The Lawrence Hall of Science
The public science center of the University of California, Berkeley.
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High school student and co-founder of The Polyglot Initiative with his brother William
A: I’m Jonathan Zhang, I live in San Francisco, and I use he/him pronouns. I’m a sophomore at San Francisco University High School. I really enjoy science. Since I was a little kid, I frequently visited The Lawrence on weekends to learn. I believe in hands-on experiences that are fun and educational at the same time.
I went to progressive schools that encouraged hands-on learning and class experiences in the field. For example, to learn about salmon and their life cycle, we actually raised salmon in a tank in the classroom. In 7th grade our school taught us about wildfires, since we live in California. We actually built models of forests and burned them down, which was a really cool interactive way to see how wildfires function.
A: I’m always looking for ways to keep learning. One day I was exploring The Lawrence website and noticed a piece written about a Lead Contamination workshop. I signed up for it right away—I was lucky to get in, as the deadline was the next day!
The program ran from October 2024 to January 2025. We first started by learning about lead contamination, learning to read research papers and manuscripts to build our base of knowledge. Then we went into the field to collect hundreds of soil samples from West Oakland to test for lead contamination.
Back in the lab, The Lawrence instructor Jim Neiss-Cortez taught us how to sort data, make spreadsheets, and calculate lead exposure. Then we took what we learned through the data we collected and combined it into a scientific manuscript. The result was an 8-page scientific paper. It was a great experience, my first time writing a formal scientific research paper.
In addition to learning, I really enjoy teaching and sharing what I’ve learned. Jim invited me to serve as a docent during The Lawrence’s STEM Day event celebrating the National Science Foundation. I worked alongside other students as a team to run an exhibit about the program to teach families, kids and parents about our research and why it mattered. Why does lead contamination affect our communities, and how do we move forward with this issue in mind?
I was also invited to serve as a teaching assistant for the same workshop I had taken in the winter. I supported students doing their own research, helped them understand and analyze scientific manuscripts, and traveled with them to collect samples in the field. I used my past experience to revise and improve their research papers.
A: In April of 2025, my younger brother William and I founded our 501c3 nonprofit, the Polyglot Initiative.
There are two main things that the Polyglot does. First, we do multi-lingual story time for kids on our Youtube channel in English, Mandarin, and Spanish. We grew up as bilinguals in English and Mandarin, and we’re learning Spanish through our respective schools. Our story time videos are available on YouTube, Facebook, and our website.
The other part of our work is about advocacy through writing. On our website, we write articles in English about underrepresented topics, a lot of them to do with science. Our articles focus on things our audiences will be interested in, but might not have heard of. For example, I wrote about the benefits of gardening on mental health. William wrote about the benefits of wildfires.
After participating in Lead Contamination program, I wanted to keep sharing what I’d learned. The Polyglot Initiative provided a platform to teach people about lead. I realized that the program was designed for high school students, but some of the most at-risk from these pollutants are younger kids. So I wrote a children’s book called Don’t Eat That Baby Potato, and translated it into English, Spanish, and Mandarin. I wanted to educate about lead contamination but also make it understandable. Children’s books are a great way to do that.
So that’s the main idea behind these books: to help both kids and parents understand this important issue. Because they’re available in the three languages, people around the world can access them. We’re selling the books, but we’re not making any profit on it, it’s only to recoup the cost. We always like to tell people to go download the free e-book available as a PDF for anyone to print!
A: I would attribute a lot of this work and progress to luck. First, my brother and I are great siblings, we get along well. So that was already a very productive step to forming the nonprofit.
I was also really lucky to stumble into the lead contamination program. I didn’t know it existed until I was just browsing the website. While in the program, I got to know Jim well and learned a lot from him. Not just the science content, but also how to be a teacher. Even for high schoolers, this topic can be complicated, so how do you explain it while keeping students engaged?
Mentorship also played a big role. I really cherish my relationship with Jim, and it’s thanks to him that I got to have many of these experiences and opportunities.
A: A lot of people just think about science as reading out of a textbook, listening to a lecture, taking tons of notes, and then memorizing and spitting back everything you’ve learned. That is true, but there are many ways to interact with science that aren’t just worksheets.
Being curious is the first step. As long as you’re learning, you’re enriching yourself with knowledge that you can share with others. Have an open mind, go explore museums and science centers like The Lawrence. That’s a great way to learn.
Everybody has a different comfort level when interacting with science. You can combine things you’re passionate about with science. During the pandemic, I was gardening with my grandfather in their backyard. And that was one way to relieve stress, anxiety, and improve health. It was also an opportunity to learn about plants. How do vegetables reproduce? How do I use fertilizer? How do I plant seeds and grow things? And also connecting with family, staying in touch with your older relatives and sharing stories. It’s a great example of how you can do something fun that you enjoy, and also learn things you might not learn about in school.
A: If everyone felt welcome in science, they would find their own ways to participate in science. There’s no one way to do science. You could choose to go into a career in physics, chemistry, biology, or other fields. Or you could investigate other ways to connect science to other topics, or help your community be interested in science learning.
A: I unfortunately never got to meet him personally, but my great-grandfather Dr. Tsoo E. King was a biochemist, and he’s a hero in many ways. He was a great role model of what it’s like to be a scientist. People like him and Jim provide examples of the many different ways you can interact with science.
I’m also inspired by how much he accomplished as an immigrant. He moved from China to the U.S. as an exchange student, and he completed his master’s and a PhD in biochemistry at Oregon State. He became a professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) Albany and the dean of the biochemistry department. I really admire his work. Not only did he have to transition to a new country, he succeeded in higher education while maintaining his bilingualism in English and Mandarin. So that’s why he’s my science hero.
A: My favorite thing is how science how it pushes the edge of our knowledge. I’m always trying to learn, whether it’s in school or conducting my own research. A lot of times I’ll find myself staying back after class, asking questions like “why does this work exactly the way it does?” I subscribe to a lot of science newsletters to get interesting articles in my inbox.
Expanding my knowledge also gives me the opportunity to teach and share knowledge. I’ll talk to my family over dinner about something I learned, and discuss with my friends or class in school.
It’s always about research and learning something new!