I was born in Hanover, New Hampshire but mostly grew up in Vermont and Texas. I basically lived on both ends of the country, in Vermont and in Harlingen, Texas. I lived in Vermont for most of my childhood and Harlingen for the rest and went to high school in Pasadena, Texas. Now I’m in Austin at the University of Texas, and proud of it!

I am currently a sophomore majoring in biology and doing the pre-med thing. I have always wanted to be involved in the medical field, especially since I was surrounded by it during most of my adolescence. I believe it is an invaluable outlet toward helping and truly making a difference in the lives of others every day.

I would describe myself as highly motivated with a laid back personality. I consider myself to be very motivated and determined when it comes to my endeavours, yet in my free time, I really just like to “chill”. Several random yet hopefully interesting facts about me include – I have 5 chihuahuas (at home in Pasadena), I am half white/half Chinese yet everyone thinks I’m Hispanic, and I am still with my “high school sweet heart”. I love to watch movies. I am an avid soccer player, and my favourite team is Manchester United. I actually enjoy cooking. And I love my awkward family.

Cancer is an enormous problem facing humanity. When you look at the statistics you see how daunting, how scary, and how alarming this problem really is. You’ll see that almost 1.5 million individuals will be struck by this horrible disease in 2009 alone. Of those affected, 565,650 Americans will not win the battle, that’s more than 1500 people a day. It is truly one of the most frightening things to hear, especially when you think of each person’s individual struggle with the disease, and how it affects every individual close to them. However you look at the situation, it is explicitly clear that it is a problem that needs to be addressed - addressed with strength, with conviction, with speed, and with numbers. I believe, wholeheartedly, that cancer is a disease we can cure, a problem we can solve. It will take time. It will take strength, and it will take heart, but with human ingenuity, compassion, and togetherness, we can win this fight.

I consider myself invaluably lucky to not have any direct family members who have recently been affected by cancer. It is still deeply saddening that I know several individuals who have been affected or are struggling with the disease. It makes it frighteningly clear how widespread cancer is when you think how many individuals out there know just as many if not more people than I do who have been affected.

Most importantly, I ride for those fighting the battle with this deadly disease. The individuals are on the front line facing it every day and are taking it in stride. Those who would do this and so much more if only they could.