Jaylen Dang, a senior and four-year varsity player, led the Aptos High School girls’ basketball team in scoring this season. A 5-foot-8 guard, she averaged 14 points, four rebounds and two to three assists per game before she sustained a ligament injury. The Mariners finished 17-11 overall (6-4 in the league, Santa Cruz was 9-1 and finished first), defeating Saratoga in the CCS tournament, 60-49, before falling to Capuchino, 55-40. She shares her memories with the Aptos Times.
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When did you start playing basketball?
I started playing basketball in 4th grade starting at Aptos Youth Basketball Association, then to Swish, G-Ball, Aptos Storm (AAU), SC Premier (AAU), and West Valley Basketball Club.
What’s your favorite moment from your career?
My favorite moment in my career was the connections I made on and off the court. My parents, JD and Joanna Dang, coaches, teammates, the athletic director Travis Fox, the administration, Peggy Pughe and company, and last but not least, the one and only Randy who opened the gym for me in the mornings before school, were my biggest supporters. I can not ask for anyone else who made me feel loved in this community.
My favorite moment this year was beating Santa Cruz. It was in that game where our team clicked and worked together really well by playing to our strengths on both the offense and defense parts.
What’s your favorite subject at Aptos High?
My favorite subject at Aptos High is Anatomy and Physiology Honors because of the note-taking skills I refined, lab simulations, anatomical drawings, and model construction.
Although I took this class online during the pandemic, I was still able to be fully engaged and interested. I really enjoyed doing research and applying the concepts of what I learned, and putting it together into an info-graphic that I could present for anyone to understand, which my main audience was my family.
Some other extracurricular activities I do are participating in clubs.
I am the president of the L.E.O. Club (leadership, experience, and opportunity) that is a community-based.
We are sponsored by the Cabrillo Host Lions Club and we serve the local community through beach cleanups, collecting and reusing glasses for the homeless, and more.
I am also the president of the SciComm Club (community of science), which seeks to bring student voices to embark on challenging conversations surrounding race and achievement gaps.
Additionally, I became a Gravity Water’s Youth Initiative Student Ambassador my sophomore year where I organized a campaign to fundraise $2,500 to build a sustainable filtered-water system and provide a year-round supply of soap to a school in Nepal called Bishwa Shiksha Sadan Secondary School.
During my team’s campaign, we addressed the water crisis in Nepal where the problem lies in the water quality — and not water scarcity. In parts of Nepal, some towns suffer from the lack of technology to sanitize their water even though they receive plentiful rainfall.
What will you do after you graduate?
My plans after I graduate are to attend a 4-year college and major in biology.
I want to pursue the medical field and try to get involved with the Doctors Without Borders in hope to help others especially in developing countries — which I have learned about in my campaign with Gravity Water — that don’t have access to sanitized water or technology to protect them from famine and diseases.
Top Photo: Jaylen Dang and her family at Aptos High School senior night. • Photo Credit: Peggy Pughe