Meilin Shen

May is a rising senior in high school from Orange County whose work lies at the intersection of environmental sustainability, housing justice, and community storytelling. As both an artist and investigative journalist, she is passionate about using creative mediums to spotlight the structural forces that shape inequality.

May has conducted independent research on how poor housing standards and exclusionary zoning policies not only fuel housing unaffordability, but also contribute to public health crises, deforestation, and environmental degradation. Her work explores how the built environment—when designed without equity or sustainability in mind—can harm both people and planet.

Following the devastating fires in Los Angeles and surrounding areas, May turned to journalism to document the human and environmental cost of climate disasters, covering both the failures in emergency response and the resilience of communities on the frontlines. Her investigative magazine, published during high school, combined data analysis with storytelling to examine environmental negligence and systemic inaction.