By: Sarah Tolman, F-1 High School Academic Program Coordinator
Awhile back, Mini Yuan told us about her Greenheart experience. She expressed her excitement for senior year of high school and her nerves surrounding the college application process. Now, we’re proud to present Mini for our F-1 High School Program Alumni Spotlight. We’re so glad she could take a few minutes out of her busy college schedule to Skype with us again.
Mini embraced her senior year at Bethlehem Academy as fully as she could. Though she already felt adjusted as a second year F-1 student, she couldn’t stop the trend of pushing herself out of her comfort zone, so she took three college-level classes, ran Track & Field, and joined the basketball team. Amidst all of those activities, Mini also applied and got accepted to her dream school, Johns Hopkins University.
Impressed yet? Now, as a freshman at the prestigious university in Maryland, Mini has already chosen a double major on her path to become a doctor. She’s studying Molecular Cellular Biology and Medicine, Science and Humanity. She is taking a class called ‘Plastic,’ which focuses on how plastic has changed our environment and our history. Mini is enjoying the new challenges of these classes and is also finding ways to incorporate her love for ‘being green’ into her college career.
“We just had the [student organization] fair yesterday and I joined the Community Garden Project, so every Saturday, people will go to the community garden, a few blocks from Johns Hopkins. We will talk to the dining facilities to ensure they have healthy, organic foods and can communicate with the local farmers. That is exactly what I want to do!”
Mini is excited that, as an alumna of Greenheart, she can still be involved in the Greenheart Club. She plans to log her volunteer hours there as she starts to give back to her new host community.
At her new school in her new dorm room, Mini reflected on how Greenheart got her to where she is today. When first placed in the U.S., 3 years ago, Mini attended a high school with a focus on environmental studies. This sparked her love for the environment and Greenheart fueled that flame by offering a wonderful Greenheart Trip to Hawaii as well as a variety of other volunteer opportunities throughout the three years that she was on our program.
Whether you are a current Greenheart participant, or a past participant like Mini, you can give back your community, log your volunteer hours, and earn cool prizes too. Just join our alumni network by creating an account or logging in to the Greenheart Club.