KAYLA FANG

Future of Healthcare,
Youth Advocate

Kayla Fang is a Grade 10 student at Livingston High School in New Jersey. She was born in Buffalo, New York, and throughout her life she has lived in five different cities, including a year living in China. She enjoys going to school because it allows her to learn new topics and make new friends. She would like to dedicate her life to address the intersection of inclusive health, children’s rights and bioethics, and through her work contribute to systems change in the medical field. 

As a child, Kayla had a fear of speaking to strangers or in public. Once she became conscious of the issue, she was determined to solve the problem. This led her to volunteer to teach children how to read and write at a summer educational camp and forced herself to step out of her comfort zone. When a mother asked about their child’s reading progress, she was able to articulately describe a positive trajectory that made her smile. She realized that becoming a more powerful and effective speaker is necessary to create bonds with new people and to be more assertive with her ideas

Kayla is committed to an interdisciplinary approach to grow her intellectual and leadership skills. Since she entered high school, she has strategically chosen to focus on subjects such as biology, physics, and math to increase her knowledge in a variety of STEM subjects. Further, she took the initiative to complete Chemistry Honors over the summer to accelerate her studies in school and to best prepare her for her future career goals. While it was difficult to master all the content within two months, she managed to do so successfully, ending with an A in the class. Outside the classroom, In her school fencing program, Kayla is one of the team captains and leads her team to many victories at tournaments. In her spare time, Kayla loves to listen to music, which is why she founded a music therapy organization called NoteWorthy. With a group of musicians from her high school, they perform for children in hospitals and senior citizens in care centers because she wants to share that feeling of relaxation and comfort with her community. 

With Kayla’s intense passion for medical science, which has been the driving force behind her academic pursuits and shadowing experiences, she plans on majoring in pre-med for her undergraduate degree and then continuing on the path to medical school to achieve her long-term goal of becoming a physician.