Question 1: How do you feel as one of the 18 valedictorians? 

Answer: To be honest, I feel as proud as I would be even if I wasn’t valedictorian. The title doesn’t hold that much weight for me personally because I’m not that fond of the GPA system to begin with.

Question 2: What are your plans after high school?

A: I’ll be attending Brown University as a part of the PLME [Program in Liberal Medical Education] program and majoring in health and human biology with a second concentration in biophysics.

Question 3: What are your career aspirations, and what influenced you to pursue them? 

A: Currently, I’m thinking of becoming an immunologist or pathologist. Science Olympiad influenced me a lot in pursuing the STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] field, especially for research because it opened me up to a lot of different subjects in biology that I would’ve never considered normally, like herpetology.

Question 4: How did you handle stress and manage your time effectively? 

A: When I get stressed out I’ll normally run the treadmill at the gym. It helps me sweat out my frustrations and then I’ll probably order a Starbucks drink and sit down for a couple hours to work.

Question 5: What extracurricular activities or leadership roles were you involved in?

A: My main extracurricular was being co-captain of our Science Olympiad team along with my fellow valedictorian DaHee Kim.

Question 6: What was the class that threatened your valedictorian status? 

A: While some classes were challenging, I don’t know if any of them really “threatened” my status. To be honest, I almost never check Aeries because I don’t have the emotional willpower or energy to care about GPA calculations. I am married to the grind.

Question 7: Did you encounter any academic failures or setbacks, and how did you bounce back from them? 

A: I don’t consider any of them too serious, but if I had to pick one it would probably be my very first APUSH [Advanced Placement U.S. History] test, where I got a 75%. I knew I wasn’t the best at history but because I didn’t really like it I also didn’t really study for it. Luckily, Mr. [Arlie] Kearney made me love APUSH class a lot, so I ended up with a 99% in the end.

Question 8: Were there any teachers or mentors who played a significant role in shaping your academic journey? If so, how? 

A: I think Mrs. [Jennifer] Kim helped me the most during high school because I felt like I really learned how to write in her class. My middle school wasn’t the greatest when it came to teaching English, so it was definitely a change of pace when I entered her class in freshman year. I ended up liking writing a lot afterward, which is why I’m so glad I got into the PLME program, which focuses on having strong liberal arts foundations. She also helped me a ton with editing my college essays and also as someone that I could talk to for advice or just for fun!

Question 9: How did you navigate the college application process, and what advice do you have for other students going through it? 

A: I think I was a little disorganized going into the college application process, but my main advice is to start early and to really make the essay stand out in some way: content-wise, structure-wise, etc. My mentality while writing a lot of my essays was that I wanted the admissions officers to remember me as “that girl who wrote about blank,” even if it was the most random thing.

Question 10: Whether it be school-affiliated or not, were there any specific projects or assignments that you feel were particularly impactful or rewarding? 

A: I think the school projects that were the most impactful were definitely my 3-D Design projects like my paper-mache dissected frog and all my other anatomy-related works. I took the class as a filler, but I ended up writing about the projects in my [Greg] Brown essays and PLME essays, and I felt like they really helped to symbolize my belief in interdisciplinary studies. I also showed some of my work when I did my scholarship interview for USC and ended up getting the Trustee Scholarship, so I’m really grateful to Mrs. [Preetha] Mathen and this class.

Question 11: Did you have any specific study habits or routines that helped you excel?

A: I think my biggest study habit is to not overstudy the material. I also make sure I understand its basis rather than just memorize everything without truly understanding; that way, if I forget, I can just figure it out while taking the test.

Question 12: What are some of your most memorable experiences or highlights from your high school years? 

A: My most memorable experiences have to be my freshman year Science Olympiad regional competition (I cried so much), my senior year Science Olympiad regional competition (first in-person regionals after COVID, and it was also my last one) and definitely all the dance concerts this year.

Question 13: Where do you see yourself in 10 years? 

A: After 10 years, I will be in my residency period after graduating with an M.D. I hope to match with a school in California!

Question 14: What will you miss most after you graduate? 

A: I’ll miss all my friends at Sunny the most since I had so much fun with you guys during my high school career. I’ll also miss the food here since Rhode Island doesn’t have as much of a variety of Asian food.

Question 15: Were there any challenges posed by remote or hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic? How did you overcome these challenges? 

A: For me, I used the COVID time as a “reset” opportunity. I wasn’t in the best mental state during freshman year, but sophomore year allowed me some time for self-reflection and self-care, and I went back into junior year with a much better mindset.

Question 16: What lessons did you learn from failure or setbacks during your high school years? 

A: It’s no use wallowing without progression. Even if it sucks, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Question 17: What was the most useful advice you have received from someone about high school? 

A: “Prioritize self-care.”

Question 18: As a valedictorian, what last message do you have to the underclassmen? 

A: Don’t get too caught up in all the semantics and drama of the education system; just enjoy the learning process, and live life the way you want to. “Another day, another slay!”