SEAN
PAO
Sean Pao is a student at Phillips Academy, who resides in Hong Kong. He is a rising upper, with a mixed Japanese and Cantonese background. His favorite subjects are Religious Studies and Maths. Outside of Class he enjoys swimming and running competitively. Outside of class you may find him in heated debate competitions, creating a website for the academic support at his school, or spreading the word about his mixed heritage. A fun fact about Sean is that he spent two years studying in London, England. He is the Founder of False Positivity and Regional Director of Kids Against Micro Plastics (KAMP).
My Story
One of the most important lessons he has learned growing up is that he should be proud of his self-identity and heritage. Instead of silencing it and trying to create a false reputation to please others, he should embrace it fully. He learnt this during his two years studying at Harrow, an all boys boarding school north of London, which is a traditionally British School. In his attempt to fit in, he hid parts of his identity that didn’t resonate or fit into the norm. Thereby, creating a false facade and reputation of himself, in hopes of pleasing others and gaining social notoriety.
Currently, he is part of the Varsity Swim and his track team at Andover. His main stroke is breaststroke and he swims a 33sec 50m. In track, he is a hurdler, and he runs a 44 second 300m hurdle. He is creating a website that streamlines the academic support system at our school, and he debates competitively. He is also a part of the Mixed Community Mentorship Program (MCMP), an affinity group at our school that aims to spread awareness about growing up mixed heritage. In the future, he wants to learn more about economics and business. He is very excited to make the most of this summer developing projects, attending conferences, and engaging in new academic endeavors.
He founded False Positivity as a platform to empower youth to work together and confront the critical importance of cybersecurity, and designed the nine-step SAFEGUARD framework to realise youth empowerment. On KAMP, he recognizes the damage microplastics is causing from both a people and planet health perspective, and he wishes to use his voice to advocate for stronger awareness and public policy from public and private sectors to address this pollution issue.
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He wants to attend a great university to develop strong relationships with like minded and high achieving students. Looking forward, he wants to have the opportunities to learn under the best professors, and to dive deeper and learn more about my current passions. In his future career, he wants to be doing something that he is genuinely passionate about. He wants to be surrounded by people who enjoy their career, work hard. Simply put, he wants to do something that he would be happy doing for the rest of his life while making a positive impact.