Meet Our Scholars

Corinne Hess (she/her) was born and raised in Washington D.C. and will graduate from Capital City Public Charter School in 2023 (CCPCS). She identifies as a gender non-conforming lesbian and has learned the importance of queer advocacy through her commitment to the Queer and Trans Student Alliance at her school. As the co-president of the QTSA, she helped to create and facilitate professional development sessions on LGBTQ issues for middle school staff. Her leadership has focused on creating a safe environment for queer and trans students at CCPCS and reforming her school’s dress code. In her free time, she enjoys sharing her skills as a mechanic at Conte’s Bike Shop and as the principal oboe of the D.C. Youth Orchestra Program. To continue to support the LGBTQ community, she wants to increase the number of queer computer scientists there are in the technology field. She plans to further her commitment to equity and social justice by studying computer science at the University of San Francisco and is interested in investigating how bias shows up throughout the entire field.