Zoë Stelzer

University of Denver - 2026

Youth Mentoring: working with internationally adopted children to gain knowledge of their culture and birth countries.

Major: Finance

Project: I would like to pursue working with internationally adopted children. Typically, these children are underrepresented and lack knowledge about their culture and birth countries. Partnering with organizations like CCAI can give access to more resources such as heritage tours. I also want to work towards making these programs more affordable.

Inspiration: Growing up, I was very privileged to be able to attend cultural classes, mandarin lessons, and even go on a heritage tour in China. While these are not affordable and in recent years have started to go away, I think they are very important for young children and I want to share the same opportunities I had with others.

Future Goals: I would like to partner with CCAI and get the heritage tours back up and running. I think I can help bridge that translation and cultural divide with American parents and internationally adopted children. I think working towards making these more well-known and affordable would be a great start in my Puksta journey.