Our Team

Sandy Zhao

Founder

I am Sandy, currently a first year at Queen’s University studying Health Sciences. I am super proud of what Inthinking Youth Club has accomplished in the past and I am excited to be working with our team in continuing to serve the community and extending our reach to those in need.

Aaliyah Chen

President

Aaliyah Chen is currently a Grade 12 IB student at Western Canada High School. An interest in everything within the humanities, she’ll talk about anything from literature to law. She’s currently a debate executive and the editor-in-chief for the Western Wire, Western Canada High School’s newspaper. Outside of school, Aaliyah is an accomplished mock trial competitor with a variety of accolades, most recently winning the Dominion 2023 Varsity Cup. Between school and extracurriculars, you’ll likely find her pouring over one of the various books in her collection.

Luke Xiu

Vice President

Luke is a Grade 12 IB Diploma student at Sir Winston Churchill High School. With top marks in his academic cohorts, he is passionate about spreading his joy for learning to others in his community. Luke was selected for the 2023 Alberta Innovates HYRS Program, where he conducted frontline research on coronaviruses at the University of Calgary and now serves as a member of one of the university’s most esteemed virology laboratories. He frequently participates in the CYSF and other science-oriented competitions, winning numerous awards for his accomplishments, including a recent gold medal at the Canadian Biology Olympiad. Outside academics, Luke engages in public speaking, where he has won several awards for his prose and impromptu speeches. Currently, he serves as the president of the Sir Winston Churchill Interact Club, a community service initiative sponsored by the humanitarian organization Rotary International. He enjoys spending his free time on fine arts such as reading and playing the piano and is also an avid basketball player. Luke looks forward to using his experience to help you succeed!

Sarah Wang

Vice President

Sarah is currently a grade 12 full IB student at Western Canada High School. Academically, she particularly enjoys exploring biology and chemistry. Sarah is also passionate about contributing to the school community and is an active member of the band program, as well as a multitude of clubs. Outside of school, she can be found reading, baking, or volunteering through things like donating unsold food from bakeries to shelters, community centres, and food banks. As a result, she has received multiple Citizenship Recognition Awards. Sarah is very excited to connect with and share her experiences with others!

Ethan Xie

Vice President

Ethan is a Grade 12 partial IB student at Western Canada High School taking math, biology, chemistry and Chinese IB. Academically, he loves to explore math and all three sciences. Outside of school, Ethan spends most of his time training as a competitive swimmer, achieving the top 50 in Canada in the 15-year-old age group in 2022 for the 50-meter backstroke event. He also boasts 4 club records in his swim club along with many medals including a gold medal from provincial championships. In addition to this, Ethan has also completed his level 10 piano, history and theory from the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) along with many scholarships from the Calgary Performing Arts Festival (CPAF). In his spare time, Ethan likes to paint and participate in numerous different outdoor activities.

Joey Zhang

Vice President

Joey Zhang is a grade 12 student at Sir Winston Churchill High School. Loving to learn, he is enrolled in the IB Diploma programme there. He also seeks to further this interest outside of school, such as through summer pre-college programs, or through competing in various contests. In addition to learning, he is also involved in helping others foster knowledge and interest in learning, tutoring with Schoolhouse.world and working to expand youth-led learning organizations. As the Director of Outreach at the student-led organization Rocky Mountain Science, he has obtained partnerships with large entities such as the Princeton Review and the Government of Canada. However, his interest is not limited to the scholarly; Joey loves to play badminton, and coaches regularly in addition to being the reigning Division 1 Grade 10 CSHSAA singles Badminton Champion.

Binhang Zhu

Director

Binhang Zhu is currently a fourth year student in the Medical Sciences Undergraduate Program at Western University. He has been a volunteer since he was in Grade 7. He volunteered as a TA in Chinese school when he was studying there. He worked as a Team Leader at the Calgary Public Library for kids’ math, computer, and reading programs, and also as a Coordinator at Ecssen Career School in the donation distribution program. He loves math, physics and chemistry and has won several awards during his study in high school and university. He enjoys teaching physics at Inthinking Youth Clubs. He loves to share his knowledge and experience with young students in class, and help them get more knowledge in physics and become more interested in science. In his spare time, Binhang likes playing badminton and piano. He would like to help his students be successful in the future.

Katherine Ni

Director

Katherine Ni is a Grade 11 student at MidSun School, and will be attending IB at Henry Wise Wood High School this fall. She likes all subjects in school, with a preference for science and humanities. In her free time she likes to play chess, Go, and piano. Katherine volunteers for the Baptistic online organization as a piano teacher, and also participates in her school’s Linkages Program. She has received several certificates for CEMC competitions, and has won 3rd in the under 14 Kiwanis Music Festival in St. Johns, Newfoundland. Outside of school, Katherine enjoys swimming, skiing, and playing badminton.

Jiabei (Barry) Luo

Director

Barry is a Grade 11 IB student at Sir Winston Churchill High School that takes joy in going beyond school level and exploring new concepts. In the past few years, he has been actively involved in a multitude of activities such as math, debate, piano, MUN, table tennis, in addition to many others, receiving awards for his efforts. Serving as an executive at his school’s Bio/Chem Club, Barry enjoys sharing the joy of the natural sciences with his peers. As for leisurely activities, he loves to read novels, particularly science fiction and philosophy. To give back to his community, he volunteers at senior homes, as well as leading youth events to further youth engagement in the sciences. Barry is looking forward to working with you in the near future!

Jeffany Jiang

Director

Jeffany is a grade 11 IB student at Sir Winston Churchill High School. She enjoys writing math contests, having earned recognition in several of them, including Waterloo’s Gauss, Pascal, Fryer, and U of C’s CJHMC. Jeffany is also a very dedicated piano player. She is currently working her way up Trinity College’s piano diplomas, and plans to take piano as a second profession in the future. Piano isn’t the only aspect of music she appreciates. Jeffany is a clarinet player in her school band, and her Spotify is always streaming when she’s at home. She is also an active member in her school community, attending many clubs and organizations to offer her help wherever possible. During her free time, Jeffany can be found obsessing over the latest book she has discovered or taking up a new hobby.

Joanna Yin

Director

Joanna is a Grade 11 full IB student at Western Canada Highschool. She is a hard working student and enjoys learning at the fullest. Outside of school she partakes in a variety of extracurricular activities like Math, Chinese, and Violin. Her favorite subjects to learn about are Biology, Chemistry and Math. She has placed number 1 in her school Fryer math contest and achieved top five in many other contests like Gauss. During her spare time she enjoys coding, listening to music and hanging out with friends and family. She loves to help others and is incredibly excited to work with everyone!

Yichen Liu

Director

Yichen Liu is a Grade 12 Full IB Student at Western Canada High School. Academically, he spends his efforts towards mathematics, computer science, and other logical pursuits, placing in several high school CEMC mathematics competitions hosted by the University of Waterloo. Yichen has competed in various programming competitions, currently silver division in the USACO, and won second place with his team in the 2022 Alberta Collegiate Programming Contest held at the University of Calgary against other university and high school students. In his spare time, Yichen enjoys working on personal projects using code, and occasionally sifting through new music for his spotify playlists.

Wade Jiang

Director

Wade is a grade 11 full IB student at Western Canada Highschool. He is a student who loves math and strives to keep improving. Outside of school, Wade has completed ARCT piano, ARCT history, ARCT melody and counterpoint, and continues to play guitar recreationally. In middle school, he was often asked to have solo performances at school events. Additionally, he has recently finished an engineering internship over the summer. Wade is also a very active member in his school clubs, being an exec for speech club. Wade does everything he loves all while working at a piano studio twice a week. During his free time, Wade can always be expected trying to learn a new Chopin piece.

Grant Li

Director

Grant is a Grade 11 IB student at Western Canada High School. He is interested in STEM-oriented subjects including all sciences and math. He has also won several awards including the Scholastic Excellence Award in school as well as other contest awards. He enjoys volunteering and working with others which has led him to be a part of the Biology Olympiad Club at Western and to help at the City of Calgary Summer Camps and the Calgary Public Library. As a coordinator for ECSSEN Career School’s Youth Leadership Program, he also wishes to share his skills with others and help them develop important skills for the future. In his free time, he enjoys playing sports such as tennis and hanging out with friends.

Allen Guo-Lu

Director

Allen is a Grade 10 IB student at Western Canada High School. In June 2023, he placed 1st on the CJHMC from the University of Calgary, and was the provincial top scorer and national medalist in several math contests like Kangaroo Canada and CEMC, with honours in AHSMC Part II and many more. He frequently strives for excellence, with math and science subject awards from the GATE program, and is always ready to learn more in every subject, from physics to computer science. Aside from years of math tutoring experience, during his spare time, he loves to play volleyball, badminton, tenor saxophone, RCM piano, and many more fun activities. Allen always strives to help, inspire, and illuminate passion in younger students, and is looking forward to working with you to achieve your dreams in the future!