Meet Elizabeth Lee, Queensborough's 2026 Salutatorian
“It’s not how you start, but how you finish.”
If someone ever says they don’t understand the meaning of that phrase, then refer them to the selection of Elizabeth Lee (Chemistry, A.S.) as Queensborough’s 2026 Salutatorian.
“[Being chosen] feels incredible,” she said about the selection. “I wasn’t expecting it whatsoever, so I’m very grateful. I’m not very good at celebrating my own accomplishments, so it feels good to have external acknowledgement of the effort I put in over the last few years.
She isn’t kidding when she says this either — she put in a lot of effort to get here.
Lee’s journey begins, ironically, with an ending. Specifically, when she dropped out of high school at the age of 16 and was wholly divorced from anything academic until she took the TASC (Test Assessing Secondary Completion) exam when she was 18.
Even then, she lacked the confidence to pursue higher education and go to college, so she took some time to work (including Starbucks for two-and-a-half years) before taking her next step.
And that step was Queensborough.
Since coming here, Lee has flourished. Not only is she a member of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), the Science Research Alliance, and Chemistry Club, she has a litany of academic achievements under her belt which include:
- Making the Dean’s List in fall ‘23, fall ‘24, spring ‘25, and ‘fall 25
- Receiving the American Chemical Society (ACS) New York Section Certificate of Excellence (2025)
- Receiving the Pak Kuen Wong Endowment Award in spring ‘25, fall ‘25, and spring ‘26
- Delivered oral presentations of “Synthesis of N-(4-hydroxybutyl) trichloroacetamide: Possible Precursor to Polyurethane” at NYACS, the Undergraduate Research Symposium and QCC Student Symposium in spring ‘26
It’s clear from looking at just these achievements how far Lee has come over the past few years — going from entering college without having completed a full science course since eighth grade to earning numerous prestigious science awards.
Considering this history, one would assume that this is what she’s most proud of...and they would be wrong. Rather than academics, her acts of service and volunteer work both on and off campus are what she believes is most worth writing home about.
Off campus, she is immersed in medical volunteer work which she says is a huge part of her life.
“I’m a volunteer emergency medical technician, I’ve been a volunteer EMT for a little over a year now, and I also just finished training as a bilingual domestic violence hotline dispatcher for the Korean American Family Service Center.”
Meanwhile on campus, Lee has become a mainstay at the Center for Tutoring and Academic Support (CTAS) after initially tutoring her friends and classmates in the sciences.
“I’ve had the privilege of working with a really diverse variety of students. I’ve seen immigrants who are not only bearing the weight of doing well academically, but also that of starting over somewhere new. I’ve also worked with parents who are returning to school to provide better futures for their children, and even just some of the more traditional students who are on a more traditional timeline but have gaps in their knowledge that they are working really hard to fill.”
“I’ve been really honored to work with all of these students at QCC and learn more about their stories.”
And it’s those stories — or those from whom they originate — that Lee will miss the most.
“Without question, [I'll miss] the people, the close-knit sense of community.”
For Lee, Queensborough is defined by its capacity to “understand and welcome those for whom life hasn’t been so straightforward.” Regardless of history, students are given individualized attention by the community, thus giving them opportunities to succeed even while balancing responsibilities that extend beyond the classroom.
In her case, that attention came from Chemistry Professor Jun H. Shin, who “supported [her] from the very beginning,” the Chemistry Department writ large, and even professors she didn’t have but were “always kind and welcoming,” and had an infectious passion that inspired both her and other students.
Following their example, she wants to apply that ethos in her own work — not just currently as an EMT or dispatcher — but in the future in the medical field, ideally as a physician who is also involved in research.
Before that, however, she has a few more stops along the road.
After graduation she will be headed up to the University of Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences for the CLIMB UP biomedical research (‘26) program, then after that it’s off to Queens College where she aims to complete a degree in biochemistry.
So, as Lee says goodbye, she’s doing so on a high note — one that belies how she started.
Not just as a student who managed to simply close the gap in her education, but one who thrived beyond it and used her knowledge to support others who went through similar hardships.
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