For Maddie Pastore (C ‘25), impact is everything. One of the most notable faces in Penn Student Government, Maddie is environmentally conscious and socially concerned. Coming to Penn as a transfer student from a West Coast university while also having grown up in the Philadelphia suburbs, Maddie’s Penn experience has been a unique combination of novelty and familiarity, while pushing for impact in whatever ways she can.
As a chair for the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education (SCUE), Maddie—a former staffer for The Daily Pennsylvanian—is deeply involved with effecting change on Penn’s campus and bringing undergraduate students’ concerns to administration. As a transfer student herself, she takes time out of her very busy schedule to help other transfer students via the Transfer Student Organization.
Maddie cares about the world around our campus on both a social and environmental level. A volunteer with the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project, Maddie is deeply involved with the West Philadelphia community as a reading and arithmetic tutor, and has let the experience teach her a lot about the community around us. Through her urban wildlife research, she has also made an impact on Penn’s campus, aiming to make it a friendlier space for animal species.
Name: Maddie Pastore
Hometown: Philadelphia
Major: Political Science
Activities: SCUE, Transfer Student Organization, West Philadelphia Tutoring Project, Urban Biodiversity Research
What was it like coming back to Philadelphia as a transfer student?
I grew up outside of Philly, born and raised here. I went to the University of California, Santa Barbara, which is a really, really big university. It was a total adventure for me because I'd never lived on the West Coast before. I really enjoyed the nature aspect of that, but I ultimately decided to transfer for a couple of reasons. I was in classes that had like 750 kids sometimes. I was sort of craving a more tight–knit atmosphere, so I ended up looking for schools that were a little bit smaller. On top of that, my entire family and all of my friends I grew up with are on the East Coast. Penn has been challenging, as it is for everybody, but it's been wonderful.
What has your experience with TSO (Transfer Student Organization) been like?
Penn was the first school that I really looked into that had such a good safety net built in to help incoming transfers. Transferring can be a little bit daunting because you're getting thrown into an environment where people already have solidified friend groups. I met a lot of people through TSO, many of whom I'm still very close with today, and got a sense of what my life was going to be like at Penn. I was assigned an older transfer student as my mentor, and she's absolutely fantastic. Now I have the tremendous privilege of having younger mentees that I get to see regularly and help through their transfer experiences, too. I could never say enough good things about TSO.
Can you tell me a bit about your experience with SCUE (Student Committee on Undergraduate Education)?
I started out working on different project committees and participating in the early research process of figuring out what issues matter to undergraduates, and what solutions we can propose to ameliorate those challenges. I immediately fell in love with the work because it's a lot of focus groups, tabling, and getting to talk to students and hear about their experiences. I ended up taking over the internal chair role for the last calendar year, and that was really cool because I wasn't just focusing on one project domain—I was looking at all five of them. The other thing I'll say about SCUE is we have an exceptionally strong community. I know so many clubs will tell you that, but I do feel really strongly that SCUE is practically a family.
I know SCUE recently published its white paper. Can you tell me what that process was like?
In that year leading up to the white paper, which we published in February, it was rapid fire. What holes do we have in our research, and how can we figure out how to fill them? Who do we need to talk to to get those answers? That white paper is now live—it's published online, there are print copies, and we got to launch it to the administration last month. It's been really special because it's the culmination of five years of work. All of those solutions and ideas that were proposed in that paper are going to be the impetus for ongoing advocacy work. SCUE has also been really exciting because I have a tremendous interest in policy and policymaking, and SCUE allowed me to approach that from a totally new angle.
What does a typical tutoring relationship look like in The West Philly Tutoring Project?
It's been so enriching. I had done a lot of work tutoring other students when I was in high school, usually my peers. But I also ran camps for middle school students, teaching them environmental science, so I knew that I loved working with other students. It’s an exciting experience of asking ‘What can we learn from each other?’ I got matched with my tutee, and from the moment we met, we just clicked. I just adore him. He was in third grade when we first started working together, and now he's about to finish up fifth grade. He and I have worked together a lot on building literacy skills, so it's been such a beautiful experience to watch him get excited about reading, gain confidence in his ability to sound words out, learn new vocabulary, and delve into books every chance he gets. He has taught me so much about what it means to be a good teacher, and what it means to use your experiences to help other people.
What inspired you to get a minor in geology?
That’s a sort of silly story. I have always had a tremendous passion for the environment and the climate. So, when I was at UCSB, I wanted to major in environmental science, and I ended up taking a lot of classes that were in their, quote–unquote, “Earth Science Department.” They didn't have a true Geology Department. It was a blend of geology and a couple of other things that were bundled into one really massive department. I picked geology because it sort of aligned with my academic interests and because as a first–year student, it was kind of hard to register for classes that were directly related to my major. I started taking a lot of things related to geology, and I just fell in love with it. When I came to Penn, I had a bunch of geology credits—and although I was still planning on doing a minor in Environmental Science or Environmental Studies, based on how my credits worked out, it made more sense for me to continue on the geology track and use that geology minor as a chance to focus on the environmental and sustainability side of geology. I ended up as a poli–sci major because I would like to work in policy someday, and so now I sort of have this drive towards climate, energy, and mining policy.
Speaking of environmental concerns, could you tell me a bit about your research?
That was a year–long internship with Penn Sustainability. The project was about the migration of urban species through tracking birds, so that meant going out every day, seeing what bird species I could spot on campus, and trying to get some data on that. Who are we sharing campus with? It was a good chance to turn off the noise of the city and focus on the natural world a little bit. We also published a white paper with people in the University Architect’s office talking about how they could change the guidelines for building infrastructure on Penn's campus to make it safer for migratory wildlife.
What are your thoughts on the current state of climate policy?
This is a now–or–never moment for the climate. We hear it all the time, but it’s true. Everything that we do now matters so much, and it matters more and more by the day. Yes, it matters that we make individual changes in our day–to–day lives and in our own communities to make sure that we're acting as sustainably as we can. But it also really matters that we're doing it from the top, too, and that we're enacting good, meaningful policies that are intended to mitigate climate change and adapt to its effects. Policy is one of those things that I think is really powerful. It has the capacity to make a broad–scale change in a way that convincing many people to make individual changes really can't. That’s not to say that those small–scale things can't add up, because they certainly do, but working at it from a wide lens and compiling different perspectives and different views, I think, is one of the best ways to really turn the tide on the climate crisis that we're facing now. It's something that just gives me so much spark and energy. I think that, yes, it's daunting, and it's scary, but it gets me out of bed every morning, and I feel like I could constantly just be motivated to continue on that journey towards bettering our environment.
What does life look like for you after graduation?
I, for full transparency, have no idea. I was pretty sure for a while that I was gonna work in a government space after graduation, but as we all know, tides have turned recently, and so the kind of prospects that I had there maybe aren't there right now. That's okay, of course—there are much bigger challenges out there in the world than my lack of a job. So I’m kind of in the process of doing some soul searching and figuring out where I feel called to be for the time being. I'm sort of starting to hunt, but keeping a really open mind, because I never know what opportunities are going to come my way. I have a really strong desire to go back to school eventually, probably for a law degree. Not certain on that yet, but I want to take a little bit of a break and be a human instead of a student for the next year or two.
What’s one piece of advice you’d want to give Penn students?
Penn is so pedal to the metal, and there's something really invigorating about that. People are so passionate and so driven and so motivated to do things all the time. It's really easy to get swept up in that, especially when you are a really deeply passionate person who wants to be constantly engaged, but I think it's really important when you're a college student to be more than just a student. Take a step back from your classes and your extracurriculars and those more formal obligations, and take care of yourself. Do things like going for a run, going to the gym, baking, calling your mom, calling a friend from home. Anything that you think will give you a chance to disconnect your brain from the pressure and the intensity that comes with coursework and being a full–time undergraduate.
Lightning Round:
Favorite study spot on Ccampus: Fisher Fine Arts
Highlight of your week: Last night, I got to go for a jog on the Schuylkill River Trail.
Most interesting class you’ve taken: Penn Global Seminar in rhe Galapagos
Average Friday Night: Baking or an outing with friends
Favorite Transfer Orientation Memory: Old City walking!
There are two types of people at Penn… Those who refuse to step on the Compass and those who walk over it without hesitation.
And you are? I'm definitely the former. It's been three whole years, and my feet have never made contact with it.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Do you know that one senior who brings a smile to everyone’s face or always has the craaaziest stories? It’s time to give them the recognition they deserve. Ego of the Week seeks to showcase seniors not for their grades or any other academic construct, but for who they are as a person and the joy they bring to the people around them! Nominate your favorite Penn seniors for Ego of the Week!
