseerat Kaur
Current Affairs Coordinator
Gurseerat is a rising junior at American High School. She loves listening to music and cooking interesting food. She joined Dear Fellow Students because she believes in DFS's mission to provide a community for students to feel supported and inspire them to make a difference.
Agustina Garibotti
Current Affairs Coordinator
Agustina is a senior from Miami Palmetto Senior High School. She loves reading, listening to music, and writing. She joined Dear Fellow Students because she believes creating a safe environment to deal with mental health struggles would nurture the next generation of leaders.
Becky Nixon
Current Affairs Coordinator
Becky is a high schooler in the UK. She loves reading both fiction and non-fiction, playing the guitar and listening to music. She joined Dear Fellow Students because she wants to improve awareness of current affairs among students and because she is passionate about mental health awareness.
Sarah Morra
Current Affairs Coordinator
Sarah is a sophomore from St.Robert CHS. She loves reading, the arts, listening to music, and nature. She joined Dear Fellow Students because she has always had an inclination to help others, both physically and emotionally. She has had a heavy interest and passion in social justice related topics and has had a strong drive to advocate on the behalf of others.
Events Team
Nandini Mudgal
Events Coordinator
Nandini is an eleventh grade student in Haldwani, India. She is passionate about visual art and has been learning and practicing fine arts for over 7 years now. She enjoys reading, watching sports and listening to music. She joined Dear Fellow Students because she respects the organization's initiative of serving as a community for students.
Nicholas Fan
Events Coordinator
Nicholas is a freshman from St. Robert Catholic High School. He enjoys music, and all forms of physical activity. He joined Dear Fellow Students because he wants to work to improve the wellbeing of students across the world!
Jesslyn Florence
Events Coordinator
Jesslyn is a graduating senior from Bina Bangsa School who is planning to study in Germany in the upcoming year. She loves reading thriller books and thrifting for hidden gems. She joined Dear Fellow Students because wants to assist DFS in creating an online safe space for students who are experiencing struggles and uncertainties about their mental health.
Prableen Kaur
Events Coordinator
Prableen is a junior in high school. She likes reading, drawing, and is a Marvel fan. She joined Dear Fellow Students because she wants to help create a positive community and support system for students like her.
Jianna Gardener
Events Coordinator
Jianna is a senior high school student from New Brunswick, Canada who is aspiring to become a clinical psychologist. She enjoys researching on fun topics, collecting k-pop albums and finding new music to listen to. She joined Dear Fellow Students so that she can continue to advocate for mental health and actively help out the community. Her constant goal is providing a safe space around her so that fellow students can comfortably confide in her!
Podcast Team
Neha Sambangi
Podcast Researcher, Podcast Co-Host
Neha will be an incoming Junior at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School this fall. She loves to play tennis, dance, volunteer to help people in need, and spend time with her friends and family. She joined Dear Fellow Students because she would like to support the people who are struggling mentally and help advocate about mental health and its importance in the current generation today.
Prisha Sanghvi
Podcast Researcher, Podcast Co-Host
Prisha is a junior from San Ramon, California. She likes to read, sing, bake, and play with her dog. She joined Dear Fellow Students because she wanted to help spread awareness about mental health among students and Dear Fellow Students helped her find an opportunity to do so.