A neuroscience paper, a children’s story, a translated newsletter, and a handwritten card ask different things of their readers. Jeemin Park’s work moves among all four, bringing an interest in how people think into the practical work of helping people understand one another.
Jeemin attends Crean Lutheran High School in Irvine, California, where she is a member of the Class of 2027. Her academic interests center on biological and medical anthropology, neuroscience, human development, and health education. Across her research, writing, and service, she returns to questions about attention and communication: how a scientific explanation becomes meaningful to a family, how a lesson becomes understandable to a younger student, and how language can help people participate in a community.
Her independent study of ADHD gives these questions a scientific foundation. In a 14-page structured literature review, Jeemin compared eight empirical studies of the default mode network, examining differences in participants, task demands, incentives, and medication. She built comparison tables to work through contrasting findings and methodological limitations, paying particular attention to the distinction between an association and evidence of causation. Revising the manuscript after mentor feedback and presenting a poster at a school event gave her opportunities to explain both what she had learned and what remained uncertain.
At the Boz Institute, she approached biological questions through data. During a ten-week research program in summer 2025, she independently learned R and worked with principal component analysis, hierarchical clustering, and DESeq2 in RNA-seq analysis. In a separate investigation, she used a two-proportion z-test to compare BRCA1/2 mutation frequencies. She documented her methods, results, and limitations in a reproducible analysis notebook and presented her findings at the program symposium. Together, these experiences strengthened her interest in the choices behind a result: the question being asked, the comparison being made, and the conclusions the evidence can support.
Writing offers Jeemin another way to explore those questions. As the author and illustrator of The Mina Series, she creates children’s stories about differences in attention and learning, using characters and visual storytelling to help young readers consider their own experiences and those of others. Her science-writing work also includes More Than Just Focus, an illustrated book for teenagers about attention, ADHD, and brain networks, with a Korean family companion. These projects bring scientific ideas to audiences whose questions and reading needs differ from those of a research paper.
Her developing manuscript, Attention Across Borders: ADHD, Migration, and Belonging in Orange County, extends that inquiry into anthropology. Drawing on published research and public institutional materials, it explores the relationship between attention, cultural expectations, Korean-language communication, and access to support. Its focus on Orange County connects broad questions about migration with the schools and institutions families encounter locally. The manuscript is a literature-based inquiry; proposed interviews and reader feedback remain future work.
Jeemin’s volunteer tutoring at the Boys & Girls Club of Irvine places communication in an immediate, practical setting. Supporting younger students with mathematics and science homework, she uses worked examples, visual models, and guided practice to make problems more manageable. Her work emphasizes problem-solving strategies and consistent study habits. It also gives her a setting in which the clarity of an explanation matters as much as knowing the answer.
Through Letters with Love, which she founded in 2024, Jeemin has brought volunteers together around a different kind of communication. The initiative has involved more than 25 volunteers in producing and delivering over 1,200 handmade cards to six senior centers and two children’s hospitals. Her responsibilities extend beyond making cards to recruiting, training, scheduling, and coordinating deliveries. She developed a volunteer guide and prepared two student successors, giving the project a structure that can continue beyond her own participation.
As president of MEDesign, she connects writing and design with health education. Working with more than ten members, she has led projects supporting eye-health education for Cambodian children and families. The team’s eight bilingual resources include an illustrated children’s book, three pamphlets, and four posters, reviewed by eye-care professionals and an English-Khmer reviewer. Two fundraisers raised $1,200, and 200 printed copies were distributed through a Cambodian community partner. The work involves coordinating different kinds of expertise so that educational materials are understandable and appropriate for their audience.
Language access is also central to her participation in Crean Lutheran’s Translation Club. Jeemin has translated 75 weekly school newsletters into Korean, helping families follow announcements and school information. She developed a 30-term glossary and reference guide for future translators, attending to meaning, accuracy, and tone. Like the volunteer guide for Letters with Love, this resource makes part of her work usable by the people who follow her.
Other service commitments give her opportunities to contribute through hands-on work. With Labdoo, she has refurbished 15 donated laptops through hardware cleaning, operating-system installation, and secure data removal, and helped train two volunteers in the process. With OC Seed Harvest, she has collected and processed native plant seeds for habitat restoration and wildfire recovery, working with material from five native species. Both activities involve careful preparation for a use that comes later, whether a computer reaching a classroom or seeds supporting a restored habitat.
At school, Jeemin continues to explore clinical science, medical ethics, and patient-care simulations through the Medical Cohort, including a team case presentation. Preparation for the Irvine Brain Bee has expanded her independent study of neuroanatomy, cognition, and neurological disease. Dance brings another dimension to her school life: as a member of the varsity hip-hop competition team, she rehearses, develops technique and musicality, and helps teammates refine routines. It is a commitment to shared timing and practice, as well as a creative interest in its own right.
Her academic record includes a 4.00 unweighted GPA, a 4.61 weighted GPA, and a 35 ACT composite. She earned scores of 5 on the AP Calculus BC and AP Chemistry exams, and her senior coursework spans statistics, literature, physics, government, economics, environmental science, medical assisting, and Spanish. Her recognitions include a Scholastic Art & Writing Awards National Silver Medal in Critical Essay, a Regional Gold Key in Illustration, AP Scholar with Distinction, the President’s Volunteer Service Award—Gold, and school Distinguished Scholar and Principal’s Honor Roll distinctions. She is also a member of the National Honor Society.
Across these commitments, Jeemin is developing a practice that joins careful study with clear communication. Research gives her ways to question an explanation; writing and illustration give her ways to share it; translation, tutoring, and service ask her to consider the person receiving it. She hopes to continue exploring how biology and culture shape human experience while creating work that other people can understand and use.