Right leg in front of left. Left leg in front of right. As the chilling breeze whistles through and blows her hair past her face, she pumps her arms and breathes heavily. In. Out. In. Out. Stopping to rest for only a few seconds, she swivels open her water bottle and enjoys a sip of the cool, refreshing drink before once again pushing forth on her journey. The sun emerges from behind the clouds, casting a luminescence upon her reinvigorated expression of excitement. Eileen Li (12) derives energy from her morning runs.

Unbeknownst to many, Eileen enjoys running. She runs for fun by herself, for cross-country or with her father. Running holds a special place for Eileen as she is able to marinate and reflect upon the previous day’s experiences.

“Sometimes the night before, I’ll be working on code. And then the next morning when I run, I can ruminate over that. It really helps me think and calm down,” Eileen said. 

Running also gives Eileen an avenue to push herself outside her boundaries. 

“It’s really helped me learn to step outside of my comfort zone and be determined and hardworking,” she said.  

On a whim two years ago, Eileen and her dad ran a half marathon together, which gradually developed into a regular bonding occurrence. They came up with a training plan and followed a strict regiment for the summer. Eileen emphasizes her gratefulness for her bonding time with her dad and the tradition that they developed. 

“At first I was like, ‘Oh, these early morning runs are terrible,’ but through the middle I actually started enjoying them because I used to run before going to my research lab. It’s a nice way to just open up my mind at the beginning of the day,” she said.

Reflecting on her own personality, Eileen admitted that she is a procrastinator, but running has helped her develop the mindset to deal with this challenge.

“I feel like from running I gained the mindset that even though, inevitably, there’s always going to be challenges, I feel like the best way to tackle them is just to dive in and just do it,” she said. 

A dedicated STEM student, passionate about programming and research, Eileen is actively involved in the programming club at school. Eileen endeavors to spread female interest in STEM subjects due to the existing gender divide. 

“Even at a place like Harker, in Silicon Valley in general, as you go higher in CS classes, there’s still a clear divide between the amount of boys and girls in the classes,” Eileen said. 

In order to equalize the playing field, Eileen co-founded her own nonprofit organization outside of school called Girls Programming League (GPL); she spends her weekends teaching girls how to code, inspiring confidence and fostering a mutual love for computer science and STEM. 

Eileen is determined to address important issues like gender imbalance and drive change that impacts many lives. 

“The root causes of an issue like gender imbalance and STEM subjects isn’t really something you can put your finger on. You’re not exactly sure what the root causes are, but I feel one important way we can combat the issue is to just sprout encouragement and just encourage girls that they are also as good as guys,” she said. 

Eileen’s desire to impact the lives of young females is driven by the impact that her family has left upon her. She and her younger sister Victoria Li (5) are very close despite being seven years apart. Contrary to Victoria’s bold and free-spirited nature, Eileen is more cautious and structured. 

“It’s an interesting dynamic, but I feel we really complement each other, and we both learn from each other,” she said. 

Not only does Eileen help Victoria by teaching her math and other academics, but she also focuses on teaching her important life skills such as being herself and undertaking her own path, one that she will truly enjoy.

Eileen’s Computer Architecture teacher Marina Peregrino advises Eileen to embrace her love of learning and hold onto that attitude in the future.

“Eileen definitely worked very hard, and she found fun in the work and loved to learn … I would advise her to hang onto that sense of fun and learning because it makes [life] a lot easier. You can either drag yourself through that or [find joy],” Peregrino said.

Eileen’s parents have instilled in her that lifelong-learner perspective, and they continue to be a source of inspiration. By following her mother’s footsteps who recently enrolled in an art class, Eileen decided to step out of her comfort zone. 

“Both my parents really inspire me, and they’re always willing to learn even though they’re already good at so many things,” Eileen said. “I feel I’ve also tried to take from their strengths, for example, I’ve been trying to push my comfort zones and expand my interests; so this year, I took the leap and signed up for the dance production.”

Eileen is grateful for taking the leap to trying out new things and taking part in unfamiliar activities. 

“Being with other people, being with my friends and being with more experienced dancers, it’s really helped me to just enjoy it and let loose and be comfortable with not being the best at something but still enjoying it,” she said.

Cynthia Chen (12), Eileen’s close friend, describes her personality as “sunny” and “kind.”

“Eileen seems quiet at first, but she has an underappreciated sense of humor, which is something a lot of people might not know. She’s a really easy going person, really open, and she’s super optimistic,” Cynthia said.

Eileen aims to expand upon these aforementioned communication skills in order to ensure that her ideas are heard and further emphasizes her aspirations to break out of the STEM “pigeonhole.”

“I want to broaden my horizons and get in touch more with the humanistic aspects of STEM because you can be the best programmer, best scientist, but at the end of the day, if you want to create change in the world, you’re going to have to communicate your ideas and figure out how they fit into the mosaic of society,” she said.

Catherine Zhao (12) emphasized the aspects of Eileen’s personality that make her an invaluable friend.

“I think that Eileen operates at a level that’s perhaps even elevated in thinking above other people … Especially in the past few years, we’ve spent a lot of late nights together just working on things collaboratively, and I think it’s in these smaller moments where you realize how incredible of a person she is because she’s endlessly supportive, considerate, and extraordinarily hard working – I think these are qualities that are almost impossible to find in other people,” Catherine said.

Whether it be trying a new skill like dance or furthering her interest in a STEM field like computer science, Eileen lives her life by the value of hard work.

“There’s a motto like ‘a large slope can beat out any y-intercept.’ How I interpret it is that it doesn’t matter where you start off, but as long as you work hard and you put your all in, you can go amazing places,” she said.