Jacklyn Wei wants to make a difference in her community.

As a Hillcrest High senior, the International Baccalaureate diploma candidate is co-president of the nonprofit Compost Utah, outreach director of the nonprofit Mission Math and is a service committee member of the Sandy Youth Council.

She also volunteers with Chinese Association of Science and Technology, is the Future Business Leaders of America’s state executive vice president, her school’s Earth Club co-president, tennis team co-captain, National Honors Society member and a National Merit semifinalist.

In spring of her junior year, after writing nine essays, Wei was selected as one of three Utah students to be part of the Bank of America Student Leaders program. More than 60 Utah high school students applied to be part of the 300-student national program.

After reviewing applications, the Bank of America Student Leaders program selects juniors or seniors in good academic standing. The students attend a national Student Leader Summit in July where they learn how nonprofit organizations, governments and businesses collaborate to meet local needs. They also take part in an eight-week internship, 35 hours per week, at a local nonprofit or charitable organization.

“We spent a week in D.C. this summer where talked to Mitt Romney and John Curtis to find out more about what we, as young activists, can do to make a difference,” she said.

Wei learned to see issues around her from other people’s perspectives and to network with others.

“We learned if we educate ourselves about political issues going on right now, and reach out to one another, we can make a difference within our own communities,” she said.

When Wei thinks of a community specific to her, it’s the chess community. She learned to play at before-school chess team practices at Peruvian Park Elementary, competing regularly in weekend tournaments. She continues to play and compete to this day.

Wei started a nonprofit, Chess United, soon after the pandemic.

“During COVID, the chess community died so I’ve been raising money to fund more school and library chess clubs,” she said. “After talking to John Curtis, I realized there’s more that I can do. So, I started up a few more chess clubs and donated more money.”

Wei also said Florida’s U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, who is an alumnus of the Bank of America Student Leaders program, encouraged her.

“He said young people have the power to do whatever they want in today’s world. He inspired me to get even more involved. He said to ‘not let your ambition cloud your passion and continue doing what you love.’ And I really do love chess, so I’ve been continuing doing that,” she said.

Chess United has hosted some free Utah Chess Association tournaments to increase chess participation. Money raised from other tournaments has been used to buy chess club chess sets for schools and clubs as well as for the Utah Chess Association and to provide tournament fee waivers.

Wei also returns to Peruvian Park to help players learn the game at her former school.

“It was there where I got better and better and grew to love playing. I’m wanting to pay it forward so I’m going to coach there every other week,” she said, adding last spring, she also helped with the elementary chess state championship.

Actor Chris Evans spoke to the student leaders about the nonprofit he began called, A Starting Point.

“It was super cool, because he’s a famous actor, but he’s still involved in the community getting young people to vote,” Wei said.

The student leaders attended workshops based on their interests.

“I’m passionate about the environment, so I participated in a workshop where we drafted a policy on how we could decrease carbon emissions. We learned how to draft a policy and discussed about how each of us can make an impact. It was inspiring to hear what other student leaders are doing,” she said. 

The group also held a mock Congress and debated a bill about the government aiding homelessness.

“We spoke about it in committee, then it was brought to the floor and debated. It was cool to see public policy and action at the high school level,” Wei said.

During the week, the student leaders made posters and cards for Special Olympians and played games and did activities with them as a way to give to the D.C. community.

As part of the program, Wei volunteered with STEM Utah, helping at pop-up booths to teach educational games to young children.

“We would set up activities in a park for 50 to 100 kids and we’d play math or STEM games. I taught them binary code and we’d make binary bracelets. We’d also talk to the parents about the importance of math and STEM at a young age,” she said.

Wei realizes the Bank of America Student Leaders program helped her gain leadership skills and a clear vision.

“Before the program, I never had much of an interest in politics. I took AP (Advanced Placement) gov(ernment), but I still didn’t have much exposure. This summer, I learned so much about policy and what we can do as policymakers,” she said. “I realized I can do more. I’ve learned leadership through my positions with different organizations and clubs. I learned with my chess nonprofit, the vision was on the small scale; I started it because I wanted to help the chess community. Now, I learned I can do anything to improve our community that I put my mind to, and I’m inspired to do as much as I can.” λ