Joy Zhang

Joy ZhangSep 29, 2026

Who would've though a chess knight, a bunch of recycled plastic pellets, and a silicone mold somehow became my latest business idea? Today, I submitted my IDEAction pitch for a project that started with one question nagging in the back of my mind for the past 8 years that I've been playing chess: "Could chess pieces be made from recycled ocean-bound plastic instead of conventional virgin plastic?" ♟️ Every time I attended a chess tournament recently (in the past year), I started thinking about what chess sets are actually made of. Obviously, the answer is PVC Plastic! As with any plastic product, it's much cheaper than any "sustainable alternative" to manufacture, mass-produce, and sell. You may (or may not) ask, where do those pieces end up when chess players are finished with them? That question led me down a much bigger rabbit hole than Alice went down to get to Wonderland. I began researching recycled HDPE and ocean-bound plastic as possible source of an alternative material. By looking into existing chess-piece manufacturing and thinking about material costs and environmental impact, I eventually tried to make a prototype myself. And let's just say it got some concerned looks from my peers and the faculty advisor of my school's EFX lab as I didn't even know how to work a 3D printer... 😅 BUT, I was a woman with a mission. Within the next month, I had designed a 3D-printed chess knight, experimented with silicone molding, and started working with recycled HDPE pellets. I thought carefully about how the recycled plastic should be molded into a piece that would most closely resemble that of ones found in standard tournament sets. My biggest takeaway from this project: an idea looks very different once you have to physically build it. A business idea can sound great when you're excited about it but then you have to ask: → Can I actually make it? → Will the material behave the way I expect? → How much would it cost? → Would anyone actually want it? → Is the environmental benefit meaningful enough to justify the change? Today, I finally submitted the pitch. YAY!!! I don't know yet where this idea will go but it probably won't end up winning any funding. Nevertheless, I'm proud that I didn't leave it as an idea in my science notebook. One pitch submitted. A lot more building to do. To any people with dreams of building a product, as NIKE used to say, JUST DO IT! - Joy 😁

Joy ZhangOct 5, 2026

I have 23 LinkedIn connections... My goal is 1,000. I'm clearly off by 977, so am I doing something wrong? 😅 I started taking LinkedIn seriously during this past summer and I've realized that I have absolutely no idea how to build a meaningful professional network from scratch. I don't want to be the type of person with 1,000 random connections just to say I have 1,000. No, I want to eventually build a network of people who are genuinely interested in the things I'm interested in and want to innovate with me. Anyone into Science & research, Sustainability, Entrepreneurship, Chess, or Technology & building projects? If so, don't be afraid to connect 😉 Right now, as a student without LinkedIn Premium, I'm trying to figure out how to do this well without relying on paid features. So, I'm writing this post to ask people who have already built strong networks what would your biggest piece of advice for growing connections be and what would you try and do if you were a 15 year old, full-time boarding high school student, researcher, and dreamer. My goal is beyond just the numbers (though that's nice too), I want to learn how to turn a number into a community of people I can learn from, collaborate with, and hopefully contribute to. And if you're interested in any of the areas above, I'd genuinely love to connect 👀. I trust you guys and will try and implement every piece of advice commented!

Joy ZhangOct 27, 2026

Yesterday while cleaning out my drawers, I realized I hadn't journaled in over a month! So, curious of how my journal entries were like at the start of the year, and to get me motivated to write consistently again, I reread my first journal entry since coming to boarding school. Then I read my most recent one. The huge difference in tone, language, and topic was like being splashed by the cold water of reality. My first entry ever was buzzing with excitement - you could practically feel the adrenaline bursting from the page. I was simply recounting orientation day, eager to begin a new chapter of my life, and yapping about everything I imagined about this experience. My most recent entry was very different. To summarize it, I essentially wrote about feeling lost in all the activities I used to love, guilty for spending too much time scrolling, and overwhelmed by not getting the results I wanted in school. Looking back through those earlier pages reminded me why I came to my boarding school in the first place and helped me reflect on how far I have actually come. It reminded me that sometimes you don't need to document every accomplishment to optimize your life. I think especially in a society so driven by the idea of "success", it's easy to keep moving from one assignment, competition, or project to the next without stopping to ask how you're actually doing along the way. When in reality, you can care deeply about what you're building and still struggle to find your footing. The point of life is to engage in the continual process of being willing to reflect, recognize when things change, and keep learning, even when the process is by no means clean. I'll get back to journalling now and try to make more time for that reflection again! Feel free to follow along and support me on my journey please 😊 - Joy