Recapturing the Magic of Storytelling
Through her internship at Tandem, Partners in Early Learning, Stella Cortese ’26 rediscovered the power of storytelling to captivate young minds and address societal issues, inspiring her to create impactful, diverse literature for children.
By Kate Vander Vort
Anyone who has spent time around young children knows there are good days and bad days. For junior Stella Cortese, a Child Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies double major, this was no surprise. During an experience working at a summer camp, Stella struggled to find the passion she knew she had when working with kids. However, a change of scenery—moving to a younger classroom—allowed her to rediscover the “magic of storytelling, especially at a young age,” and gave her her “spark” back. Stella quickly regained her love for working with children and gained a newfound passion for storytelling.
Stella wanted to build upon her work at the children's camp by using her double majors, her respect for diverse identities, and her work uncovering and disrupting systemic issues in society, to make a positive impact on the lives of others. She discovered the REAL program and applied to be an intern at Tandem, Partners in Early Learning, to help children ages 0-5 learn valuable lessons through literature.
Tandem is a nonprofit organization based in the Bay Area dedicated to promoting early literacy and language development for children. The program provides free resources, such as book-sharing events, family workshops, and literacy kits, to help build strong reading habits and foster meaningful learning experiences for young children, particularly in underserved communities. “Tandem’s focus on children's literature would allow me to immerse myself in this environment, learn and grow from others, and gain valuable experience in this field,” Stella said, indicating the opportunity perfectly aligned with her values and future goals.
During her internship, Stella’s primary focus was to update, optimize, and analyze Tandem’s picture book database. She also worked with a team to update existing Activity Guide sheets and adapt them into a newly designed format. “After organizing the data I collected from Tandem’s database, I created a detailed presentation and shared my findings with the team,” Stella explained. “I highlighted gaps in language, diversity representation, age level, and other important themes found in Tandem's database which helped the team in their efforts to better represent diverse backgrounds, identities, and experiences.”
An especially impactful aspect of her internship was the opportunity to engage regularly with her advisor, particularly on the topic of career advice. “I proactively reached out to her, expressing my eagerness to learn about her career journey and seeking her guidance, as someone who also wishes to work in a field that centers around children and prioritizes social justice,” Stella explained. Throughout their interactions, she gained valuable feedback on the work she was doing, as well as invaluable insight into the inner workings of non-profit organizations and advice on how to excel in the interview process.
Her work at Tandem, Partners in Early Learning solidified her aspirations to publish a culturally relevant and affirming children's book. Creating this book would allow Stella to find solutions to help mitigate intersectional issues, particularly regarding children and their experiences in early life. “I am inspired by the use of stories to connect with communities to provide impactful, memorable experiences for children while simultaneously working to combat issues like white supremacy, racism, and discrimination,” she says.
For the future, Stella hopes to use her experience at Tandem to guide her journey beyond graduation. By applying what she has learned about the power of storytelling and the importance of representation, she aims to create children’s literature that captivates, educates, and inspires. Stella’s work at Tandem reaffirmed her belief that storytelling can be a tool for change, and she envisions a career where she can use this medium to address systemic issues and uplift marginalized voices.
About the REAL Program
The REAL Program provides paid experiential learning opportunities for undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences. Developed to allow students to discover their interests, gain a rich understanding of a particular field, discern their career goals, and explore future employment fields, the program has distributed roughly $2.8 million to more than 730 students across all majors since its inception in 2018. Placements range from non-profit and community service organizations to research labs, governmental organizations, and beyond.