Story #16: Scill Chan on PBHA Being Integral to Her Harvard Experience

“I could not have had a Harvard experience without PBHA,” Priscilla “Scill” Chan ’01 said. 

“For so many Harvard undergrads, PBHA is a crucial part of surviving that time and flourishing in that time.” 

Scill joined PBHA her freshman year, commuting several times a week to Boston’s Chinatown to volunteer. After receiving the Stride Rite scholarship, Scill “chose” service and dedicated the next three years to PBHA and her career to education.

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Scill lived just a few yards away from the Phillips Brooks House in Stoughton Hall. The close proximity to the building made flyers easy to see and the organization easy to join. 

Scill grew up in New York City’s Chinatown, where community work was “just living there,” not referred to as “service.” When she saw opportunities to volunteer in Boston’s Chinatown, she jumped on it, joining Chinatown Afterschool and Chinatown Computing — a program no longer running. During the summer, she worked at Chinatown Adventure’s Summer Urban Program (SUP). 

After her freshman year adjourned, Scill was offered the Stride Rite — which is now the Priscilla Chan Stride Service Program, named after Priscilla Chan ’07. For Scill, the Stride Rite was crucial in making a commitment to PBHA possible. 

Established in 1983, Stride Rite provides dozens of students on financial aid with scholarships ranging from $1000 to $7000 to engage in public service. The Stride Rite program also hosts several community-building events and leadership development seminars throughout the year for its cohort.

Equipped with her Stride scholarship, Scill dropped her work study internship and devoted more time to volunteering with PBHA. Scill became a PBHA officer, joined Experimentors, and directed Summer Science. 

“It just made it possible to choose service,” Scill said. “When I got Stride — this could be the totality of my work.” 

“I cannot express enough gratitude for that program,” she said. 

By her senior year, Scill had completed all of her Environmental Science and Public Policy graduation requirements. Instead of doing a year of electives, Scill chose to join the Undergraduate Teacher Education Program (UTEP) — a program previously offered at Harvard that certified undergraduate students as teachers. 

UTEP and Stride Rite sessions gave Scill the time and resources to consider what a career in education could be. 

“Prior to senior year, this was all like extracurricular in my head,” she said. But as a senior — equipped with four years of service through PBHA and a valuable experience with UTEP —, education came into light “as a pathway that you could choose as your career.” 

After graduating, Scill spent four years helping launch a middle school in Manhattan. She then transitioned to a Bronx high school, where a principal asked if she had ever considered administrative positions. Scill is now principal of Brooklyn Collaborative, a secondary school serving grades six through twelve, where she has been principal for the past 17 years. 

Written by Darcy Lin '27