Some of her most incredible achievements have included her time in Key Club, Model UN, Debate, and FBLA.
Wellesley College is gaining a new prospect this fall — Siyan Li.
A senior at Cardozo, Li has made aspiring achievements through her academic excellence, encouraging leadership, and a deep wonder about the world around her. Throughout her time at Cardozo, Li has pushed herself to accomplish a lot of things. As the Communications Chair for Arista, she helps manage posts on social media and school-wide for Arista and the college office. She also helped design the entire International University Fair poster from scratch with just her creativity and the skills she has gained throughout her years of high school.
Li is a person who is always the one behind the scenes, making things happen the best way they can. “I worked hard escorting and managing the event that evening,” she said proudly.
Throughout her years, Li has also been active in Key Club, Model UN, Debate, and FBLA. Some of her most impressive accomplishments have been achieved outside of the classroom. One of her achievements was an event she hosted where she created a presentation for professors from all over New York City.
Even though she has done constructive research at Columbia, her most memorable achievement was the volunteer program she attended. “I liked the interactions I had with the children and how creative their minds are,” she said.
One of the most constructive and challenging classes Li has taken at Cardozo was AP Environmental Science. The reason wasn’t because of the content but rather because of the different assumptions people had about the course that made her think otherwise.
“There’s this stigma around the leniency of this course, which infuriates me,” she said. She mentioned how the course covers everything from science to economics and how it’s only simple for a person if you don’t care about the real-world solutions or the environment around us.
But, the constructive and challenging classes are nothing new for Li. She has consistently made the Principal’s Honor Roll, achieved many top AP scores, and also made a huge accomplishment by receiving a GPA of 107.36 in her junior year. After all these huge achievements, what is Li’s true passion? Physics.
“It answers all my questions about everyday life,” she said, giving credit to Mr. Barton and Mr. Glasel for creating that huge interest and admiration she has for the subject,” she said.
During her free time, Li enjoys singing, especially Christian hymns, and also has time to attend Bible Study on a day-to-day basis. “It feels refreshing and helpful,” she said.
After she completes high school, Li has an ambitious plan to attend Wellesley College and then pursue graduate school at a top law school. Li’s experiences have educated her that communication and relationships with people are a very important asset for the near future. Networking and making viable connections can help you in the long run.“Teachers are human too,” she said, justifying the time she consistently makes to visit them whenever possible and to ask for help whenever she needs it.
Looking back, Li greatly appreciates all the memories she has made during her time in Cardozo. “The friends and staff truly make the experience wonderful,” she said. Even though Cardozo is a large school with over 3,000 students, Li thinks it’s a small community. She is very grateful for all the impactful connections and friendships she has made during her time at Cardozo.
“I made lifelong friends that I hope to cherish forever,” she reflected. “High school should be balanced. Of course, keep your list of priorities, but never indulge in one too deeply.” She also recommends reading different lifestyle books to open your eyes to the real world and for you to have a different perspective on how things work.”