Early Life and Education
Kwon was born in Flushing in the Queens borough of New York City, to South Korean immigrants. He moved to Concord, California and attended Northgate High School, in Walnut Creek, where he graduated valedictorian and played varsity water polo and track and field.
Kwon attended college at Stanford University, graduating in 1997 with a B.S. degree in Symbolic Systems and is a brother of Lambda Phi Epsilon Fraternity. As a student, he earned recognition for both academic achievement (Phi Beta Kappa) and community service (James Lyons Award).
In his sophomore year, Kwon’s childhood friend and roommate, Evan Chen, was diagnosed with a terminal case of leukemia. Kwon organized an intense nationwide bone marrow campaign in an effort to find a bone marrow donor for his friend. Although the search was successful and Chen underwent a marrow transplant, the procedure ultimately failed and Chen died two years later. Kwon continues to organize bone marrow drives and serves as a national spokesperson for the Asian American Donor Program.
After graduation from Stanford, Kwon attended Yale Law School, where he earned a J.D. in 2000 and was an editor on The Yale Law Journal.
Read more about this topic: Yul Kwon
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