Julia Berg is a rising junior at Staples High School in Westport. Julia is devoting much of her summer to chronicling the experience for kids attending our Summer Enrichment Program at the Carver Community Center this year.

For the past year, Julia has been mentoring and tutoring kids in an after-school program that is part of Homes With Hope, a Westport organization dedicated to ending homelessness.

Julia has always been interested in psychology and human behavior. Last summer, she decided to research and create a program for kids who might have difficulty getting through their school work and other issues that cause frustration. Her program offers practical, everyday strategies to help them manage their frustration and teach problem-solving skills. Once developed, Julia shared her program with the director of the after-school program, who asked Julia to adapt aspects of Julia’s program for the kids who receive mentoring and tutoring. Based on Julia’s work with the kids during the school year, Julia is modifying the program to include self-evaluation, teaching kids the importance of checking in with their thoughts and feelings and connecting that to their decisions.

In addition to mentoring and tutoring, Julia is very interested in Computer Science. This past Spring, she completed an independent study at Staples in embedded systems programming by taking an online class and completing a self-directed project.

In addition, Julia enjoys playing viola in a youth orchestra and also plays for her school's chamber orchestra. She enjoys traveling, photography, learning new languages (Korean/French), and spending time with her family.