Jessica Wang: International Director
Jessica is a senior attending Germantown Academy, located in Pennsylvania. She is a diligent student passionate about STEM and takes all honors and AP courses while maintaining high grades in her academic classes. Outside of the classroom, Jessica conducted science research at Johns Hopkins University and participated in several competitions, winning 6 awards, including National Finalist Oral Presenter in Medicine and Health at JSHS, leading her to the 62nd National JSHS in New Mexico. On top of her academic endeavors, Jessica loves playing the cello and for the past three years has been performing with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra—the most prestigious youth orchestra in Pennsylvania and one of the world’s top youth orchestra programs. In addition, she volunteers to play the cello at four different nursing homes weekly to bring the joy of music to seniors. At school, Jessica founded the mentorship program at the Asian American Student Association (AASA) and manages the sports desk for the school newspaper, The Edition. Jessica has also played tennis since the age of eight and plays first singles on her school's varsity tennis team as the senior captainand was awarded the Most Value Player award. Jessica is extremely excited to get to know her students and inspire those around her!
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Max Wu: International Director
Max is an ambitious student from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is attending Methacton High School as a senior. Max is interested in all aspects of academics, but his main passion lies in finance. He was awarded 2nd in the Nation for the Stock Market Competition run by the SIFMA foundation, and 1st in the State for the Future Business Leaders of America(FBLA) Computer Application category, as well as the Securities and Investments Category. Max is also very interested in debate, where he founded his school's first ever debate club, and qualified for nationals and TOC Silver. Max also plays violin daily, and is attending the Philadelphia Sinfonia Orchestra. Max is currently publishing two research papers, has taken over 12 AP courses, and got a 1570 on the SAT. Max likes to read, play basketball, and hang out, or play video games with his friends. Max is ready to start teaching and helping students, and is looking forward to motivating and inspiring other ambitious students!
Emona Ji: International Director
Emona is an eager senior student at The Kinkaid School located in Houston, Texas. She maintains good grades in all honors classes at school while being a member of the Student Diversity Leadership board, and founder of For the Record Club. She has a passion for the arts and has the ability to work with many mediums. In high school, she has taken Drawing & Painting and Photography. She has won multiple awards for her artwork, including several honorable mentions in the Duck Stamp Competition and multiple Gold Key in the Scholastic Competition. She also participated in the Art League Houston Art Intensive and the Rhode Island School of Design Pre-College. She has had previous teaching experience where she taught art to underprivileged elementary students. With Vern, she has taught Advanced Art, the Math in Art, and Drawing and Painting. When not painting or participating in school activities, she enjoys watching movies and shows, listening to music, and going to concerts. She looks forward to directing the Texas chapter and encouraging student to learn and express their creativity in fun and exciting ways!
Andrew Li: International Director
Andrew is a dedicated and accomplished student currently attending Germantown Friends in Philadelphia as a junior. While maintaining straight-A’s, Andrew founded the school’s first debate team, and has already established his school as the top seed in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Debate League and second in the state. Andrew has qualified to the prestigious Tournament of Champions, and already cleared at major national circuit tournaments, such as Harvard, Princeton, UK, and a top 35 placement at Nationals. Furthermore, Andrew is the associate principal cellist in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO), and is a recipient of the Menges Scholarship of the Ambler Symphony for the 2024-2025 year. In addition to debate and music, Andrew participated in various math competitions, championing his chapter Mathcounts competition and earning top 20 in the state during his 8th grade year. Most notably, Andrew qualified for the prestigious AIME competition in both his freshman and sophomore year, and is currently studying Multivariable Calc. During his free time, Andrew enjoys rowing for his school’s Crew team, where he placed in the top 20 at USRowing's Youth National Championship hosted in Sarasota, Florida. Andrew is excited to help others through Vern and can’t wait to meet other ambitious young students!