MERIL MOUSOOM: The thing that I want to study is not really common for Asian-Americans. My first priority in a major is actually race and ethnicity and that's like the thing I'm most passionate about. My parents think that I'm going to do pre-law. They’re immigrants. They were like “Oh yeah, you should go to law school.” But I'm not going to.
HAYLEY ZHAO, BYLINE: Meril Mousoom, student activist at Stuyvesant.
MOUSOOM: I think in a lot of ways I'm atypical. I think when I was eight, activist is like my dream. I did a lot of like bake sales within my homeroom. And then I raised a lot of money for like charitable causes. I think that was when, okay. I want to be a leader. I don't just want to read the news. I want to be a part of the news, you know, and like be a part of all the political action that is happening. And I think I'm really proud to be a part of, like a lot of political change as a young person. I think that really empowers me to become an activist.
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