Isaac Yang

Minneapolis, MN ✈ Weston, FL ✈ Appleton, WI / I'm busy working to become my future self. But before I get there, who am I right now? I'm a Hmong American, the son of two refugees from southeast Asia. I take pride in my heritage, and I'm proud to be Hmong. I'm a musician, or, more specifically, a pianist, percussionist, vocalist, guitarist, and whatever-you-call-a-person-who-plays-ukulele. I perform music through my high school's concert/marching band, choir, and in my garage band. I'm a performer. I act, sing, and dance in musicals. I'm part of a Neo-futurist theatre troupe in which I help write, direct, and act in original plays. I'm a leader. This is my second year as president and senior videographer of my school's student council. I'm the captain of our drumline club, finding pieces and coordinated rehearsals. In Math Club, I'm a chairman. I'm a student. Here's the part where I talk about my academic achievements: 10 AP classes so far, a 4.87 GPA (ranked 2nd in my class), with a ACT score of 35. I'm involved in many extracurriculars, but I always keep my academics in check. If you've read this far, I'm sure you're just dying to know who "my future self" is. I can't say I have to great of a picture, but I do have some fuzzy ideas. I want to be a creator. I'm not exactly sure what I want to be creating, but it could really be anywhere from music to video games, both of which I'm passionate about. I've always dreamed of being a touring musician, and being a rock star would be the coolest thing. Computer science has also been an interest of mine for years. Though I've only recently begun really getting into coding, I can easily see myself going far as an independent game developer. Another potential career path of mine is to study psychology, specifically in the area of positive psychology. Martin Seligman's studies of optimism captivate me, and I'd like to contribute to fleshing out this field and hopefully even make some groundbreaking discoveries of my own. In short, I want to make people's lives better, be it through enjoyable products like music or games, or through helping them to learn more about how to reframe their perceptions and harness the power of positivity. There's so much I want to do, to create, to see, and to experience. Fortunately, I recognize my youth and the decades ahead of me. So until I'm my future self, I'll be doing what I've been doing as my current self.