2024 Outstanding Young Citizens
will be announced Thursday, April 25!
Congratulations to our 2024 Outstanding Young Citizens.
Collin Wang
North Allegheny Senior High School, 12
Parent(s)/Guardian(s):
Mei Song
Academic Achievement
DECA International Finalist – top 10/400+ in the STDM event against top competition / 2x PA State Champion, Recipient – 2 Years
National Speech & Debate Association Academic All-American / Harvard National Tournament Double-Octofinalist (Top 32/230 Public Forum teams) / 2x State 4th Place in Extemp Commentary, Recipient – 2 Years
Pittsburgh Data Jam 1st Place – won award for research studying socioeconomic factors’ impact on student standardized test scores & presented to Google’s data science team, Member – 1 Year
Coca-Cola Scholars Semifinalist / National Merit Finalist / AP Scholar with Distinction, Recipient – 1 Year
PMEA District & Honors Orchestra Violinist, Member – 1 Year
Extracurricular Activities
Speech & Debate – communicate important information to 100+ members of our Top 20 ranked team in the nation, instruct students and create curriculum in Extemp Speaking, President, Extemp Speaking Event Leader, Middle School Program Director – 4 Years
DECA – helped raise $10,000 for our state charity, organized district conference for 300 competitors, helped recruit 100+ new members for our chapter, PA State Officer, Chapter VP of Communications, Director of Finance – 3 Years
Varsity Golf – led team to first playoff appearance since 2015, named Team MVP, assisted our coach in practice and during matches, Captain – 4 Years
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Club – taught students about AI concepts and hosted guest speakers who are professionals in the field, President – 2 Years
Pittsburgh Forensics Institute – registered 100 students for a city-wide speech and debate summer camp and raised $14,000+ for our school program, Co-Executive Director – 2 Years
Community Involvement
Bank of America Student Leader – interned at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh to assist with summer camps and administrative work (organization reports, research projects, presentations), Education Intern – 1 Year
New Voters – conduct research projects on youth civic engagement (Lead author of case study on PA HS civic resources, Co-author of paper on youth political polarization, taught part of a research summer camp, etc.), mentored fellows nationwide to run voter registration drives, researched 40+ bills to create a legislation database, registered 300+ peers through school-based voting drives, Research Assistant, Policy Intern, Mentor – 3 Years
The First Tee – taught the basic skills of golf to 100+ kids aged 6-14, Assistant Coach – 3 Years
Allegheny County Student Poll Worker – assisted roughly 1500 voters in casting their ballots and exercising their civic duty, established a Student Poll Worker program at school and recruited 19 volunteers to serve, Volunteer – 2 Years
Panera Bread McCandless – addressed customer needs, prepared sandwiches, soups, and salads, checked correctness of orders, Retail Team Associate – 2 Years
Plans
After graduating from North Allegheny, I hope to study public policy and data science in college. These two fields have long interested me: I love trying to find ways to solve social science problems through the use of technology and data. Therefore I want to pursue a career that combines knowledge from both. Ideally, I see myself delving further into policy research in the government or at a nonprofit think tank, aiding in informing policymakers of potential solutions to pressing issues.