Joyce Zhou is a student at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois. She is a highly involved member of her community and has a strong commitment to empowering youth as a means of redefining tenacity and creating sustainable change. From leading STEM camps and diversity campaigns to establishing citywide action and discourse around climate justice, Joyce has taken impactful steps to humanize the effects of pollution and to highlight the many different faces of environmental degradation through solidarity, empathy, and storytelling.
As a passionate writer, Joyce’s work has been nationally recognized and awarded by The New York Times, Princeton University, The Poetry Society in collaboration with the National Maritime Museum, Teen Vogue, Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, and The Hippocrates Writing and Medicine Awards among others. Joyce believes in writing generously, and she views her words as a poignant platform for individuals of all backgrounds to build a wider and deeper awareness of the natural environment that permeates our lives and the world. Her writing and volunteer initiatives have been able to open doors for both vitality and hope to take root and flourish in at-risk communities, and she hopes to make even greater impacts through her work with SustainUS towards a more vibrant and green future.
