Tess Sumner

Tess Sumner is a Harvard College student studying Government and Global Health and a youth advocate from rural New Hampshire. Her work focuses on student well-being, child-welfare policy, public health, and creating institutions that respond to vulnerable people with both evidence and compassion. At Harvard, she leads student wellbeing initiatives and advocates for policies that make campus life more supportive and equitable. She is also a writer whose essays explore mental health, education, home, relationships, and the complicated process of growing into oneself.

Tess’s humanism is rooted in fairness, critical thinking, empathy, and a belief in the shared dignity of every person. Drawing on her experiences in a close-knit rural community and at Harvard, she is especially interested in how young people can influence public life, challenge misinformation and polarization, and help build more humane institutions.