Fourth-year Lukun Zhang is a prominent figure on campus, due to her extensive experience with various leadership roles. She is the president of the Chinese Undergraduate Student Assocation (CUSA) and Pi Beta Phi (one of four Panhellenic sororities on campus), majoring in Economics as a pre-med, and still manages to find downtime to spend with friends. We recently sat down with Lukun to discuss her involvements on campus and how they have shaped her experiences in the College.
Name: Lukun Zhang
Hometown: Tianjin, China & Shaker Heights, Ohio. I can’t decide on which one to call my home since I’ve lived pretty much half my life in one and half in the other. I think if you actually average the two cities by map coordinates, you will land somewhere in the ocean… I guess statistics doesn’t always work out to your liking.
Major(s): Economics
Minor(s): Biology
HC (Her Campus): What are you involved with on campus?
LZ (Lukun Zhang): Chinese Undergraduate Student Association (CUSA), Pi Beta Phi, Research Assistant in Somatosensory and Neuroprosthetics Lab
HC: Why are you involved with these organizations?
LZ: I am involved in CUSA because I love sharing the culture that I grew up in with the campus community. We host study breaks, Chinese New Year celebrations, and a big annual culture show. Through CUSA, I have found a close family of board members and have even gotten a chance to mentor some of the younger members. Being a part of Pi Beta Phi on campus has been such an enriching experience. I think that my Pi Phi sisters have really helped me find my voice as a leader in the chapter and I am so impressed by how much we have grown as the youngest chapter on campus. In Pi Phi, I have met some of the most diverse and passionate girls and they continue to inspire me each day.
HC: What has your favorite experience been at UChicago thus far?
LZ: Making over 1000 dumplings for Chinese New Year with CUSA! We bought 10 bags of frozen dumplings in case our lofty ambitions disastrously failed but in the end, we just went for the kill. In my humble opinion, CUSA should now be qualified to run a pop-up dumpling parlor.
HC: What are your plans for the future?
LZ: Discover the next trendy food item that all the hip bloggers are going to rave about. Perhaps a mini-cronut sandwiched by macarons, stuffed inside a cupcake? Think turducken but for desserts?