Rachel Bai

There are few seniors that would cheerfully tutor a sophomore for the PSAT when they have a long paper due the very next day, and Rachel Bai is one of them. Despite her relatively tiny frame, Rachel’s boundless creativity and generosity exemplify the perfect qualities of a leader. Whether as badminton or robotics captain, Rachel’s genuine question, “How are you doing today?” never fails to radiate positive energy to those around her. If not found helping fellow students in math lab, mentoring lowerclassmen in robotics, or teaching badminton tactics to novel players, Rachel is usually brainstorming new ideas to change the world for the better. Her personal notebook contains anything from the design of a sustainable passive cooling system, how to construct a device to track sleep quality, to her daily philosophical ponderings related to Albert Camus’s ideas. Along with her academic pursuits, Rachel’s time at Webb includes many lighthearted moments, such as losing all her money during her first poker game at Webb’s casino night, obsessively watching the anime Sailor Moon during her junior year, and adopting a pretentious air during Advanced Studies Existentialism and the Human Condition course. Although most people only have the energy to focus on a single discipline, Rachel’s natural curiosity for computer science engineering and philosophy have led her to explore both subjects at great lengths. As Rachel ventures off to UC Berkeley next year, she will continue to be diligent in her studies while also remembering to take care of herself in her quest of helping others.