Ella

My name is Ella, and I have been studying at SUIS – Wanyuan Campus for seven years. During my SUIS life, I led activities including Student Council, Economics Club. Also, I joined our high school musical production “Hairspray” and acted as the main protagonist Tracy. With our school team, I went to several international competitions, including bio-engineering program IGEM in Boston and World Scholars’ Cup in Greece and Malaysia. In my spare time, I also persisted in attending various debate tournaments for two years to further my interest in social science.

My contribution

Currently, I am a freshman at Wellesley College. As a liberal arts college, Wellesley allows me to wait till my second year to declare a major. My prospective major is international relations or political science. I’m also exploring the possibility of minoring in subjects in science and math, which were my shortage subjects.

My SUIS memories

Two key gifts from SUIS:

Accept own limitation, and embrace the endless possibility

1、Accept own limitation

In SUIS, I was taught: self-cognition and self-planning. Here, I feel equality and freedom. Scores are not the only standard to judge your study, and teachers will not treat you differently because of it. They will give you spaces and respect your choices. After I went to college, I realized even more deeply that the standard of “good students” was not to simply pursue perfect scores, but to know what they were really interested in and acknowledged their weakness while not be ashamed. SUIS made it easier for me to quickly fit in the overseas university life, embracing my imperfect but best self.

2、Embrace the endless possibility

There are many creative and excellent students, their talents go along with their disciplines. The free, supportive atmosphere will stimulate students’ creativity to the greatest extent. Through the different voluntary-initiated activities, students’ experience will be enriched. Through continuous practice, their potentials will be unleashed, even their future development path will be clarified. Some students before me developed their interests in high school into a solid major in college, which also gives me a lot of inspiration and motivation.

Words of encouragement

First, please choose what you like without hesitation. You can always start again.

Second, don’t worry if you are panic about college application. Please learn to be patient to yourself, as the anxiety will accompany your whole life. Remember that you are not alone. In terms of social networking and friendship, again, just be patient. You’ll eventually find your circle that you belong. AND most importantly, try to enjoy the lonely time. Also remember to love and cherish your friends with different personalities, even if you sometimes feel you are not at the same page.

Finally, any lifestyle is worth pursuing and deserved to be respected. Don’t lose yourself because others are good at what they choose.