Senior spotlight: the Caltech academic athlete

0
415
Taking the next steps// Posing for the camera, Misha Yap and her mom celebrate Misha’s commitment to California Institute of Technology. She has decided to major in bioengineering and participate in the school’s varsity soccer program. (Photo by Jordyn Tribus)

by Jordyn Tribus

Being the child of immigrants, Misha Yap was raised in a multicultural household. Her mother is from Japan and her father is from Malaysia. In her family-packed house, there were a lot of Chinese with Malaysian-infused culture as well as Japanese culture. At a young age, her mother enrolled Misha in a Japanese school where she learned Japanese culture for almost eleven years. This path provided Misha with a necessity in life: learning. Instead of having five days of schooling, like a normal child, she had six (Saturdays were for Japanese school). While academics were pushed onto Misha, she wasn’t forced into loving them. Misha’s upbringing gave her the drive and determination to get into Caltech. 

“Being placed in Japanese school by my mother directed me, but I’m the one who really took it with me,” senior Misha Yap said. “I was like the kid on the leash, but then they took off the leash, and I’m still going on the same path. I grew to love it.”

Not only is culture an important part of Misha’s life, but academics also plays a principal role in shaping her future. For Misha, it was always school that came first and then the activity was second. She was pushed by herself and her environment to always strive for the best and learn more. It was this that allowed Misha to be one of the top of her class which is reflected in her 5.60 weighted GPA and her 3rd overall class rank. A main reason why Misha likes learning is because she will have the ability to express her knowledge. It gives her a sense of place in knowing that she has all this information and allows her to uncover the complexities of the world. 

“Academics has always been my number one thing in life and that is why I push myself to the best of my abilities, and I think I got a lot out of what I did,” Yap said. “Unpopular opinion, but I like school for learning, I never liked the social aspect. As for the learning aspect, I never had anything bad about it. It has helped shape me and decide to go into an academically rigorous school because I like learning and want to challenge myself.”

In the fall of 2023, Misha Yap will be attending California Institute of Technology (Caltech). She is looking to go into bioengineering as her major. She is leaning towards this major because biology has always been a favored subject out of the STEM fields. Most interestingly, Misha wants to develop new biotechnologies, specifically in the medicine area. After working in a research lab at UNLV, she discovered that biotechnology is the direction she wants to follow because it is fascinating and she will be able to secure a job without the hassle of grad school. Misha also co-founded the club STEM like a girl at Coronado in order to empower women in this field and to spread knowledge about women in STEM who have previously been underrepresented and neglected. Being a woman in STEM herself, she encourages others in this field to feel empowered when pursuing sciences. 

“It honestly felt surreal [to get into Caltech] because I opened it in the middle of Mr. Issack’s AP Calculus class,” Yap said. “He was talking about product rule, and I remember opening it and just being in pure shock. I stared at my screen, jaw dropped to the floor, and sank in my chair, arms crossed. I tried to mask my emotions, but obviously, you could tell something was off, which was that I got into basically the school of my dreams.”

In addition to forwarding her academics at Caltech, she will also be participating in their women’s soccer program. Misha has been playing soccer for about 8-9 years. It has given her the opportunity for team collaboration, friendships, trust, and effort. Being on the same team for a long time has helped her to develop these characteristics. Additionally, she has learned to be disciplined through her soccer experience. She learned early on that one has to listen to the coach and work hard because playing time is not guaranteed. These traits can also be translated into her school life. Soccer has served her a purpose socially, characteristically, and academically. 

“You are not always gonna have good tests, or know everything all the time, so it is your own responsibility to get better at it and get yourself into knowing the concept and excelling,” Misha Yap said. “My biggest takeaways from soccer are owning responsibility and taking initiative.”

While at Caltech, Misha Yap is looking to experience an academically challenging path as well as the possibility of learning more about her culture. She would enjoy taking a class or two to learn more about her father’s Malaysian culture, as she has already established an understanding of her mother’s Japanese culture. Furthermore, she would like to potentially study abroad in a Spanish-speaking country because she has taken Spanish classes for a very long time, from Spanish 1 to AP Spanish literature. Academically Misha turns to Spanish when wanting to learn more about culture, but personally, she would learn more about her Malaysian heritage culture. 

“Never undermine yourself or think that you can’t do it,” Misha Yap said. “Chances are you can. You are just blocked by your mind. Once you put yourself in that position it’s hard to get out of it.”

SHARE
Previous articleNewJeans
Next articleMen’s Varsity Volleyball