Natalie Ng

Youth Advocate, 
Scoliosis Awareness Society

Natalie Ng is a secondary school student in Hong Kong keen to pursue an interdisciplinary approach towards better health and well-being through her interests in mental health, gender action, psychology and climate change. 

Although this does not fall under one specific instance, growing up, Natalie’s parents would sometimes leave her brother and herself with her grandparents for a few days. During these short periods of time, the two of them would be disconnected from their usual entertainment of mobile games and Cartoon Network. 

A distinct memory Natalie holds about her childhood is when she first learned to ride a bike. She was around seven years old, and her father bought her and her brother bikes with training wheels on them, and together they took the bikes down to a nearby park, ready to learn how to bike. First, her father demonstrated by riding his own bike. To a young Natalie, the actions looked effortless. She expected instant success. This was not the case. Instead, when the training wheels came off, she mounted the bike and fell, immediately. Through this experience, she learned the importance of failure in learning - each and every fall is a step closer to success. 

Natalie’s current favorite extracurricular activities at school are the student publications she is part of: most notably Muse Magazine, which showcases all forms of creative work from the student body, and Trieu Magazine, which promotes intersectional feminism while promoting female creatives. She chose these publications because they involve her wide range of interests and skill areas while advocating for positive messages that she strongly believes in. 

For instance, she is involved in all available departments of Muse Magazine — including writing, editing, layout, media, and art — as well as taking an active part in all roles within Trieu Magazine — including creative writing, informational writing, layout, media, art, and logistics — because she genuinely enjoys this wide range of roles and responsibilities. Despite her existing achievements, she is constantly inspired by others, aspiring to continue learning and improving in order to provide an even better platform for creative voice and expression.

Outside of school, Natalie is involved in various impactful initiatives. As someone who was once impacted by severe scoliosis, she is now working with the Hong Kong Scoliosis Awareness Society to organize and facilitate screenings for younger students in hopes of detecting potential risks and undergoing treatment sooner. These screenings have already helped a handful of students in realizing they have scoliosis, and a few have started receiving treatment, meaning they will not need to undergo surgery later on in life. Natalie hopes to extend this initiative to even more young students in Hong Kong.