Schools
Irvine Student Athlete Passionate About Sustainability, Creating
Patch and T-Mobile have teamed up to spotlight students excelling in academics, athletics and community service.
IRVINE, CA — California is full of bright, driven young people making a difference in and out of the classroom. That’s why Patch and T-Mobile have teamed up to spotlight students excelling in academics, athletics and community service.
This submission comes from Sommy Rhee, who nominated Ethan of California.
If you know a student who deserves recognition, we want to hear about them! Click here to nominate them to be featured as a Star Student on Patch.
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What is the star student’s name?
Ethan
Find out what's happening in Orange Countyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
What grade is the student in?
12th
How do you know the star student?
Son
Tell us about your star student's accomplishments and why they deserve to be recognized on Patch!
Ethan Rhee is a 2024 CIF Southern Section Division 3 Champion who was a first base starter on Beckman Varsity with game-winning hits in the CIF playoffs that led the team to the championships, highlighted in OC Register and OC Sports Zone. He is also a Kintsugi artist that has recently been published in The Brown Journal of Medical Humanities Spring 2025 issue ( I have digital pdf copy if you need).
He has always been passionate about sustainability and has collected over 5,000 contacts to recycle with Bausch and Lomb. He also started collecting foul balls that went over the fence to the adjacent post office during baseball practice and has saved hundreds of balls from waste and also saved his team money.
He was a Yale Young Global Scholar in 2024 and was also selected to attend John's Hopkin's Global Health Conference 2023. He is the founder and creator of a podcast on Spotify titled The Antibiotic Resistance Awareness Podcast and has collaborated with the CARB-X organization at Boston University. He was also a research intern at The Beckman Laser Institute, where he developed a graphical user interface for Dr Balu's lab.
He is currently committed to UCLA, pursuing sociology, public health and premed studies.
What three words best describe your star student?
Athletic, adventurous, curious.
Keep up the great work, Ethan. If you know an outstanding student who deserves recognition, we want to hear about them! Click here to nominate them to be featured on Patch.
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