Joy is an undergraduate student on the pre-med track at Macaulay Honors College at Hunter — CUNY’s most prestigious merit scholarship program, admitting 5% of applicants and offering its scholars a fully-funded liberal arts education. She graduated from Hunter College High School with a 4.0 GPA and is so excited to be a part of the team at Kweller! Joy was first introduced to Kweller Prep when she attended a Hunter prep course in sixth grade, which she credits as instrumental to her success on the entrance exam.
At HCHS, Joy served as the elected student government vice president for the 1200+ student body, spearheading every school-wide event and managing a budget of over $60,000. She was also the president of the Asian Cultural Society (Hunter’s largest student organization), and led its cultural show with a cast of 70+ for over a thousand audience members. Noticing a gap in medicine-related opportunities for students, she founded HCHS HOSA—Future Health Professionals, which grew to become the largest STEM club at Hunter. There, she organized Hunter’s inaugural Health Day and annual Blood Drive, and sent several students to compete at the international level. In addition, Joy was also a core part of the Advanced Student Research Seminar, where she helped to organize the inaugural New York City Student Research Conference and facilitated the selective entrance exam for the program. She also served as the class of 2026 grade representative for four years, worked as a teaching intern for the Science Department, and was a varsity lacrosse athlete. Alongside a full honors and AP course load (with AP credits for AP Biology, AP BC Calculus, AP English Language and Composition, and AP Literature and Composition), Joy completed a dual enrollment upper-division political science seminar on Asian American communities at Hunter College during her senior year.
Throughout high school, Joy also conducted scientific research in a professional capacity. Since her junior year, she has worked as a paid research intern at the Center for Child Health Services Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She co-authored multiple projects (including first-author works) before graduating high school, and is in the process of publishing her work. She also spent two summers interning at the Rotenberg Laboratory at Queens College, authoring two posters and conducting an independent project on novel breast cancer therapies.
Outside of school, Joy is passionate about mentorship in non-academic spaces as well. She works as a figure skating coach at her local ice rink on weekends—a part-time job she started during her sophomore year of high school! She is also interested in Asian American advocacy, working with the internationally-recognized youth organization Dear Asian Youth to empower the next generation of AAPI youth through programming, activism, and community. Having grown up as a Queens native, she works to create local change as well—interning with the Director of the Mental Health Clinic at the Korean Community Services of Metropolitan NY to organize the first AAPI youth mental health summit in NYC. She plans to continue this work through a minor in Asian American studies in college. Joy is so excited to bring her leadership, mentorship experience, and enthusiasm to Kweller Prep!