Bio Statement
Since the 2024-25 school year, Laura Zhou-Hackett has been the president (and founder) of Noodle Night, a student organization on campus dedicated to building community around noodles. She was also the internal affairs officer for IC’s Asian American Alliance during the 2024-25 academic year. When she’s not at school, she enjoys volunteering at St. Anthony’s Thrift Store in her home state of Vermont. A piano performance major, she also enjoys volunteering through music- performing at retirement homes in Vermont with her younger sister. Her most recent performance was at Harbor Village Senior Community in South Burlington, Vermont. During both the summers of 2024 and 2025, Laura worked as a camp counselor at the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont Mathematics Institute. Laura was the 2025 recipient of the Alice Flaum Berman ‘71 Award, a scholarship fund established to help one IC music program each year attend a summer music festival. During the summer of 2025, she used the scholarship to attend a week-long program at Orford Musique, a prestigious music festival in Quebec, where she studied with Dr. Jimmy Briere. During the Fall 2025 semester, Laura attended IAP’s Knowledge to Action Retreat, where she visited the Harriet Tubman Memorial site, explored the NYS Equal Rights Heritage Center, and was able to speak with an IC alumni panel.
In addition to her piano performance major, Laura is also working towards a journalism minor. For her visual journalism class, she produced a portfolio of two stories regarding IC. In her free time, Laura maintains a blog called Laura, Unedited- every one or two weeks, she sits down and writes a blog post in one sitting, and publishes it without extensive editing. This writing style allows her to embrace a love for the more creative and spontaneous side of writing.
What does it mean to be an IAP Scholar?
Being an IAP scholar means always keeping in mind my long-term goals, and taking the practical steps to reach them–such as maintaining a LinkedIn account, and creating a network of other IAP scholars.
