A pre-medical student majoring in biology, Zhang had already completed all of her required biology coursework and felt it was time to dive deeper into her other passion: music.

She emailed her advising dean, , with a bold plan that she now calls her “greatest academic risk.” Zhang declared a second major in , Georgetown’s only .

“I knew this was probably the last chance that I would have, not just with the musical equipment, but also with a community of musicians I could draw from and all the classes that I wanted to take,” she said.

The decision – and the support she received from her Georgetown mentors – shifted something in Zhang. She realized she did not have to choose between passions. After graduation, Zhang plans to explore opportunities in both medicine and music. 

“It was the first time I fully embraced how much music meant to me,” she said. “Georgetown supported my growth not only as a student, but as a whole person. Because in the end, no matter how different my passions may seem, they’ve always been in conversation with each other.”

Finding Her Voice

Growing up in Middlebury, Connecticut, as the daughter of immigrants from Beijing and the first in her family to attend college in the U.S., Zhang was deeply influenced by both music and science.

She began playing the piano as a toddler with her parents’ encouragement and later taught herself to sing and play the guitar. Singing gave Zhang a voice she didn’t realize she had.

“It was a crazy way of bringing me out of my shell,” Zhang said. “In pre-K, I was the most shy child ever, and I was so afraid to talk to anybody that my teachers tried to fail me. … But when I started singing around when I was 9, I noticed how drastically it affected who I was. It built a core part of my personality, because most people who know me now know I’m very loud and outgoing.”

Zhang’s interest in biology and medicine stems largely from witnessing her mother undergo chemotherapy twice. Her mom was first diagnosed with breast cancer when Zhang was in elementary school, and again with ovarian cancer during her junior year of high school. She is now cancer-free.

Zhang has worked in an ovarian cancer research lab at Yale School of Medicine since high school and plans to pursue a career in oncology. She chose Georgetown in part because of its wide range of research opportunities and proximity to and the .

During her time on the Hilltop, Zhang worked as a clinical research assistant at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, where she interviewed cancer patients and survivors to explore the relationship between diet and symptom severity.

Zhang, who has a concentration in , also served as a student academic assistant for the biology department – an experience that she said gave her “a strong sense of purpose in giving back to students who were in the same position I once was.”

“She was incredibly social with all the students and put them at ease,” said , an associate teaching professor of biology. “Students trusted her, as did we.”

After graduation, Zhang will take a gap year before attending medical school. She will continue working in her ovarian cancer cell lab at Yale and serve as a medical assistant at a local hospital in Connecticut.

“It has always been clear to me that Tiffany knows who she is and puts incredible effort towards her interests and her people,” said , an assistant teaching professor of biology. “I simply adore her vibrance, creativity and ability to be unabashedly herself.”

The Value of Persistence

Unlike in science, where Zhang confidently navigated her pre-med curriculum, she said she felt like a “complete impostor” in her American musical cultures classes. 

Her senior fall course load consisted of music industry seminar, rock history, songwriting and composition, the art of improvisation and recording arts. During introductions in her first class, she found herself surrounded by students with industry connections or who had grown up in recording studios. 

“The first day I entered , I thought I had mistakenly wandered into a foreign language course,” Zhang said. 

Her love for music has continually taught her the value of persistence.

Zhang auditioned every year in high school for the all-girls a cappella group, only to be rejected each time. And in her first year at Georgetown, she faced six more rejections before finally being accepted to , a co-ed a cappella group on campus.

“It wasn’t just a testament to resilience and getting back up after repeated setbacks – it was the moment I found my people,” Zhang said. 

Shortly after declaring her second major, Zhang came up with what she describes as a “joyfully reckless, wildly ambitious idea” for her music capstone project. It was something she had dreamed of since she began writing music at 12 years old but never had the tools or space to realize. Zhang wanted to create a fully self-produced extended play album featuring her own original compositions.

Zhang spent hours in Georgetown’s “swelteringly hot” recording studio. 

Last month, she completed and presented her capstone project, Roots, an EP of six tracks, four originals, all of which she arranged, recorded, mixed and mastered herself. The album explores themes of personal growth and connections with others. 

“I didn’t just grow technically. I grew as a listener, collaborator and storyteller,” Zhang said. “I had to learn to trust my creative instincts, sit with discomfort, stay open and put myself out there enough to collaborate meaningfully with other musicians.”

, an associate professor of music and a Grammy-nominated composer, described Zhang’s writing as “honest and transparent.”

For , a professor of music and chair of the Department of Performing Arts, Zhang’s journey exemplifies the courage in pursuing passions.

“I think what Tiffany demonstrates is that you don’t need to have all of your musical skills fully formed to commit to something. She finished a major within a year, and she finished it successfully,” Harbert said. “I think Tiffany shows us that it’s never too late.”

The Other Side of Risk

For a long time, Zhang feared music would pull her away from her pre-medical studies and scientific work. That pursuing one passion meant abandoning the other.

Something that one of her music professors, , told her helped shift her perspective. “Music doesn’t exist in a vacuum,” he said. “It is inevitably shaped by everything else you’ve ever loved.”

Zhang’s greatest academic risk led her to the freedom of fully being herself. 

In addition to her medical school plans, Zhang will be an artist-in-residence at the Harold Leever Cancer Center and nearby senior centers. There, she will perform music for patients and continue exploring music’s healing potential in clinical spaces. She also plans to scout out recording studios and small venues across Connecticut to keep creating music and performing. 

“My Georgetown experience often felt like gazing into a reflective pool. Whatever intention I brought to the surface was reflected back to me,” Zhang said. “I learned that if I pursue something – intellectually, creatively or personally – with genuine effort and authenticity, no matter how hard and uncomfortable it is in the moment, I could make it real.”

This “incredible experience” enabled Waters to get a digital media internship with her dream team, the Washington Wizards and launch her career path as a sports videographer. 

A Passion for Production 

Waters’ interest in production and sports videography started while taking a television production class in high school.  After coming to Georgetown, Waters’ passion increased through her sports journalism work with the Voice and as a video content intern with the athletics department.  

“I learned so much through my experience with GU Athletics because I was not only able to make social media content and film games, but also had the opportunity to attend meetings with experts in their fields,” Waters says. 

One such individual was Tony Price, video director for the Baltimore Orioles. Through the GU Athletics meetings, Price became one of Waters’ mentors and encouraged her to apply to the Orioles internship position for that summer for which she was later accepted.  

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Waters completed the first half of her internship virtually, where she worked on editing the videos that were projected on the stadium’s large screens during games. After getting vaccinated, Waters was able to come into the Orioles office, The Warehouse, where she shot games alongside her boss and coworkers.

In the span of a few months, Waters learned filming, editing and technical skills that are crucial in a sports videography career. 

“The internship was such a rewarding experience because I learned so much both in person and virtually and I was able to see my work showcased on the video boards at games which was amazing,” Waters says. “ It also gave me the knowledge and qualifications I needed to apply for an internship with the team of my dreams — the Washington Wizards.” Waters says. 

Midway through the fall semester, Waters began working as a digital media intern for the Wizards. As part of this, Waters attends home games to create video content for social media platforms like Twitter, Tik Tok and Instagram. She is also able to collaborate with full time employees and work different media events such as training days at the Wizards’ practice facility. 

Academics Aiding Athletics

An American music culture major in the Department of Performing Arts with two minors in journalism and film and media studies, Waters’ academic studies are deeply tied to her zeal for sports. The junior says that her coursework helped hone her interests and prepare for the sports team internships.

“I am able to take what I learn in my film classes or my journalism classes and apply that to my real world experience with the Orioles, the Washington Wizards or Georgetown athletics,” Waters explains. “My journalism courses in particular helped me when I was working with the Voice and doing sports recaps and articles for any of the games I have attended.”  

As a student studying a range of subjects in the humanities, Waters has had numerous professors and members of the Georgetown community support and encourage her work. Professors , and mentor Waters in both her performing arts department classes as a student and in her participation in the Friday Music Concert Series as an employee, where she videos the concerts. 

Waters also found great encouragement from former assistant director of marketing, Vaughan Moss, and Kynan Marlin, the manager of creative content for GU Athletics. Both helped her grow as a videographer and connected her with opportunities and individuals in the industry. 

Marlin says that “Daelyn has an extremely great work ethic and always puts out amazing products.”

“She is extremely creative and I can always trust that whenever she picks up an assignment, she will do an excellent job on it,” he continues. “Her work is incredible and I think that’s evident through all of the projects she has done for us, and by all the opportunities she has been able to do outside of Georgetown Athletics.”

Ann Oldenburg, assistant director of the journalism program at Georgetown who taught Waters says that she “is truly an outstanding student.” 

“When Daelyn took my Digital News course, which includes an assignment involving creating a news video, Daelyn turned in a report about local sports returning after being sidelined by the pandemic. It could easily have appeared on any TV evening newscast; it was that good,” Oldenburg continues. “I can’t wait to see where her career path takes her — any media outlet will be lucky to get her. She’s creative, she’s hard-working and she’s thoughtful of everyone around her.”

Hilltop Hobbies 

In addition to her academics and internships, Waters is also a dancer and creative director for the coed hip hop dance team Groove Theory. 

As part of her federal work study, Waters is a Georgetown storyteller through the . Through this program, Waters serves as a representative for the university and produces video and multimedia content to post on the school’s various platforms.  

The junior says that she is thankful for the opportunities that she has had while she has been a student on the Hilltop.

“Georgetown was my dream school, so I’ve been pleased with all the communities and networks that I’ve built during my time here,” Waters says. “I look forward to continuing on my path as a sports videographer because I truly love it, it never feels like work. The connections I’ve made through the university have helped set me on that path.”

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