Keshu
Yang.
I'm seventeen. I was born in Shanghai and moved to San Diego in 2021. These days I'm into physics and applied math, play varsity badminton, swim, string rackets for the neighborhood, and take photos on the side.
Gold Key — Scholastic Art & Writing Awards 2025.
Born in Shanghai's Xuhui District. Now a junior at Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego.
My name is Keshu Yang — 杨克纾. I grew up in the Xuhui District of Shanghai, went to elementary school at Huishi and middle school at Minbanweiyu, and then in 2021 my family moved to San Diego. I'm currently a high school junior at Canyon Crest Academy.
I'm a STEM student. I love physics, especially mechanics — there's something quietly amazing about how a single equation like F = ma sits underneath so much of daily life. I think I come by it honestly: my grandfather is a physics professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and my dad was good at the subject too. Doing well in those classes makes me feel close to them.
Outside the classroom I swim and play badminton. I started swimming when I was little — long before I picked up a racket — and it's been with me ever since. I made varsity badminton as a sophomore and finished third in my division at a local tournament called Stay Classy. Last fall I started stringing rackets on the side — partly because professional stringing in San Diego is much more expensive than it was in China, and partly because I wanted to do something real.
I'm a quiet person by nature. Walking up to people I barely knew at the rec center to hand out my own flyer — most of them my parents' age — was harder than I expected, and quietly the thing I'm proudest of from last summer.
Shanghai → San Diego, 2021
4.48 weighted, 10 APs
Varsity since sophomore year
Scholastic Art & Writing
Singles. Mostly.
And a smash that's
quietly recovering.
I picked up a racket in 9th grade. By sophomore year I'd made the varsity team at CCA, and that fall I finished 3rd at Stay Classy, a San Diego high school tournament for our grade division.
For most of that time I was a singles player with a strong smash. The whole game ran through the back court — set up the rally, take the shot, finish hard. My favorite player to watch is Shi Yuqi (石宇奇).
Then my shoulder started complaining. So this year I'm taking it lighter, leaning more on placement and control, and rehabbing carefully. I've also been playing more mixed doubles — I love the feeling of staying back, reading the court, and shaping the shots from the rear.
Junior year, I'm back on varsity. Still playing. Still figuring it out.
Sophomore division
Sophomore & junior
The blueprint
Racket stringing, done with care.
I've been stringing rackets for friends, classmates, and neighbors since October 2024. It started because professional stringing in San Diego ran much higher than what I was used to back home, and I wanted to fix that for the people around me.
Door-to-door pickup & delivery in 92130 — other zip codes welcome too, depending on distance. Professional equipment, guaranteed tension, and a one-to-two day turnaround.
Text 858 — 222 — 8899I shoot what I see.
Mostly landscapes.
I picked up a camera because I wanted a way to hold onto the things I noticed. I'm not as good as the photographers I admire on RedNote, but five of my pictures have been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards in the last two years. These are the ones.
STEM at the core.
Applied math next.
I take school seriously. Canyon Crest runs on a quarter system — four classes per semester — and I've spent most of those slots on AP courses in math, science, and computer science.
My favorite subject is probably statistics. I like that it's about reading data more than calculating it. Physics is close behind — mechanics, especially. I've also taken AP Chinese, which is meaningful to me for obvious reasons.
Long-term, I'm planning to study applied math. My dream schools are Princeton, Stanford, and UPenn.
Completedsix
- AP Calculus ABMath
- AP Calculus BCMath
- AP ChemistryScience
- AP Physics 1Science
- AP Computer Science PrinciplesCS
- AP Chinese Language & CultureLang
In progressfour
- AP StatisticsMath
- AP Computer Science ACS
- AP Physics 2Science
- AP English LanguageEnglish
I really, really miss fried rice.
I came to the US in 2021. I love almost every Chinese dish — but if I had to pick one to defend forever, it'd be a good plate of fried rice. Every week my For You page on RedNote is full of food from home, and every week I'm a little bit hungry and a little bit homesick.
And I play Honor of Kings on weekends.
I've been gaming since kindergarten. These days it's mostly Honor of Kings on my iPad with friends — for fun, not for ranked. Casual, but consistent.
Before badminton, there was swimming.
I started in 1st grade — long before I ever picked up a racket — and it's the sport that's been with me longest. I swim with a club in San Diego and on the CCA team since freshman year (JV), 2–3 times a week. Freestyle and breaststroke, mostly local meets. Quiet in a way badminton never is.
Photography is my quiet hobby.
I shoot landscapes mostly. The photographers I follow on RedNote are levels above me — but I love that the only way to get better is to keep going outside and looking at things carefully. The gallery above is a working draft.
And a little about my family.
My grandfather is a physics professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (上海交通大学), and my dad has always been good at physics too. Whenever I do well in physics class, it feels less like a grade and more like a tradition I get to be part of.
Eventually, I want to make enough money that I can send some of it back to people who need it most. That's the long-term version of the plan.
Say hi.
Or get a racket strung.
Whether you need a string job, want to talk badminton, or you're an admissions officer reading this — feel free to reach out. I'll see it.
- Email stringingphr@gmail.com
- Text 858 222 8899
- Stringing area