Ms Sofia Marliini Heikkonen

Marliini is a fourth-year undergraduate pursuing a BA (Hons) in History, a secondary major in Philosophy, and a minor in Arabic Language. A big believer of Tembusu’s ethos of a global education, Marliini’s academic pursuits have led to her studying in Princeton University for a semester-long exchange as well as Oxford University for a summer. Having herself grown up in a multicultural family, she hopes to foster an open-minded community empathetic to and welcoming of diversity, both in her immediate environment as well as in her career.  

In her two years thus far in Tembusu, Marliini has explored much of what the college life has to offer and involved herself across a plethora of interest groups and activities – from learning how to rollerblade to filming music videos, from curating pre-loved apparel to hosting a halloween carnival. Most dear to her is her love for the arts; she’s grown fond of the creative community bubbling in Tembusu. A theatre kid since primary school, Marliini directed her first ever play with the college’s theatre group, Slate, in her first year; a filmmaker in her free time, she created alongside other Tembusians a short film for Singapore’s Mental Health Film Festival; and a poet at heart, she served as an editor and writer in Tembusu’s in-house literary zine, Curios. Marliini also made use of her Tembusu Senior Seminar to create her first poetry-photography zine about her cultural heritage that she is looking to publish soon. 

As a residential assistant, Marliini is sincere in making space for Tembusians to feel safe, seen, and supported, and making Tembusu feel as much as a home as any. She believes in empowering individuals to find their own person and feel comfortable not only in their own skin, but also their respective corners of the Tembusu community. Feel free to knock on her door if you need help or a listening ear, or even just a conversation about your day!