Michelle Lee, Neighbor

Michelle Lee has lived in Upper St. Clair since she was three and graduated from Upper St. Clair High School in 2005.  She graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in English from the College of Wooster in 2009.  She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Sigma Iota.  As a college senior, she wrote a senior independent study thesis called "Becoming a Living Bridge: Discovering My Chinese-American Heritage as the Great-Granddaughter of Mao Yisheng."  She wrote a collection of short stories, essays, and poetry about her Chinese-American heritage and family history.  Her great-grandfather Mao Yisheng attended Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) as a Chinese exchange student and received the first Ph.D. ever granted there.  There is a statue of him at CMU honoring his achievements.  He is a famous figure in China for building a bridge in Hangzhou that was deemed impossible to build.  Michelle participated in an oral defense on her research and presented her independent study to the college community at a Senior Research Symposium.  She wrote and was on staff at the Goliard, her college's literary magazine.  During her time at the College of Wooster, she was also a freelance writer for the college newspaper The Wooster Voice. 

She minored in French and also studied Chinese for three years.  While in college, she lived in dorms centered around international programs.  She loves travelling and has been to both China and France.

Writing has always been a passion for her.  As a young child, she loved using Storybook Weaver to create her own stories on the computer.  In second grade, she wrote a fictional book about  a dolphin family, which her friend illustrated.  While in high school, she wrote for the literary magazine The Montage.

She currently works part-time at The Bon-Ton.  Michelle's reading interests span different genres from literary classics, memoirs, and poetry to science magazines.  In her free time, she writes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.  Other interests include biology, astronomy, and science.  She is excited to continue her journalistic writing as a freelance writer on Patch.com.