ACADEMIC
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
As a student at Awty International School in Houston, TX, the largest international school in the country, I have been blessed to be surrounded by people who speak different languages, who come from all sorts of cultures, religions and backgrounds. Fluent in Spanish and proficient in French, I dream of attending a college that offers the same sort of acceptance and academic excellence while allowing me to pursue my goal of becoming a collegiate athlete. Learn more about my academic achievements below. Check out the organizations that I started to promote diversity and fight for social justice: Rebel-Writers and Diverse-Works.
My academic accomplishments
Published article in Heights Living Magazine 2020
My first article as a student journalist. I wrote a goodbye letter to the hundred year-old home and the neighborhood I grew up in.
Date: 9/1/20
Rachel Carson Poetry Contest 2020
FIRST PLACE WINNER 2020
Rachel Carson Intergenerational Sense of Wonder/Sense of Wild Poetry and Photography Contest.
I entered this photo and a poem about trapping and banding raptors that helped inspire a sense of wonder with nature and the fragile ecosystems surrounding it. Click to read my award-winning poem.
Date: 11/20
"Le Grand Concours" National French Language Comp 2021 & 2022
I won the Gold medal for the national French language contest sponsored by the American Assoc. of French Teachers in 2021 for my 9th grade year. I scored in the 95th percentile--a pleasant surprise since I started French in 8th grade. I won honors again in 10th grade in 2022.
Date: 5/21, 5/22
Poetic Power Competition Winner 2021
I was accepted to be published in the Summer 2021 book "A Celebration of Poets" through Creative Communications. I was honored to have my poem "The Trap" selected for publication.
Date: 6/21
Experiment Digital Youth Leadership & Community Service 2021
I was chosen for this highly selective program designed to connect hundreds of young people across the United States with peers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, such as Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Palestinian Territories, and Yemen. The project helped me to be more civically engaged and lead change. This fully funded eight-week summer virtual experience taught me and other high school students around the world to formulate and implement service projects in our local communities.
Date: 6/21-8/21
STEM & LEAF Corp. College Project 2021
I was selected to be in not just one but TWO collegiate level learning projects through Texas Tech University. From Fall to Winter semester, I was part of the Creative Writing program and the Artificial Intelligence & the Philosophy of the Mind project, mentored by Texas Tech University Honor students.
Date: 8/21-12/21
Awty Student Diversity Leadership Board 2021-2022
I was selected to serve on the diversity leadership board which helps the school community celebrate linguistic, cultural and international diversity. While on the board, I helped produce a diversity podcast called Awty Reworked which focuses on school and community leaders with the purpose of spreading education and awareness about diversity, equity and inclusion.
Date: 8/21-6/22
Wharton Global High School Investment Competition 2021
I was part of a school-sponsored team that competed in an online investment simulation contest for high school students and teachers. Our investments placed us in the top 2% out of over 5300 teams!
Date: 9/21-12/21
Blue Ocean International High School Entrepreneur Pitch Competition 2022
Considered the most prestigious pitch competition for students all over the world, my team, KOPI, finished as a semi-finalist with our innovative air purifier with a methane capturing filter made out of highly temporized coffee grounds which could then be recycled to a biofuel company.
Date: 11/21-3/22
University of Houston Bauer College of Business Think Tank Business Plan Competition 2021
Myself and two teammates, representing Awty, made it to the final round at this state-level business plan competition. Our team, Seoul Foods International, presented a plan to take over the energy bar market with an Asian-inspired energy bar that not only fed the body, but the brain as well with healing properties of ginseng, ginger and ginkgo. We were 1 of 10 finalists selected to present to a distinguished panel of business owners/entrepreneurs.
Date: 11/21-3/22
istartvalley.com Internship 2022
I was selected for this competitive internship which helps develop an entrepreneurial growth mindset and leadership qualities. iStart Valley is a leading non-profit business accelerator. As an intern I did the following:
- Generated business models applying the Steve Blank’s Lean Launchpad Startup Methodology
- Learned and explored the application of the latest technologies such as AI, Machine Learning and block chain technologies to solve the problem
- Completed the Stanford University’s Design Thinking Crash Course by Stanford d.school
- Lead team of 4-5 interns to complete the work and review status on a weekly based cadence.
Date: 1/22-5/22
Scholastic Silver Key Award for Poetry 2022
My poem "Musselman" was accepted to be published and won the prestigious Silver Key Scholastic Art & Writing Award.
Date: 2/22
US Youth Ambassador sponsored by US Dept of State and Georgetown University 2022
After a highly selective process involving multiple interviews, I was selected to be an Alternate for the 2022 US Youth Ambassador Program with Argentina/Chile. The three week in-person travel exchange program required me to speak entirely in Spanish and involved projects of social inclusion, entrepreneurship, innovation and environmental protection.
Date: June 2-22, 2022.
Asia Society Teen Council 2022
I was 1 of 20 teens selected for a year-round program designed to uplift and amplify student voices representing the diversity of Houston. Throughout the program, we learned about diverse cultures, developed cross-cultural communication skills, and built global competency through a singular-focused community project.
Date: 3/22-3/23
HOBY Leadership Conference 2022
I was selected out of all the 10th grade students at my school to attend the HOBY (Hugh O' Brien Youth) Leadership Conference, a 3-day, state-wide seminar focusing on providing vision and motivation to develop leadership skills to enrich the community. The organization has been in existence over 50 years and has over 4,000 volunteers helping to educate over 8,000 sophomores to become more engaged with the world around them. Students are selected based on their civic and academic merit to represent their school.
Date: 6/2/22-6/4/22
3rd Place "Final Pitch" Business Plan Presentation - $200 prize
I lead a group of students to win 3rd place with my business idea, KOPI, an air purifier with sustainable components--a filter made with carbonized used coffee grounds. As the team leader, I delegated different jobs to each person in order to create a cohesive presentation, complete with marketing, distribution, financing and operation costs.
Date: 1/22-5/22
President's Volunteer Service Award - GOLD medal
This is the nation's premier volunteer awards program. I was awarded the gold medal for serving over 250 hours of community service for peer-tutoring fellow students on the istartvalley.com business start-up platform. I wrote various articles for the blog about entrepreneurship, leadership, spotting trends, developing ideas by exploring the latest intersection of business and technology. I also lead multiple workshops for other teen interns to research and develop regional innovation ecosystems and helped them learn to incubate new start-up ideas. This was a difficult task to complete, but I am proud to have achieved this prestigious award!
Date: 1/22-5/22
EVOLVE Houston eYEP (Electric Youth Education Program) internship
I am a marketing and social media (PAID!) intern at Evolve, a future-thinking non-profit set up by the mayor of Houston and leaders in the energy industry including Shell, Centerpoint Energy, and the University of Houston. Our goal is to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by supporting and enabling the Greater Houston area to increase electric vehicle adoption.
Watch my debut as a game show contestant in this EVOLVE Houston video!
Here's another video where we play YEAH or NAH, trying to identify what's an electric vehicle and what is not. The hits keep coming with video #3 and the 7-second rule.
Date: June 2022 to present
2021-2022 USA Swimming Scholastic All-America
Each year, USA Swimming recognizes swimmers who excel both in the classroom as well as the pool. After my sophomore year, I was named to the USA Swimming's Scholastic All-American team. To be an All-American, swimmers must be in the 9th to 12th grade with a 3.5 GPA or above and hold at least one individual event time for Speedo Winter Junior Nationals. Last year less than 1,400 student athletes (out of over 130,000) from all over the nation held this distinction.
Date: Aug 2021-Aug 2022
Featured Student Poetry in Poetry Resource: DOUBLE YOLK
DOUBLE YOLK is an online resource dedicated to featuring poets of color through the exhibition of interviews and creative work. Their goal is to showcase the poetry and behind-the-scenes processes of poets traditionally not invited to the table of craft discussion. I was one of six students selected to be a part of their inaugural October 2022 issue. Here is a
link to my poem on anti-Asian sentiments in the United States along with a short interview of me.
Date: October 2022
2022 Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest: Poetry Category
I won the Notable Award for poetry in this international competition with over 4,000 entries. The 2022 contest theme was: The Funny Thing About Climate Change. I wrote a poem in the point of view of a "divorced" albatross. Albatrosses. who usually mate for life, were "divorcing" in record rate due to climate change, leaving broken homes with single parents.
Date: Nov 2022
Awty International School Eco-Delegate 2022-2023
After campaigning to represent the Upper School students at Awty International School, I was elected by my peers to be an Eco-Delegate. In my position, I came up with ideas on how to improve our community in order to lead the way to a more sustainable future. I am also working on a future project to connect my internship, Evolve Houston, with my school, executing an event that allowed students and parents to test drive the newest technology in electric vehicles while on campus.
Date: Nov 2022-present
Teen Sequins: Literary Journal - Honorable Mention
Teen Sequins is an offshoot of Giant Sequins, a favorite black & white print literary arts journal born in Brooklyn, grew up in Philadelphia, and currently lives primarily in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, with outposts throughout the US in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and more. The journal is known for quality fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, art, and comics. I received an honorable mention for submitting various pieces of poetry including my piece on the Korean War.
Date: Nov 2022
Scholastic Silver Key Awards for Poetry 2023
I received a Silver Key award for each of my poems, "(Don't) Forget It," which deals with the root of anti-Asian sentiments and combatting Asian hate, and "Threnody for Sierra Blanca, TX," a true account of identical twin brothers--one who was a warden at a migrant detention center--who killed and injured migrants looking for a drink of water.
Date: Jan 2023
2023 Conrad Challenge Innovator Award
The Conrad Challenge is a purpose-driven innovation competition creating the next generation of entrepreneurs who will change the world. With over 950 teams competing from across the globe, my brother and I entered the competition in the Energy & Environment with KOPI: Grounds for Better Air and won an Innovator Award. KOPI is our research project where we actually made activated charcoal made from used coffee grounds. When added to cattle feed and soil, it reduces deadly methane which causes global warming.
Date: Feb 2023
READING:
MATH:
NCAA ID: 1909690052
Address: 1006 Voss Rd, Houston, TX 77055
Head Coach: Rey Aguilar
coachrey@dadsclub-swimteam.com
281-467-2318
Address:
7455 Awty School Ln, Houston, TX 77055
Athletics Director: Lindsay Youngdahl
lyoungdahl@awty.org |
713-328-5818
Co-Dir. College Counselor:
Josh Hudley
jhudley@awty.org | 713.328.5838
