Annie Shen is the child of immigrant parents from China. She is the only daughter and the second oldest in her family. Shen is a first-generation high school graduate and will be the second to graduate from college in her immediate family.

Shen seems to have it all. She balances work, creating music and building community while baking for family and friends. She also loves tennis whenever she has time to play.

Shen has been a manager for years in the restaurant industry. Acknowledging her father’s influence on her life, she speaks of him proudly.

“My father immigrated to the United States after a spontaneous suggestion by his restaurant customer, convinced that opportunity was inherent to change. When he arrived in America, he found fortune in the simultaneous presence of transition and labor. He began in the restaurant industry, then to owning his own business…”

Shen carries a GPA of 4.64. This enterprising young woman has been accepted at multiple colleges; Berkeley, CU Boulder, University of Denver, and Case Western Reserve University. She hasn’t decided which one to attend yet.

A counselor at Pine Creek High School describes her declaring, “Annie is that student who brings hope and joy to our world.”

Shen speaks 3 languages — English, Cantonese, and Spanish.

“I aim to receive diverse cultures and diminish cultural barriers in the medical field,” said Shen, when discussing her acquisition of additional languages.

“Our minds are the cornerstones of our identities. In protecting our core values, I aspire to promote growth, diversity, and comfort within and beyond my current communities. As I further this pursuit in university, I am eager to expand my own awareness of the values which enrich people’s lives and fuel our collective hunger for increased connection, resolve and ingenuity.”

Surprisingly, in her application for the Best and the Brightest, Shen described her personality as introverted, independent, and indifferent just a few years ago.

Shen says that it was during a trip to China, in the home of her grandparents, that a game of Mahjong would change both her life and perspective. She described her epiphany through the game like this:

“I immersed myself in a game deeply rooted in my family traditions. I held onto and valued my original set of tiles — my introversion, independence, and indifference toward new involvement. I had never considered exchanging these tiles for alternates — yet as I prevailed in the game, risk slowly lulled my apprehension.”

“I discarded my stubborn independence. I abandoned my indifference to my surroundings and in exchange drew the tile of spontaneity … With my original foundations and interests, I sequenced new additions to my collection through the understanding of new perspectives.”

Both the outcome of the game and her change of heart come down to the tiles she ends the game with.

“My collection of tiles, epitomizing prudent spontaneity, sits on a comfortable velvet lining; I now rest assured in my complementary capacities to remain cautious and to take a gamble.”

That willingness to take a risk is shown in Shen’s decision to change schools during her senior year. Although she just transferred in to Pine Creek High School she has already started to make a mark. Among those singing her praises is college career counselor Stephanie Cornello.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to know and work with Annie even in the short time she has been a PCHS student,” said Cornello, “because she makes our community a better place!”