Whiz Kid of the Week: Alan Zhu

In our weekly column Whiz Kids, Arcadia Patch singles out younger Arcadians who are amazing in some way.

We are asking for your nominations for Whiz Kids, so please suggest a special Arcadia kid, teen or youth group in the comment box below. Read more about nominations .

This week's Whiz Kid is Alan Zhu, an Arcadia High School Senior who

• Whiz Kid's Name: Alan Zhu
  
• Whiz Kid's School/Church/Community Center:
• Whiz Kid's Accomplishment: Alan serves as Senior Boys' Relations, a crucial part of ASB's Executive Council. In his role as Senior Boys' Relations, he is a member of the Senior Class Council, which fundraises and plans events for the senior class. Alan is also involved in Orchestra, which he's been a member for all four years of his AHS academic career. Alan's also a member of Senior Men and Women, and serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Arcadian Yearbook.
• Whiz Kid's Key to Awesomeness: Said Zhu: “What motivates me most is the fact that I have been given such great opportunities to grow as an academia and a person from living in Arcadia. The community is a great place to foster great values, and I know that my parents moved here for a purpose. My parents really motivate me, because they have been the ones who have been constantly pushing for my success. Being able to have such caring parents who really want to prepare me for the future is enough inspiration for me to go out and challenge myself daily."

Other interesting facts about this week's Whiz Kid:

• For college, Zhu has already received his college admission notices, getting accepted to UCLA, UCI, UCSD, USC, and NYU. He has eyes on Berkeley though and plans to appeal the school's decision to reject his application. "...I can just accept my admissions, and go to UCLA and study chemical engineering, but I like to challenge myself. I know that Berkeley offers a more rigorous program, and it appeals to me even more," Zhu admitted. "It is challenging enough to gain admission from an appeal letter, but I feel that I am willing to step up. If all goes well, I will attend UC Berkeley, and if not, UCLA,"
• For the future, Zhu doesn't have a specific path but he knows that he wants to study science and math. "For most of my colleges, I applied for some sort of chemistry related science, but that is definitely not set in stone," Zhu said. "I can easily see myself learning computer science and maybe becoming a developer. One interest that I have taken to recently is in Google's Android platform, and as a career, I definitely can see myself working as a developer or coder, if not researcher for a larger company, such as Google."
• Although he works hard at school and in his many leadership roles, Zhu maintains a youthful exuberance. "Spontaneous adventures at night are always fun, because even though I like to devote myself to schoolwork, I am only this age once in my life, and I would like to make the most of it," he said.
• His favorite TV show is House, his favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird, and his musical tastes range from classical to Kanye.
• Alan has a strong foundation at home. "My role models are really my parents, who have sacrificed so much to make sure that I can live a good life," Zhu said. "...No matter how many arguments we can get into, my parents are always supportive of my actions and propel me forward when I have a hard time doing it myself. I hope that in the future, I will be able to be so self-sacrificing and selfless to other close individuals in my life."