Keynote Speakers, Panelists, & Organizers
Speakers
Renée Serrano
Renée L. Serrano, M. Ed., is an Independent College Counsellor. She and Mary K. Baker, Ed. D., who resides in California, created College Quest Advising. Renée provides private consultations, which consist of personal in-depth counselling to make the college application process structured, simplified and exciting. She works one-on-one with students who want viable choices and extensive resources for their COLLEGE QUEST.
She also served as the Development Director of Lazarus House Inc. a homeless shelter located in Lawrence, MA.
Renée is a member of the New England Association for College Admission Counselling (NEACAC) and Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA). She keeps current in the field by attending admissions and higher education conferences, visiting college campuses, and meeting with admissions counsellors. She believes that the college admissions process is an exciting adventure for students and their families, and she remains committed to reducing the stress and anxiety that is often associated with the process.
Marvin Coote
Marvin currently serves as an Associate Director of College Counseling at Phillips Academy. At Phillips Academy, Marvin serves as an academic advisor to over 20 students and the college counselor to over 40 students annually. In that capacity, he has helped students to navigate the nuances of high school and college admissions. He works extensively with students and families on course selection, advising on testing, completing the college/Common App, researching a college list, navigating the financial aid process, and finding the right college fit.
Prior to joining the faculty at Phillips Academy, Mr. Coote served as a consultant to (MS)2, a math and science program founded in 1977 to address the compelling need to cultivate the mathematical and scientific abilities of economically disadvantaged African American, Latino, and Native American high school students from targeted cities and communities across the United States.
Before coming to Andover, Marvin worked in a variety of not for profit organizations assisting students with navigating the educational system to improve their opportunities to successfully navigate the educational system. Marvin has worked with students in out of school settings, public schools, private schools, and boarding schools. He’s worked with students in Boston, MA, Washington, DC, and Hartford, CT. Marvin is a graduate of Harvard University.
Student Panelists
Sekinat Yusuf
Sekinat Yusuf is a junior at Harvard College concentrating in Neurobiology with a secondary in the Dramatic Arts. The sciences and the arts are her two greatest passions, and she hopes to combine them in her future. As a freshman she worked in Dr. Amar Sahay's Neurogenesis lab at the Richard Simches research center. Also during her freshman summer, she interned with the American Repertory Theater, and went on to work on their production of Witness Uganda in her sophomore spring. At Harvard she has started a student organization called Science Theater at Harvard College, through which she wishes to combine her interests by bringing scientists and artists together. She just returned from a summer in Trento, Italy spent studying cognitive science and the Art, Mind, and Brain. Right now she is involved in many artistic projects, directing a play she adapted called Negative and a new web series called Absent, and she is currently starting research in Alfonso Caramazza's Cognitive Neurophyschology Lab.
Faris Sheikh
Faris Sheikh is an American Pakistani, studying in his third year at Bentley University. He is majoring in Management with a focus in Entrepreneurship. Since the 4th grade, Faris has always been interested in business and technology. In high school he developed numerous projects that fueled his entrepreneurial creativity. These projects include running a blog that also earned some profit,, managing 3 YouTube channel that have produced over 2.5 million views, and selling iPhone accessories as a part time business. Towards the end of his senior year, he started a research project that turned into his current startup company, Blimp Network Inc. Today, Faris manages a team of 7 people, works with 3 mentors, and is blessed with an investor. He has been connected in the entrepreneurial community of Boston for the past 2 years, and he can't wait to meet more people interested in the field.
Saaid Arshad
Saaid is currently a Ph. D candidate in biomedical engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. For his undergraduate degree, he graduated from Dartmouth with a degree in the Engineering Sciences, concentrating in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and a minor in Financial Economics. For his sophomore year, he worked as an undergraduate researcher in the Economics department at Dartmouth College, and his last two years in various projects in the Engineering department at Dartmouth College. He has worked as a Finance Intern at Fidelity Investments and as a Technical Intern at BAE Systems, Inc. At Dartmouth, he has been involved with the Muslim Student Association, Students for Justice in Palestine, chamber music groups, Multi-faith Council, and the Food-Recovery Network.
Nuzaiba Haider
Nuzaiba Haider is currently pursuing her Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management and a minor in Diversity Studies. She is a junior at Framingham State University, and she is hoping this education will lead her into becoming an Operations Manager in the future. However, for now, Nuzaiba is aiming for a position in Human Resources or Healthcare Management. She took initiative during her freshman year in college by approaching the Director of Framingham State’s HR department and showing her interest in working for them. Fortunately, they offered Nuzaiba a student worker position in their department and she been working for them since then. Through this opportunity, Nuzaiba has been able to apply what she has learned from her work environment and succeed in the individual projects that have been assigned to her. Through this experience, she has had the opportunity to build connections and gain confidence in the field that she is pursuing
Zahra Bhaiwala
Zahra is currently a summer intern in the Polio Eradication department at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland before starting at the Harvard School of Public Health, where she is pursuing a Masters of Science in International Health Economics and Health Systems. She graduated from Columbia University in May with degrees in Biological Sciences and Middle Eastern Politics. She has worked in Department of Health Economics and Outcomes Research at Pfizer, Inc., and as an undergraduate researcher in the Department of Neurosurgery and Neuropathology at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. At Columbia, she was the Chair of Global Health, Editor in Chief of the Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal, and a GED tutor at Rikers Island Prison. She is also a founding member of "The Muslim Protagonist," the first three-day conference bringing together American-Muslim literary professionals.
Nissa Ibrahim
Nisa is currently in her senior year at Boston University, where she will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. She is currently interning for a senator in the Massachusetts Senate, and has previous government experience interning for a United States senator and a member of parliament in the United Kingdom during a semester spent abroad in London. Nisa is applying to law school following her graduation in May, and she intends to study immigration law in order to continue to pursue the type work that she began while interning at a non-profit immigration firm over the summer. Besides her interest in politics, Nisa is also very active in the arts (photography, drawing, painting) and will graduate with a minor in visual arts from BU.
Organizers
Muneeb Khan
Mohiuddin Muneeb Khan was born in Montreal, Canada but shortly thereafter moved to Massachusetts. He holds a Bachelor of Science with distinction from Worcester Polytechnic Institute majoring in Electrical Engineering. He has contributed to the success of multiple technology startup companies and recognized corporations such as Bay Networks (acquired by Nortel Networks,) Transwitch Corporation, and Acme Packet. He is currently the Director of Hardware at Oracle Corporation in Bedford, Massachusetts. There he is responsible for the development of Voice over IP telecommunications equipment in the former Acme Packet business unit. He has actively participated in many local institutions including being on the board of the Islamic Center of Boston, Wayland and a founding board member of Project GEM which helps educate girls from impoverished regions around the world. When at play you can find him cheering on the local Boston sports teams or engaged in ensemble singing in the Boston area including with The Boston Pops.
Masooma Bhaiwala
Masooma Bhaiwala is the Design Director at AMD (Advance Micro Devices) and leads the design and development of customized computer chips for specific customers. She has extensive semi-conductor experience. Masooma is a Charter member of OPEN and is also involved with Saheli (Organization for the empowerment of South Asian women) and TCF (The Citizen’s foundation – non-profit for education in Pakistan)
Farah Abbas
Farah Abbas is currently Shared Services Applications Manager at Oxfam America where she is working in a team to streamline ERP and Collaboration systems for all Oxfams worldwide. Previously Farah worked in Oracle Consulting, Boston. Farah lives in Belmont and has three boys; two of whom are high school students. She enjoys working with youth, reading and volunteering in various non-profit organization. She is currently working with OPEN to launch OPEN Youth’s initiative. Farah Abbas is a graduate of Brown University where she majored in Computer Science and Math.
Fatema Zaidi
Fatema Zaidi is a junior at Boston College studying Elementary Education and Applied Psychology and Human Development. She loves working with young children and empowering youth. In her freshman year at Boston College she joined Students for Education Reform and since then has developed a keen interest in reducing the achievement gap for children across the country. She has volunteered for programs that work towards this aim, mainly Let's Get Ready and Tutors for All. Fatema has also interned for Congressman Joe Kennedy because she was particularly excited about the work he has been doing around STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. She hopes that she can help to make a difference in the education field.
Sahil Bhaiwala
Sahil is currently a sophomore at Boston University pursuing Bachelor’s Degrees in both Economics and Mathematics and a minor in Computer Science. Like many other college students, Sahil struggled with deciding upon a career path. Initially interested in both finance and medicine, Sahil embarked on the pre-med track during his freshman year in addition to the majors. He became a certified EMT this past summer to further explore the field of medicine. It was not until the beginning of this school year that Sahil whole-heartedly decided to work to land a career on the Wall Street. Sahil has actively participated in Boston University’s finance and investment club and same in his high school. He is an avid basketball player and played for the high school varsity team. At the moment he is working as an SAT tutor for Kaplan, Inc., leading a group of ten high school juniors through a rigorous SAT prep course.