Erin Ye didn’t let the Covid-19 pandemic interfere with her plans for a summer filled with intellectual growth. The Huntington High School junior participated in a remote internship through the University of Michigan’s Dept. of Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience.
“The project looked at Spanish-English adjective noun code switches in large corpora, which are when bilingual speakers switch between languages in conversations,” Ms. Ye said. “We wanted to see what kind of pairs were most common in conversation and which kinds were most psychologically acceptable for bilingual speakers. I helped with data analysis and coding by finding code switches in transcripts.”
Huntington High School junior Erin Ye
The Huntington junior also looked at the bilingual fluency of those who participated in the study. “It was a really great experience that showed me that I want to continue with linguistics related research in the future,” Ms. Ye said.
The teenager said she is “very excited” to be taking Advanced Placement Computer Science.
“Since it’s a new class this year that should be very interesting and unique,” Ms. Ye said. “I’m also excited to take AP Calculus BC this year to challenge myself and I’ve always enjoyed being part of Huntington’s orchestra, science research and Latin programs.”
An exceptional scholar and all-around very involved student, Ms. Ye is remaining positive even in the midst of a worldwide public health crisis. She sees the day as partly sunny, not partly cloudy.
“Even though things this year are going to be run differently, I’m still looking forward to being involved in student government as class secretary, being editor of our school newspaper and the fundraising and event coordinator of the Science National Honor Society,” Ms. Ye said. “All of these groups are still planning on coming together and hosting some sort of events to keep community spirit positive”
The junior is also performing an impressive community service. “I’ve been offering tutoring through Zoom to elementary school age children in a variety of subjects for free, since I know it’s been hard for some to have access to academic resources,” Ms. Ye said. “Although the sports season has been rescheduled to start next year, I am still looking forward to being part of the cross country and track teams, as my teammates are some of my favorite people.”
Ms. Ye is currently looking at Stanford University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Michigan, Purdue University and Duke University. “I’m interested in studying cognitive science and linguistics in college and possibly minoring in classics,” she said. “I would love to work as a researcher or as a professor, but I’m not entirely set on a career.”