Tessa Kiesow
TORCH Director
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Joined the HCI team in 2017
Tessa is a first-generation college graduate from a low-income family. She studied Spanish and social justice at Hamline University, and she has worked with multilingual families as an educator, immigration advocate, and program coordinator since 2008.
Tessa manages the Tackling Obstacles & Raising College Hopes (TORCH) Program at Northfield Public Schools. She works directly with students and families on college access and scholarship assistance, while overseeing staff and AmeriCorps members, grant compliance, and program evaluation and continuous improvement.
Tessa loves getting to know families and seeing students grow and develop over the years that they attend middle and high school.
Fun fact: Tessa grew up in Minnesota but lived in New Orleans for nine years after college.