Board Members
Cecilia Zhou
Co-Chair, External Public Relations
English and Political Science
cclzhou@umich.edu
Raised in a comfortable Michigan suburban town by a family with more than three generations of educators, I had always taken good education for granted. Yet my own growing interest in the education field led me to Youth Hope Organization, where my parents' past attempts at keeping me sheltered were blown away by my experiences with underprivileged children and refugees at YHO's volunteer sites. Through our workshops and tutoring, I learned that the availability of quality education was far from consistent across the state, let alone the nation. I firmly believe that, regardless of economic or social standing, every child should have access to good public education. In parallel with education itself, teachers and tutors who instill in children a passion for learning are essential to the latter's motivation in striving for a promising future. I am proud to have joined and taken part in an organization that aims to provide such resources, at least on a local scale.
Claire Zhang
Co-Chair, External Public Relations
Business Administration and Financial Math
fengqi@umich.edu
Growing up in China, my parents have enlightened me to gain the awareness of poverty and the importance of education. Both of my parents were born in rural areas, and suffered from poverty in their youths. Not until they got into college and received higher education, did they got rid of poverty with all the hard work. However, every time I went back to their hometowns, I was able to observe the tough life under poverty and the difference brought by the lack of education and knowledge. With all the stories I heard and experienced about the impoverished from my parents, I thus gained the passion to help with those who are experiencing hardship in their lives. Transferring to University of Michigan from China, I started to seek for opportunities to give a helping hand and to serve those are unfortunate. I was lucky enough to join YHO, which never failed to increase my awareness of underprivileged youth, and provided me with opportunities to interact with and care about those in need.
Jimmy Shen
Internal Public Relations
shenja@umich.edu
Details will be coming soon.
Sylvia Sang
Treasurer
Business Administration
yusisang@umich.edu
I grew up in Shanghai, a rapidly prospering city in the country of China. The city, while providing numerous opportunities for people to make big money, it also left many people behind in poverty. Growing up in a relatively secure environment didn't block me from observing the hardships many of the people are suffering from. Poverty is closer to everyone than what we may think. From various medias and my own seeing, I got to learn more about poverty and became gradually determined in helping the underprivileged people. By volunteering in different charity organizations, I witnessed the difficulties experienced by people from different races and ages. Individual effort may be trivial, but as a group, I believe we can make a difference. As a part of the youth hope organization, I feel both the responsibility and urge to follow our mission and truly provide some help and make some difference for the less fortunate people living around us in the world.
Linda Lee
Local Sites Coordinator
leeli@umich.edu
Details will be coming soon.
Angela Lin
Fundraising Coordinator
Economics and Communications
linmj@umich.edu
I am a Junior from Taiwan. I am doing economics and communications. The reason why I joined YHO is because I was an education major before and I like to play and work with the kids. I found YHO is a great organization to be part of.
Jamie Ma
Webmaster
Electrical Engineering
jamiema@umich.edu
My story begins with my parents immigrating to the US from China. Undoubtedly, they have experienced and seen more hardships and poverty than I will probably ever encounter in my lifetime. As I was growing up, they did a good job sheltering me from most of those hardships, but that is not to say that I was not exposed. Our family was financially stable, but not considered well off. They told me countless stories of their childhoods every time I would complain about something, and each one of those opened my eyes progressively more. I realize that I am extremely fortunate and consequently, I make an effort not to take things for granted. I have developed a passion to help those less fortunate and that is why I became a member of YHO. The youth today become tomorrow's leaders. Even though our group is small in size compared to the world, our dedication and passion is boundless, and we will aim to change the world around us, even if it is one child at a time.