Alumna Teresa Serna on Advocating for the Opportunities That Shaped Her Life

Teresa Serna first joined SCORES as a Poet-Athlete and today serves as a mental and behavioral health provider. She shares how consistent mentorship, inclusive programming, and exposure to new opportunities transformed her life and why she wants to inspire the next generation of SCORES Poet-Athletes.

When Teresa Serna thinks about her childhood in Milwaukee, SCORES stands out. Her memories are defined by Friday afternoons buzzing with anticipation, parents cheering from the sidelines, and two mentors who showed up consistently, year after year.

"Kate and John just made it feel like they knew everyone. They remembered every kid. That just made it feel very special," she says of Kate Carpenter and John Eggebrecht, who respectively serve as the Executive Director and Associate Director of Milwaukee SCORES.

Serna joined Milwaukee SCORES as a Poet-Athlete in the third grade and now serves young people as a mental and behavioral health provider. She knows firsthand that when you give kids great mentors and access to new opportunities, they grow up to open doors for others. 

Today, in addition to her work as a Mental Health Therapist, she serves on the Milwaukee SCORES Advisory Board. In both spaces, she is committed to advocating for the youth programming that shaped her own life.

A Team of Her Own

When Serna’s parents researched after-school care at Riley Elementary in 2002, they were looking for an inclusive space for their daughters. SCORES offered a unique program that combined soccer, poetry, and service-learning. 

While Serna and her sister were often the only girls in co-ed teams they had played on in the past,  Milwaukee SCORES offered dedicated girls’ teams, where young players could connect with peers and coaches on their own terms. The program also brought Milwaukee Wave players to host VIP clinics and partnered with professional women’s players  like Julie Foudy to foster leadership opportunities for Poet-Athletes.

"It just made you feel included, and like you had a space there," Serna says.

Through SCORES, Serna and her sister traveled beyond their home neighborhoods for tournaments and camps, experiences that she says expanded what felt possible. “Our family being more from the inner city, we didn't really go out far within Milwaukee much," Serna explains. "So being able to be exposed to opportunities like that through SCORES was really eye-opening and came as sort of a culture shock."

What mattered most were the people who showed up. Carpenter and Eggebrecht mentored Poet-Athletes every year, building relationships that lasted well after elementary school. They encouraged Serna to try new things, demonstrating that they valued her growth. 

"Inner city youth are deserving of opportunities just as much as everyone else," Serna says of what that mentorship experience taught her. Carpenter and Eggebrecht’s support helped Serna see that change starts at home, and that the most powerful leaders are often those who once needed encouragement to believe in themselves.

Opening Doors for Youth

Today, as a mental and behavioral health provider, Serna applies what she learned from her own SCORES experience to build support systems for young people.

"I think since I was younger, it was definitely very impactful to have different mentors in my life that believed in me and that tried to guide me and open up different opportunities for me," she reflects.

In her counseling practice, she consistently advocates for after-school programming. 

"We talk a lot about the importance of having kids involved in after-school activities or having kids involved in sports and how good that is for their self-esteem, for their teamwork skills, and a good strategy to cope with stress and any big emotions," she says.

Twenty years after joining SCORES, Serna still reaches out to Kate and John regularly. Fostering that kind of  ongoing relationship is exactly what she wants for the kids in her care.

"I would say to not be afraid of leaning on your support system and asking for guidance or asking for help whenever you need it," she advises. "I think sometimes it feels like we don't want to bother people. But I know that Kate and John always appreciate it, and that's definitely something that has helped me in building that relationship and staying connected to the work that they do." 

For Serna, it comes down to this: familiar boundaries can feel safe, but they can also limit what young people believe is possible for themselves. Programs that create opportunities to venture beyond those boundaries — to play in tournaments, to travel to camps in other states, to see what's possible — open up new futures.

"I think that's just something that I will continue advocating for and emphasizing to families," Serna says. "The importance of any sort of programming, whether it's Milwaukee SCORES or a different one, but just something for their kids to be engaged in that can continue building that self-esteem."

She pauses, then adds: "You are just as deserving. There's so much more out there to explore. You can do it. We have to be brave. I know it's scary, but it's definitely worth it. And it's very eye-opening and life-changing to be exposed to opportunities like that."