Jade Pan
Can you introduce yourself with your name, year, major, and hometown?
My name is Jade. I use she/her pronouns. I am a third year studying psychology and economics. I'm also minoring in data science. And I am originally from Long Island, New York.
How did you choose your majors and minor?
I came in as a psych major only, and then I felt like econ was something I also wanted to pick up. I'm still trying to figure out where that's gonna go as a combination. For data science, it's more like I just somehow ended up taking one stat class every semester ever since I got to Berkeley and then at that point, I was like, I may as well do something stat related and just do a data science minor.
What is a fun fact about yourself?
A fun fact about myself is that I'm allergic to peaches and only peaches, no other fruits. But it's my favorite flavor of candy, yogurt, whatever. So, those things don't actually contain peaches in there.
What are your hobbies and interests?
I like running in my free time and I started playing Ultimate Frisbee with the Cal club team; so that's been really fun. In my free time, I just like to throw frisbee with my friends, so I always say, if anyone ever wants to throw frisbee with me at any time, I'm really down. And then I do listen to music. I try to play music sometimes; it doesn't always work out, but I try.
What is your professional experience? Can also you touch upon your professional interests and why you're interested in those fields?
So far, I'm kind of exploring different fields. Right now I'm doing an internship in human resources where I work for Seattle Web Search, which is a search engine optimization company. And I'm their recruiter. I do a lot of organization and then recruitment, onboarding, training, all that HR stuff. That's one possible way I can go as a future career. For a summer internship, I'm looking at strategy consulting, so like internal consulting, maybe product analysis, and possibly project management too.
Are you involved in any other clubs on campus?
Yeah, like I was saying before, I play Ultimate Frisbee with the club team, and we travel to different parts of the state to play games. And I am from New York, so starting in sophomore year, I got to travel to different parts of California with my team. That was a really cool experience. I'm also a Campus Ambassador, which means I give tours, so that's a very exciting experience, too. So far, we've been doing them online, which is kind of boring. They're just Zoom presentations.
How did you find out about SAAS and why did you join?
I think I saw a post on Facebook. And then I came to a workshop. It was very early in the morning, and I was hoping that I could just have my camera off and kind of listen, but then there were only like six people on the Zoom call, so I just turned on my camera and participated. I thought other people were also new members that were trying to figure out what the club was all about, but then they started talking about their club experience and I realized that I was the only new member on the call. But they were super nice. I came in late and then Elysia went through the whole workshop again for me, and that was a good indicator that the people in this club are really nice and welcoming.
What committees have you been on?
This is my second semester in SAAS, and last semester I was a member in the Research and Publication committee.
Why did you decide to stay in SAAS and why did you want to become a director?
Honestly, SAAS is the only club I've stayed in for more than one semester. And one factor is, my directors back then, Jai, Jackie, and Pulkit — they were very, very nice, and they helped me a lot with my project, like super hands-on help. And Jackie really encouraged me to become a director. At first I was a little doubtful about my technical knowledge, because a lot of us took more CS and stat classes than me, but then she just told me that directing is all about finding the resources for other people. You don't necessarily have to have all the answers to the technical questions. She also said it's a great way to help contribute to the club and build it and help other people have better experiences. And I thought that's something I really wanted to do; that's one way I wanted to give back to the club.
Would you be able to share what you did in your project last semester?
Yeah, of course. My project was on California wildfires. So basically, I tried to look at the relationship between the severity of fire and the housing density. I did a regression, and then found that there is a positive correlation between housing density and the severity of wildfires.
What is your proudest accomplishment in SAAS?
I think the proudest thing is helping my members get through their projects, whether it's solving some technical issues for them or just directing them to other websites and other resources. I would say that's my proudest accomplishment.
Has SAAS helped you with your career and professional development?
Oh, yeah, for sure. I think Brian's workshops are always super useful. And also just the #opportunities Slack channel is a good place to get started with internships as well.
How did you make friends with people in SAAS? How did you meet them?
I'm surprised that I'm actually friends with people in SAAS because I started in a virtual semester. And it's just all thanks to Rachel for planning great events for us to meet each other. I met a lot of people through donutbots and at house socials.
Of the three SAAS values of community, exploration, and mentorship, can you pick one and explain what it means to you?
I think of course all three are important, but I'm going to emphasize community because I think mentorship, exploration — it's something that you can do anywhere, SAAS is not the only place that can provide those things. But I definitely think the community here, like how close people can be, is special.
What is your favorite SAAS memory?
My favorite SAAS memory, I always liked to say is meeting my big Caro last semester, Caroline Chen. Because she was just very sweet. I was stressing out about internships back then, and then I was talking to her because she's my big and then she literally sent me application links. That was very sweet. That used to be my favorite memory and another one I added this semester is Welcome Night, like meeting new members on Gather, that was very fun. We were playing a silly snowman game that day. It was a good time.
What is your favorite class?
Okay, my favorite class is actually a class this semester. It's developmental psychology. It's about babies and how babies learn certain things. And then this professor has a four year old boy and then she would take this boy into class and do experiments on him, like live in front of everyone so you can see all the phenomenons we learn from class just right in front of your eyes. She'll be like, I'll just do those experiments and then say like, oh, what do you think of this, and you can see the phenomena.
Who is your favorite professor?
I think I will have to say Professor Olney. I took Econ 100B, macroeconomics, with her. She really cares about her students, like she got very emotional at the end of the semester because she was planning on retiring. And then another inspiring thing. We were in person, and she had this microphone thing that you can toss around, so everyone can answer questions. And then the girls in the class were trying to dodge it. I think that was just a general trend, because I guess girls are shy and they don't want to speak up. But then Professor Olney said, if I did an analysis of how many people dodge based on gender, I'm not gonna be happy with the result. She encouraged the girls to step up and speak up without hesitation. That was very inspiring for me, too, the way she encouraged the female students in the class to take the space when it's necessary.
What is your favorite spot on campus?
I'm trying to come up with a less basic one than Memorial Glade. Okay, I can give you a weird one. Why not, for fun? Okay, there's this bathroom on the top floor of Doe Library, and it's a bathroom with a balcony.
In your opinion, what is the prettiest building on campus? And the ugliest building?
Prettiest building I would say is the East Asian Library. Very pretty outside and inside. I love the purple lights in there. For ugliest, I don't like to judge the buildings like that though. I'll have to say Dwinelle. I hate walking in Dwinelle. It sucks.
What is your favorite library on campus?
I would say it's Doe Library. Yeah, the nice big, the high ceiling room.
What is your favorite restaurant in Berkeley?
I'll have to say Imm Thai.
What is your favorite Berkeley memory?
Sounds cheesy, but I really do mean it: one of my favorite memories is being a part of SAAS and just finding a community that will stick. Like when we study together on Discord, no one's really talking but it's like chilling with friends. And it's especially important in a virtual environment to still have that community.