Senior of the Week: Chris Serrao

Senior Chris Serrao stands in front of Peabody Hall  Courtesy of Holden Sage-Murillo

By SAM ALTMAN,  LAUREN LEE, MARVIN SHIM, and  FORREST ZENG

Paddington 1 plays in the background of the soft-lit Peabody common room. Dorm members and friends bumble into the confined space and settle closely together on the couches. Food, drink, and conversation flow as senior Chris Serrao welcomes everyone in. He turns up the volume, moving out of his seat to make room for someone else. As the night goes on, he chats with his dormmates in the corner, making jokes and giving advice. 

To the members of Peabody hall and other school friends of Serrao, this experience is not an unfamiliar one. Indeed, this Saturday night, organized by Serrao, evokes countless other occasions on which he has displayed his ardent selflessness and willingness to spend his time helping others.

Four-year senior and admired proctor in Peabody Hall Chris Serrao is a humble and devoted co-head of multiple clubs, including Catholic Exonians and Exeter’s Environmental Action Committee (EAC); he is a prominent bass singer in Exeter’s Concert Choir and the a capella group Kè Kontan. After suffering a family loss, Serrao also became deeply involved with Fight Club and is a current co-head. In his free time, Serrao has also self-studied many languages, including Arabic, Russian, and Greek.

Throughout his four years as a Peabodian, Serrao has recognized the importance of learning from the students and faculty around him. Now a proctor, he is a well-respected member of the dorm community who makes every effort to make the experience of all. 

“I know my prep year I didn’t really have a presence in the dorm, and the dorm community wasn’t really there, unfortunately. But this year I’ve tried to work towards it,” said Serrao. “Little things like leaving my door open in the fall led to some great memories when a lot of students were in my room and we were just talking and just bonding.”

Serrao is dedicated to fostering a supportive and positive dorm community. “I always look forward to coming back to the dorm on Tuesdays because Chris is on duty. He prepares candy or a fun activity and always, always, has prepared questions. He really, really cares about duty and about making sure he gets a real sense of how your day’s been going and how your life is going,” said upper Jacques Leleux. 

“Chris is just super helpful and a great proctor,” said upper Roy Liu. “Especially with younger students, he makes himself available to help everyone move and settle in, and remains a reliable leader throughout the year.” 

“During registration at the beginning of the year, he actively contacted the parents of Peabody underclassmen. He put himself out as a point person for them to ensure that their kid was well looked after,” added proctor Leo Braham. “He is always looking out for our best interests and is really invested in trying to make everyone in the dorm feel good.”

“This year, I’ve been trying to pay it forward to the community,” said Serrao. “I try to host different events throughout the term. I make it a priority to support fellow students during tough times like hell weeks and other hard times around campus. I want to help support students, especially when it’s getting hard and they’re struggling to adjust.”

  Caring and empatheic, Serrao leads by example and does his best to understand and support those around him. “I’ve never known someone to be so proactively kind. I think he’s so good at not just helping you if you ask for it, but looking for ways to help you and make your life better,” said Leleux.

As a Catholic, Serrao is deeply interested in faith. He brings this interest to Catholic Exonians, where he hosts discussions about religion and morality in Phillips Church. 

“Catholic Exonians allows me to rigorously analyze different beliefs of mine and to talk about philosophy with people around me,” Serrao said. “We go through different moral quandaries and questions, like gene editing or capital punishment, and we try to answer them. It yields fruitful conversations.”

His ideas concerning religion and morality grew over time as he participated in discussions with the Exeter community. 

“I grew up Catholic, but I didn’t have much clarity on my faith. I think sharing in a community where there’s so much intellectual discourse was refreshing,” Serrao shared. “It is especially great being surrounded by other people who are so driven to find answers.” 

Fellow Catholic Exonians co-head Joseph Vicente commented, “I know Chris is very passionate about developing his relationship with God, and as an extension of that, Chris is also very passionate about Catholic theology and expanding his knowledge of the subject.”

Senior and fellow cohead Colin Jung commented on Serrao’s passion for the club. “I think that is what also makes him an excellent clubhead, as in, even when he is sick, even when he is busy, even when he has other things to do, he will always be diligent and hardworking.”

“He’s very interested in faith,” Leleux described. “He’s often reading Thomas Aquinas or other religious thinkers, and we have very scholarly conversations about that. He contributes to Catholic Exonians because he is very knowledgeable about the Catholic Church.”

Serrao further serves as a role model for younger students exploring their faith. Jung continued, “Chris is a real role model who will hold younger students accountable and care about their circumstances and needs.”

Prep and Peabodian Aryan Agarwal has experienced this himself, saying, “He was very open about Catholic Exonians. I told him that I was interested in finding religion and he was very open. He actually scheduled dinner with me twice. He also sent me resources over winter break to look over, even though he was busy with college apps.”

“If there are new people at Catholic Exonians, he’s always making sure everyone knows each other’s names. He’s very welcoming and open, and he has a positive energy,” Leleux said.

In addition to his religious faith, Serrao is very committed to environmental science and change. He is pursuing multiple environmental projects as co-head of EAC at Exeter, including sustainable agriculture.

Serrao described, “I’m also in charge of the Environmental Action Committee. I really like environmental projects. I hope to work in environmental action, justice, and ethics in the future.” 

Senior Colin Maloney said, “Chris is very passionate about the environment. He is working on multiple projects through EAC to do his part to combat climate change.”

Fellow EAC member Ryan Manley also noted Serrao’s work for the environment at Exeter. “I think Chris wants to continue to study environmental sciences. He is very conscious about making sure that Exeter nurtures us to take precise and impactful steps forward for humanity to create a healthy environment and sustainable future.”

Manley continued, “He does a movement through EAC where he tries to move the school’s funds from petroleum-based companies that are detrimental to the environment towards solar energy and other sources.”

Upper Dhruv Reddy has also observed Serrao’s activism. “He’s definitely passionate about policy and environmental science. I think that comes first in his academic studies that he wants to pursue. He’s very cognizant about how the world will consider environmental science and how going forward that’ll be very important. He’s done a lot of projects for that.”

Serrao also fosters a passion for linguistics, citing how he likes “learning the different connections between words.” While formally taking Spanish, Serrao’s study of Greek, Arabic, and Russian has been useful for his work in environmental science.  “My passion for language is really helpful for environmental science because I’m able to understand different cultures,” Serrao said. “I hope that in the future I’ll be able to communicate with these kinds of communities impacted by the environment, and really understand all of their different struggles.”

A long-time lover of the performing arts, Serrao brings the same positive energy to the choir community and is a friendly face for singers in all grade levels.

“As a new lower in Concert Choir, it was hard to adjust as I wasn’t familiar with how Exeter choral singing worked. Just having Chris there, especially knowing him from my dorm, being very supportive of me, was very helpful. I wouldn’t be as comfortable in Concert Choir if Chris weren’t here. He is a very reliable leader,” said Liu. 

Instructor in Music Jerome Walker, who works with Serrao as his advisor and the interim director of Concert Choir, emphasized Serrao’s dedication to building up the singers around him. 

Walker said, “I see him actively working with other people in the section. He notices when someone looks confused, and he either helps them find an answer or he will come and ask me a question.” 

Serrao draws from his four years of experience singing in the bass section and does his best to listen and synthesize the questions of his fellow singers. “Partly because he is a quieter student, when he is saying something, it really makes my ear prick up because I know that he will say something really of worth,” Walker said. “His choices on when to speak or when to ask a question feel very, very deliberate. When Chris asks the question, I instantly feel that what he will say is something that we’d do well to bring our attention to.”

Serrao is applauded by many for his leadership and proactive personality. “There’s not a single person who’s interacted with Chris and been worse off for it,” Colin Jung said. “And I would say that’s a true testament to his character, his empathy, and the way he sees other people around him.”

Upper King-Diorr Willsun added, “Chris just handles others’ opinions with great value. He’s oftentimes trying to inquire about what others think about things that he says.”

In addition, Serrao is always trying to make Peabody and Exeter feel more homely. “He seeks out ways to make you feel welcome,” Leleux explains.

Jung continued, “He will always reach out to every single person in the club before every single meeting. Just to make sure that they’re doing all right and to check in on them and to see if they’re going to be at the meeting. He always makes sure to have introductions when there’s someone new, to make sure everyone feels at home. He’s a tremendously caring person, fundamentally. It’s a truly rare kind of person that he is.”

“Chris cares a lot about how the lower classmen are doing,” senior Ryan Manley commented. “He thinks about how they are being treated differently, how they are being judged, how they are feeling, and what he can do to help. I think it’s a reflection of how he’s been raised throughout his life and on how he tries to make sure everybody’s being seen as equals.”

Braham agreed, saying, “I think he is probably one of the most people in touch with all of the underclassmen and making sure that they’re okay. He is always looking out for their best interests and really invested in trying to make everyone in the dorm feel better, especially with the underclassmen. I think he’s been a really great guide for so many of them, and you can see that a lot of them respect him quite highly.”

Prep Grant Blitz described his admiration of Serrao, “He always radiates positivity. I rarely ever hear him say negative things; he’s just a nice person to be around.”

“He’s always willing to step forward for any responsibilities or task. And he does that proactively without even being asked. He’s just always thinking about what he can do to meet the goals and doesn’t hesitate to do so,” Leleux said, commending Serrao’s attitude towards any obstacle.

Finally, Jung stated, “He is motivated in everything he does by his deep and abiding Catholic faith. He appreciates that every person is of infinite value and should be treated as such. There’s truly no one on campus whom I trust and respect more.”