Hana Yoo is a recent graduate of the Boston Latin School whose family is moving from Jamaica Plain to Chicago this summer. In the fall she will attend the University of Chicago, where she plans to major in English or history. After college she will either directly pursue a career in journalism or take a detour to graduate school. Eventually, she hopes to become a print journalist.
While at Boston Latin, which she entered as a 9-B student, Hana participated in a variety of activities. In her senior year, she contributed to the three main school publications, Argo, Register, and Yearbook, as A&E Editor of the Argo, Editor in Chief of the spring issue of the Register, and Senior Portraits and Profiles Editor of the Yearbook, in keeping with her passion for writing. A lover of music prone to bursting spontaneously into song in the shower, on the train, or walking down the street, Hana served as Alto Section Leader of Concert Choir Show Choir, as well as a member of the Wolfettes, a female a cappella group, Show Choir, and Gospel Choir. She was also involved in Peer Players, a Shakespeare performance group, National Honor Society, peer tutoring in her first two years of high school, Public Declamation, and speech team as co-captain
Outside of school Hana took piano lessons for seven years, was active in church, and tried her hand as a Befriender with the Samariteens, a teen suicide hotline. Depression awareness and suicide prevention are issues about which Hana cares a great deal. In her free time Hana reads, watches movies and attends shows, catches up on lost sleep, spends time with friends and family, and wastes a ridiculous amount of time on the Internet. She has a 14-year-old sister, Christine, who will be a freshman at Northside Preparatory High School in the Chicago suburbs this coming year.
A believer in the power of the written word to connect with people and mobilize them into positive action, Hana aspires to be a journalist to seek out – and report – the truth. After taking Facing History and Ourselves her senior year, Hana realized that ordinary people often turn away from the horrific actions of others with fear or indifference. Thus, she refuses to be a bystander; though she hates confrontations, she will join the fray. As a journalist, Hana will speak up and speak out about the inequities and flaws she sees around her, “giving voice to the voiceless”.
Hana’s sponsor is Robert Turner, the Boston Globe’s Assistant Editorial Page Editor.