MARGARET ZHANG

Margaret Zhang (formerly and known to Dr. Lam's students as "Margaret Yi") attends the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she will receive her J.D. in 2015 and is the recipient of the Silverman-Rodin Scholarship. She seeks to pursue a career in public interest law, and her interests include child welfare law, family law, and criminal law. Prior to Penn Law, Margaret began her career in New Haven, Connecticut, where she was the Volunteer Coordinator at a refugee resettlement agency, an AmeriCorps member with Public Allies Connecticut, and later a Legal Assistant at The Fournier Law Firm.

Margaret earned a Bachelor of Music with Highest Honors in 2010 from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, where she studied with Dr. Logan Skelton. While at the University of Michigan, Margaret was a James B. Angell Scholar and the recipient of the Joan E. Volz Piano Scholarship, the Virginia Hunt Piano Scholarship, the William J. Branstrom Freshman Prize, and the Eastern Music Festival's Young Artist’s Award for an Outstanding Piano Student.

Margaret hails from Kalamazoo, MI, where she was a recipient of the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo Young Artist Award in 2006 and performed with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra on several occasions.

Margaret was a student of Dr. Lam's during the summers from 2006 until 2009, when she also taught piano theory lessons to many of Dr. Lam's students. She has three younger siblings, and she is married to Hyden Zhang.

How Music Helped Me:

Learning to play the piano was one of the single most transformative experiences in my life. Before I discovered music, I was a painfully shy youngster. I was afraid to speak even a single word to a classmate, for fear that I would embarrass myself. Through music, I learned how to express myself without using words. I learned how to confidently walk on stage. Music became an interface that helped me to communicate to the world. Soon, I began to transfer my gained confidence and poise to communication with peers. It is incredible to me that, now, I am entering the legal profession, which requires continuous communication with clients and colleagues! I am so grateful for the confidence, performance skills, and discipline I learned from studying the piano.