Linda Ying Zhang said she never aimed to be the valedictorian of the New Hyde Memorial High School class of 2013, but she’s proud to have the respect of her peers in achieving the honor.
“It’s definitely really humbling to say I’m at the top of my class,” Zhang said. “I’m a really hard worker. I have really high standards for myself. I’m a bit of a perfectionist.”
Apart from being strongly self-motivated, she credits the encouragement she received from her parents and the help she had from her teachers to make valedictorian with a weighted academic average of 101.7 because she took several Advanced Placement courses.
Zhang’s resume reflects her work ethic.
She was editor-in-chief of The Lance, the New Hyde Park Memorial Yearbook, this year after working as a designer on the book last year. She was also co-captain of the Sewanhaka Central High School District Varsity swim team last fall, attending 5:30 a.m. practices at Hofstra University at the beginning of school days that frequently didn’t end until 10 p.m. because of her yearbook duties.
She said those activities and tutoring her fellow students, were her favorite activities in high school. Zhang said she hopes to continue tutoring when she starts attending the New York University Stern School of Business this fall.
“I definitely have a passion for it,” she said, adding that the satisfaction it gave her prompted her to consider a teaching career.
Her role as editor-in-chief of the yearbook also required passion, as she oversaw a production schedule that was regularly interrupted and called for many late night editorial sessions.
“We got really unlucky with the weather this year. Hurricane Sandy really set us back,” she said.
In prepping for her role as editor this year, Zhang participated in a Gettysburg Yearbook Experience at Gettysburg College last summer, meeting stringent deadlines in overseeing creation of a mock yearbook.
“It was a lot of work,” she said.
This year’s Lance, entitled “Driven 2013,” has a distinct emphasis on photojournalism that Zhang hopes will rank in the top 1 percent of high school yearbooks nationally, as it did last year.
Now Zhang said she’s thinking about pursuing a double major at NYU in business and journalism or design, or two business majors. She said finance and marketing are prospective professional interests. But she’s also considering law school after she completes her undergraduate degree work at NYU.
“I have skill in writing and speaking. And I watch a lot of “Law & Order.” I think the DA’s are really cool,” Zhang said.
Zhang was also member of the Key Club – the high school’s version of the Kiwanis Club – from 2010 to 2011, a member of the Red Cross Club since 2009, volunteering to make holiday cards for veterans, a member of the French Club for three years and a member of the Spanish Club since 2009.
Secretary of the high school’s chapter of the National Senior Honor Society, Zhang was also became a member of the National Junior Honor Society in 2009 and a member of the National Foreign Language Honor Society from winter 2010 to the present. She also earned the designation of AP Scholar with Honor in August 2012.
With the options she’s considering academically and professionally, Zhang said the theme of her valedictory address will be about her uncertainty about her future plans.
“I don’t know, but I’m, not really concerned for that,” she said.
