Meet New EV Interns: Janna & Lauren

Hello there~ My name is Janna Wang. I will be starting my senior year at Los Altos High School. I am a highly energetic person. I love making lots of friends and trying a variety of spontaneous experiences. Every time we get ice cream or pearl milk tea, I try a new flavor. Also, I think I have an extraordinarily eclectic collection of music, given that a good chunk of it is K-pop.

In my life, I'm always on the go. As Vice President of LAHS Key Club and an officer of the National Honors Society, I can be found volunteering around our community. Last year, I founded a fashion arts club at school, as well as being Costume Designer of my school’s theater troupe, Broken Box. After high school, I would love to pursue my passions are in film work and design, which I currently learn at Freestyle Academy. 

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I was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong in the People’s Republic of China. I moved to America when I was almost five years old. Since then, I have learned piano, violin, Konghou (the Chinese harp), and pipa (Chinese lute); the latter I play in Chinese symphonies. Music has helped me respect and connect more with my Chinese heritage.

When I first heard about the Transparent Fish Fund at the Charity Dinner in 2011, I admired all my friends that were already involved for being apart of a group that could bring so much meaningful support to those in need. Through the network of nonprofits that East Villagers support,  they reached out to people in Asia that I’ve always wished to help, so I decided to apply and become a part of the support service.

This year, I am very honored to be a part of the East Villagers internship. I want to bring my enthusiasm to the team, as well as put my film skills to use. I hope to create videos for raising awareness of the social injustices around the world, and help solve them by fundraising and creative events in projects throughout the year. Though these are small efforts in the scale of things, I hope my dedication will help the team and leave bigger impacts on people’s lives.

Hi! My name is Lauren Kam, and I will be a sophmore this fall. One thing you should definitely know about me is that I have never been to school because...I homeschool! You may be thinking, “Homeschool? What does that mean? Does that mean you stay at home all day and your parents teach you?” Well, that’s the basic idea, but there’s much more to my life as a homeschooler than staying home all day and doing schoolwork. One question I always get when I meet new people is, “Since you stay home all day, how do you make any friends?” And I say something like, “Actually, I go somewhere almost every day-music lessons, orchestra, various field trips, church, and monthly speech and debate tournaments with the homeschool speech league. I also belong to a homeschool network to connect with other homeschoolers, so between my weekly activities and this network, I have plenty of friends.”

The activity I love most is making music. In my family, my mom requires all of us to learn piano and violin. As I reached middle-school, I realized why my mom wanted us to learn these instruments. In the past few years, I joined the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, performed for several nursing homes, and most recently, started teaching kids how to play violin and piano. Music has brought so many rewards, I’m thankful that my mom insisted on music lessons for all of us.

             Growing up in suburban New Jersey, then Burlingame, CA, I led a relatively sheltered life with no idea of any social injustices in the world. My only window into the world was my dad’s lectures of how poor he was as a boy and how we should all feel privileged to live in America because other children were starving in China. My first encounter with social injustice was when my family and I volunteered to serve lunch at the St. Vincent de Paul homeless shelter in San Francisco. From that point on, I met even more people who were underprivileged, like when I volunteered to read to kids at the library, help at a homework club, and teach violin in East Palo Alto. I started thinking, “There are underprivileged people near my home, and I can help them, but what about the rest of the world?” When I first heard about East Villagers, I thought it would be a great chance to help others in the world, even if I lived nowhere near them. As an intern at EV, I hope to learn more about poverty and social injustice in the world, what role I can play to improve the lives of others near and far, and how I can use my gifts and abilities to help.

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