Fellow Profile: Christina Li, JIF '14

Hello! My name is Christina Li. I’m from the Detroit suburbs in Michigan, and I’m a rising high school student attending the Utica Center for Math, Science, and Technology as well as Stevenson High School. I’m very involved in robotics (FRC team #217, the Thunderchickens). In the summer between my sophomore and junior year, thanks to the generous scholarship from the Joyce Ivy Foundation and Frank Minolli Foundation, I was able to attend the Summer College quarter of Stanford University (CS106A-programming methodologies-and CE101S-problem solving with MATLAB). For a girl with aspirations in computer science, it was a dream come true to be in Silicon Valley during the summer, and it legitimately changed my life. Not only did I succeed in my classes, but I also seized all the chances I could to explore Northern California, from going to normal tourist attractions like Santa Cruz Beach and Muir Woods, to having dinner at major technology companies in the area like Google and Facebook, even to winning a hackathon (Hero Hacks) in San Francisco. Without Joyce Ivy, I never would’ve been able to have such amazing opportunities. I'm very excited to be a Fellow because I love to inform everyone of the great experiences I've had and how they too can achieve the same. Since many of the things I got out of Joyce Ivy’s gift was outside of the summer program I picked, I’d love to mentor anyone who needs help on how to reach out for their dreams. Thanks so much for reading!