Languages
The BOBA Project
Building Our Bonds Authentically
Youth Advisory Board
The Youth Advisory Board is a group of Chinese heritage high school students from the Greater Boston area who help drive our research through sharing their passion and experience.
New Members
Nicole Sun (she/her)
Milton High School
Nicole Sun is a sophomore at Milton High School. She is the secretary of the Asian Culture Club and an AP Ambassador for her school. Outside of school, she is involved in the AVOYCE Youth Leadership Program and a Chapter Leader for APPI Youth Rising. In her free time, she enjoys playing tennis and video games, reading, and binging TV shows. Nicole is looking forward to meeting the other Youth Advisory Board members and learning more about the issues surrounding Asian/Asian Americans today.
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Her favorite boba drink is brown sugar milk tea with tapioca pearls!
Alexander Chan (he/him)
Boston Latin School
Alex Chan is a sophomore at Boston Latin School. He is a member of the varsity crew team and tennis team. He also runs his school’s podcast club. He is very passionate about teen mental health and things that we can do to help teens struggling with their mental health. He is very excited to meet new people and learn more about Asian American mental health.
His favorite boba drink is Mango Green Tea with boba.
Anita Mei (she/her)
Boston Latin School
Anita Mei is a freshman at Boston Latin School. She is a member of Ladies' Collective, BLS A.S.I.A, Dance Club, and Wolfpack Volunteers. She also loves to design posters as a media coordinator and journal in her free time. She is excited to hear about other peoples' experiences and how she can help the community thrive!
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Her favorite boba drink is mango green tea w/ boba.
Jodie Chen (she/her)
Buckingham Browne & Nichols School
Jodie Chen is a junior at Buckingham Browne & Nichols, where she is a member of the Asian American Student Association, leader of the Peer Tutoring Program, and member of the Community Engagement Leadership Board. Outside of school, she is the co-president of the Never-Fading Poppy Project and enjoys dancing competitively. Jodie is eager to learn more about mental health, identity, and belonging in Asian American communities and actively contribute to drive meaningful change in Asian American research.
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Her favorite boba drink is mango black tea with lychee jelly.
Chloe Duong (she/her)
North Quincy High School
Chloe Duong is a junior attending North Quincy High School. She’s a member of the student council, AFJROTC, and Green Student Movement. Her favorite ways to pass time is by listening to music and shopping. She looks forward to learning about the impacts of mental health to Asian Americans and meeting peers who share similar interests and experiences!
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Her favorite boba drink is thai milk tea with boba.
Sienna Tow (she/her)
Needham Highschool
Sienna Tow is a freshman at Needham High School. She is the vice president of the Chinese Yoyo Club and is part of the Speech and Debate team. She is passionate about representation among Asian Americans, and research on mental health. She is excited to learn more about the different experiences of Asian American teens.
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Her favorite boba drink is lychee oolong tea with coconut jelly.
Yandie Lyu(she/her)
William Diamond Middle School
Yandie Lyu, 8th grade, William diamond middle school, Volleyball, Volunteer, Clubs, making the board bigger so others can have access to this opportunity.
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Her favorite boba drink is brown sugar milk tea.
Mary Deng (she/her)
Boston Latin School
Mary Deng is a sophomore at Boston Latin School. She is a News editor for her school's newspaper, the Argo, helps lead her school's Science Olympiad Team, and serves as an active member and officer of the Distributive Education Clubs of America. Outside of school, Mary is passionate about community outreach and biomedical research. She is excited to learn more about mental health research relevant to the challenges faced by Asian American youth today and to connect with new people.
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Her favorite boba drink is brown sugar milk tea with tapioca pearls.
Macki Mei (she/her)
Josiah Quincy Upper School
Macki Mei is a junior at Josiah Quincy Upper School. She is a member of the student council, debate team, and she writes articles for a local non-profit environmental organization. In her free time, she enjoys going on walks and watching movies. She is looking forward to expanding her knowledge of mental health and how it is primarily affecting Asian American teenagers.
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Her favorite boba drink is taro milk tea with tapioca pearls.
Geo Elasmar (he/him)
Brookline High School
Geo Elasmar is a junior at Brookline High School. He is a news editor on The Cypress, his school's student-run newspaper, and he is a member of his school's varsity nordic ski team. Geo has been involved with research regarding student mental health and is excited to extend his interests to his Asian American identity.
His favorite boba drink is brown sugar milk tea with boba.
Emily Yu (she/her)
Boston Latin School
Emily Yu is a junior at Boston Latin School who spends most of her free time digging through SCOTUS briefs as co-captain of her school's mock trial team. When she's not knee deep in legal terminology, Emily can be found at her piano, in the pool, or at her desk tutoring children all around the world over Zoom. Emily is interested to explore ways to address the linguistical gaps that develop over generations of being in the US, leading to a loss of the mother tongue and how that affects inter-familial connectedness.
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Her favorite boba drink is Oolong honey milk tea w/boba.
Nora Sheu (she/her)
Brookline High School
Nora Sheu is a junior at Brookline High School. She is on the varsity soccer team and co-captain of the varsity squash team. She is also the co-chair of Brookline Literacy Partnership and artistic director/piano teacher for Music Connect. Nora is interested in medicine and psychology and is excited to learn how Asian identity uniquely impacts mental health.
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Her favorite boba drink is mango slush with boba.
Kaylee Co (she/her)
Brookline High School
Kaylee Co is a freshman at Brookline High School. She plays soccer and is a member of the Asian Pacific American Club at her school. She is excited to learn about psychology and designing research projects. Improving Asian representation in healthcare research is a passion of hers. She is looking forward to meeting the researchers at the Lab and the other members of the YAB.
Her favorite boba drink is almond milk tea with boba.
Olivia Bao(she/her)
Lexington High School
Olivia Bao is a sophomore at Lexington High School. She is part of her school's Never Fading Poppy Project branch, STEM club, and does ballet outside of school. She volunteers at a Chinese school to teach diablo, and she likes to listen to music and draw. She is looking forward to learning about how stereotypes forced on diverse minority groups create stories unique to each person, and how that has an influence on the different ways one can view the world.
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Her favorite boba drink is lemon okinawa tea with tapioca and lychee jelly!
Elissa Fan (she/her)
Lexington High School
Elissa Fan is a junior at Lexington High School. She is a figure skater and a member of her school newspaper. She enjoys reading, photography, and listening to music in her free time. She is looking forward to learning about issues that concern Asian Americans and meeting people who share the same interests.
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Her favorite boba drink is taro milk tea with tapioca pearls.
Michelle Chen (she/her)
North Quincy High School
Michelle Chen is a current sophomore at North Quincy High School. She enjoys partaking in community-based clubs and is a president of Literary Magazine Club. She is passionate about learning the concerns, diversity, and mental health surrounding Asian Americans. She is excited to learn and contribute her ideas to teens who share similar interests.
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Her favorite boba drink is thai tea with boba.
Candice Lin (she/her)
Lexington High School
Candice Lin is a junior at Lexington High School. As a co-founder of the Never-Fading Poppy Project, and a fellow of the Leadership Next Gen Fellowship, she is an active member in the civic engagement community. Beyond her academic and leadership pursuits, Candice is an artist, cellist, and dancer on a Traditional Chinese dance team. She is passionate about psychology and is excited to connect with this community of like-minded peers in mental health research.
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Her favorite boba drink is mango green tea with boba pearls and herbal jelly.
Angelina Wei (she/her)
Boston Latin School
Angelina Wei is a sophomore at Boston Latin School. She is an officer of the Red Cross Club, student science newspaper, and member of the varsity volleyball team. Outside of school, she enjoys learning Chinese dance and piano. As a member of BOBA, she is eager to advocate for Asian American mental health awareness and collaborate with others on the Youth Advisory Board.
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Her favorite boba drink is brown sugar milk tea with boba!
Denise Pan (she/her)
Wellesley High School
Denise Pan is a junior at Wellesley High School. She is the captain of the golf team, a member in the honors chamber orchestra, and a member of the track team. She is also the founder of her school's science journal club, tennis club, and she is the president of the Asian Student Union. As a member of the BOBA Youth Advisory Board, she is excited to learn more about how mental health issues affect Asian American youth.
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Her favorite boba drink is black milk tea with pearls!
Darby Linfoot (she/her)
Boston Latin School
Darby Linfoot is in eighth grade at Boston Latin School. She's an enthusiastic member of her school's powerlifting team, two baseball teams, the BLS Jazz Standards, and more. Darby is interested in learning more about how Asian Americans communicate, and applying her own communication skills to the project.
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Her favorite boba drink is milk tea w/ brown sugar boba.
Katie Lin (she/her)
Lexington High School
Katie Lin is a sophomore at Lexington High School. She is an editor for her school's culture and political review and competes in mock trial and Science Olympiad. She also works on outreach for a nonprofit and started her own organization promoting diverse voices in children's literature. As part of the Youth Advisory Board, she is excited to explore how social factors affect psychology and mental health for Asian Americans.
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Her favorite boba drink is strawberry milk tea with boba.
Callie Wu (she/her)
Brookline High School
Callie Wu is a sophomore at Brookline High School. She plays hockey for her school team, she is a part of the Networking Night Leadership Committee, she also enjoys doing traditional Chinese painting. She is interested in raising awareness on how mental health affects Asian Americans, and using these statistics to help out the Asian American community in the United States.
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Her favorite boba drink is brown sugar milk tea with tapioca pearls.
Marcus Peng (he/him)
Brookline High School
Marcus Peng is a junior at Brookline High School, where he is part of the Asian Pacific American Club, the school newspaper, and the varsity rowing team. He is looking forward to meeting other Asian American teens passionate about mental health and advocacy (as well as secretly judging other peoples' boba orders).
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His favorite boba drink is brown sugar milk tea w/ boba and cheese foam.
Returning Members
Ryan Chao (he/him)
Newton North High School
Ryan Chao is a junior at Newton North High School. He is captain of the Wuan Martial Arts Lion Dance team, VP of his schools Asian American Culture Club, and a member of the GBCCA Diablo team. Ryan is excited to learn more about the research process and connect with new people.
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His favorite boba drink is black Sesame milk tea with boba.
Grace Liu (she/her)
Winchester High School
Grace Liu is a junior at Winchester high school. She is the editor-in-chief of her school newspaper, a member of her high school's swim team, and part of the Science Olympiad. She also teaches English classes to Chinese seniors. She is fascinated by psychology and medical research and is excited to learn more about issues concerning Asian Americans today.
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Her favorite boba drink is lychee oolong tea with lychee jelly.
Amy Tan (she/her)
North Quincy High School
Amy Tan is a sophomore at North Quincy High School. She is a vibraphonist in the QNQ Marching Band. She plays, coaches, and referees soccer. Additionally, she is one of North Quincy High’s school community representatives. She hopes to learn more about Asian-American community interactions and their effects on political engagement.
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Her favorite boba drink is mango passionfruit green tea with aloe and tapioca pearls.
Julie Hong (they/them)
Wellesley High School
Julie Hong is a sophomore at Wellesley High School. They are a member of Red Ink (art and writing magazine) and A Capella Anonymous. They love learning about how social media culture and psychology intersect.
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Their favorite boba drink is black milk tea with boba.
Helen Liu (she/her)
Newton South High School
Helen Liu is a Junior at Newton South High School. In school she is involved in the student government, the varsity debate team, track, UNICEF, the Social Topics on Air podcast, and leader of the Food Pantry Ambassadors club. She also volunteers as a language/math tutor and works closely with the Newton Food Pantry. She looks forward to learning about different Asian American experiences in the U.S. today through communication and research.
Her favorite boba drink is taro milk tea with boba.
Malia Thompson (they/them)
Newton North High School
Malia Thompson-Leong is a 9th grade student at Newton North High School. Outside of learning about psychology, they dabble in dance, bouldering, and circus skills. They love to read, and wants to be a psychiatrist who specializes in adolescence.
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Their favorite boba drink is Hong Kong milk tea with tapioca pearls.
Tina Li (she/her)
Brookline High School
Tina Li is a junior at Brookline High School. She is part of the student government, Asian Pacific American Club, and Speech & Debate Team. Outside of school, Tina is an activist for racial justice, medical equity, and immigrant language access. She is excited to explore how the model minority myth and discrimination impact Asian American youth's mental health.
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Her favorite boba drink is brown sugar milk tea with aloe jelly.
Ava Qiu (she/her)
Newton North High School
Ava Qiu is a sophomore at Newton North High School. She is part of the Asian American Culture Club and does Chinese folk dance outside of school. She also loves to listen to music and read in her free time. She is excited to learn more about the Asian American community and meet everyone on the team.
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Her favorite boba drink is Thai milk tea with tapioca pearls and grass jelly.
Yuxuan (Lucy) Zhang (she/her)
Boston Latin School
Lucy Zhang is a freshman at the Boston Latin School. She is an officer on her school’s Science Olympiad team and Model United Nations club, and an active member of the science fair and DECA competition. She is passionate about science and public speaking. Lucy is excited to assist the scientific community in understanding more about Asian American mental health and busting the model minority myth. She is eager to meet other youth advocates while learning about the needs of the community.
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Her favorite boba drink is lemon winter melon basil seeds tea with coconut jelly.