It's Summer!

After powering through my last week of finals, I've finally finished my freshman year at the Johns Hopkins University. It's kind of hard to believe how fast a year has gone by. 


Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus in the Summer

While I can't wait for whatever awaits me next year, for now I'm going to celebrate the fact that it's finally Summer!

Officially a sophomore! I'm really excited but at the same time, a little terrified.

Let me introduce myself, I'm Austin, rising sophomore, and recently declared Public Health Studies Major. Home is in Holmdel, NJ, but Baltimore is definitely like my home away from home. On campus, I am the Marketing Chair for the JHU Chapter of United Innoworks Academy, the Cultural Chair for Taiwanese American Students Association, and on the Operations Staff for the JHU Model United Nations Conference. It's hard to believe that so muich has happened in just one year, but even more so, that not too long ago I was where most of you were, getting ready to come to Hopkins for Pre-College.

Back in the Summer of 2011, I decided to apply to Discover Hopkins and take Health and the Urban Environment. To this day, I'm still glad that I chose to take that class because we had discussions that I didn't have the opportunity to have in my high school classes. Our course covered food access, water quality issues, urban redevelopment, human movement patters, and how they all related to disparities in health quality. We took walking tours of different Baltimore neighborhoods and even got to work with Habitat for Humanity in Sandtown. I really enjoyed my experience with Discover Hopkins and it really helped me see that Public Health was a real career path for me. I hope you all enjoy your Pre-College experiences, whether you're in Discover Hopkins, getting to visit the Johns Hopkins Hospital, or in Summer University getting to live and learn with great friends for the whole summer.


Discover Hopkins: Health and the Urban Environment, 2011 Session 1 Class Picture

As for me, this Summer I'll be taking a course here at Hopkins during Term I as well as working with the Office of Summer Programs. If you see me around, definitely feel free to say hi. I'd really like to get to know you guys and talk to you more about Johns Hopkins. I'm really excited for this summer and everything it has in store. I'll be posting on this blog every week so definitely stay tuned!