The Zonta Club of Oak Brook is bursting with pride to announce that our 2023 Young Women in Public Affairs Award goes to Catherine Tang, recent graduate of Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois, and a repeat winner, having also received our 2022 Young Women in Public Affairs Award.

Bon Voyage to Catherine as she embarks on her life’s journey.Here are just a few of her accomplishments so far!

Catherine’s involvement in Public Affairs is beyond outstanding. Her involvement Public Affairs within her high school includes serving as Co-Founder and Co-President of her school’s law club, serving as a Student Representative on the Student Safety Committee, meeting monthly, consisting of the principal, deans,  teachers, counselors, parents, and representatives from the local fire and police departments; working with other students to create a Mental Health Advisory Board and implemented her school’s first Mental Health First Aid program partnering with the Josselyn Center, which trained more than 1,500 students and staff in how to respond to mental health crises. Catherine also has been deeply  involved  with Public Affairs outside of her school, including her position as Head of Outreach and Communications of The Sex Ed Initiative (SEI), a youth-led advocacy organization, in which she led members to write Shattering the Taboo, an eighty-page sex-ed handbook fact-checked by college faculty and public health professionals; Catherine was featured by the Chicago Tribune for publishing the handbook and implementing it as material in 10 health curriculums across the US and South Korea.

Volunteering  six hours every week as an Online ESL Tutor for Project: VISION, she worked work one-on-one with middle schoolers from Chicago’s Chinatown, Bridgeport, and surrounding communities to improve their English skills. During her high school summers  years, Catherine volunteered at her local library – working the circulation desk in the Fiction & Media Department, assisting the Adult Literacy  teacher with lesson plans for weekly classes, and leading Spanish Storytime for ESL kindergarteners.

Beyond school and community, Catherine also had broader experience:
Executive Board President of Glenbrook North High School’s World Languages Honor Society

2020 Youth Ambassador to Argentina and Chile through USYA
 (Spanish leadership exchange scholarship funded by the State Department)

2021 Peer Mentor for the Experiment Digital Climate Change & the Environment Program

2023 Alumni Summit for Leadership in Washington DC
 (75 program alumni from 25 countries across the Western Hemisphere)

Policy Assistant for Illinois State Representative Carroll, Illinois’ 57th District
(Working on actual proposed legislation on gender equality, Title IX, and protection for victims of sexual assault)