Photos

2023 Milken Scholars

Jun Woo Shin
University of Chicago

Jun Woo Shin is on a mission to make his community more beautiful. Jun served as president of AriAri21, a volunteer organization that spreads the joy of art around Los Angeles. Using funds from garage sales and recycling, plus supplies donated by local businesses, Jun and the group have painted murals depicting the youth of Koreatown, seeking out graffiti-covered walls and covering them with their original art. Jun also helped kids with craft and art projects and developed art lesson plans as a teaching assistant at Hong Art. For his community artwork, Jun received a Congressional Bronze Medal, President's Gold Volunteer Service Award and California State Senate Certificate of Recognition.

A graduate of North Hollywood High School (NHHS), Jun is an AP Scholar with Distinction, QuestBridge National College Match Scholar and College Prep Scholar, Odyssey Scholar and Gates Scholar. He earned certificates of completion from the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, Stanford Persolv AI program and Yale Young Global Scholars. As a Cisco and Windows specialist, Jun captained the NHHS CyberPatriots, leading the team to Platinum Rank in national competitions. He coached younger students and led study groups for Science Olympiad, which earned top-10 finishes at regional and state tournaments. Jun recruited members, coached teammates and attended district competitions with the Math Club, and he led fundraising and coached teammates as treasurer for Speech and Debate. He helped raise funds for children with cancer as treasurer of the NHHS American Cancer Society chapter and researched educational inequity through California State University Los Angeles.

Jun is an Eagle Scout and Boy Scouts Junior Assistant Scoutmaster. He earned 35 merit badges and a path to biliteracy in Korean, built bookshelves for a local church, and led a 20-member troop in weekly meetings. A senior leader and group representative for the Peaceful Unification Junior Advisory Council, Jun earned recognition from the California State Senate for leading discussions on solutions for a peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula.

Jun will study neuroscience at the University of Chicago and plans a career in neurology.

All photos should be credited to "Milken Family Foundation" unless otherwise noted.

Download a high-resolution version of this image