I was adopted from China at 11 months and lived near Aspen, Colorado up until 6th grade. I attended a small charter school there that first exposed me to my passion for academia and meaningful education. In 2018, my family moved to Boulder, Colorado, partially because of my growing hunger for impactful and real-world applicable education. I started attending the Watershed School in 6th grade, and the school's commitment to crafting curious and capable students kept me there through my senior year of High School. I am currently an undergrad at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, with an intended focus on Architecture and Government. The long-term objective is to work at the intersection of infrastructure policy and socially/environmentally conscious design.

Outside of education, I am passionate about art, athletics, and advocacy. I was exposed to outdoor education and experiences from a young age due to my upbringing in the Rocky Mountains. These experiences fostered a deep love for both nature and outdoor sports. Yet I quickly came to realize that outdoor recreation is not equitable and few high-level athletes share my perspectives and experiences. Today, I am committed to sharing the wonderful aspects of outdoor sports with historically underrepresented and disenfranchised groups, hopefully diversifying and expanding the world of outdoor athletics in the process. During the summer of 2023, I participated in Wilderness Tours' OKS Keeners program, gaining my Wilderness First Aid, CPR, and Swiftwater Rescue Certifications. I also volunteered with Diversify Whitewater, a non-profit committed to increasing access to paddlesports for BIPOC, and I currently work as their communications intern. Additionally, this past summer I completed the shooting of my upcoming short documentary on whitewater kayaking and identity in conjunction with ByKids, a non-profit supporting youth in telling their stories through film. The film explores the struggles for belonging in predominately white outdoor spaces and within their respective lifestyles. It should premiere during the summer of 2025. In the future, I hope to continue to develop my whitewater kayaking skills and experience to eventually work as a kayaking coach for disenfranchised groups. I also plan to utilize my passion for art and film to share stories at the intersection of outdoor spaces and DEI.

On a broader level, art, including literature, is a means to express that which words often cannot capture, and it lends itself to the subjectivity and multi-perceptivity inherent in conversations surrounding identity, belonging, and justice. Thus, it is a natural medium for me to simultaneously explore my experiences and perspective while also serving as a comforting practice I can rely on. My childhood, marked by the experiences of my burgeoning identities, often left me feeling isolated. These feelings eventually led to early explorations into critical consciousness in creative spaces. Hours spent tinkering with paper in my home studio or paper mache at school allowed me to exist without pretense and directed attention onto the viewer and their respective interpretation. Today, while my art does not always exist in the formal or professional realm, it remains a consistent practice for managing the requirements placed on me by a society often unwilling to acknowledge its exclusionary tendencies. It also works as a tool that, when strategically used, can speak to a humanist perspective that the rational brain often overlooks.

As you can likely tell, I have diverse passions, interests, and commitments. Much of my life consists of sitting in a liminal space between disjointed things, and I am constantly surprised, horrified, and inspired by what this perspective can reveal. I believe deeply in the power of interconnection, and I have faith in the capability of the human mind and spirit.