Cindy H, Class of 2018-Passion is the Key to Everything
People say you should not set up boundaries to life, but everyone knows there will be different limitations coming to the different stages of life. When there is a time that you can try all different things without having to worry about boundaries, Cindy H certainly knows she has to catch it.
“I took internship every summer during my university time,” said Cindy, “because internship is the only stage in life when you can try any different things and nobody would ever question it.”
- Cindy H, DCSZ Class of 2018, Princeton University
This is Cindy, our Class of 2018 graduate who was studying at Princeton University after eight years of staying in Dulwich College Suzhou.
At Princeton University, Cindy majored in Computer Science and minored in Music Theatre and Finance. Professionally, Cindy is interested in technology, travel, and social entrepreneurship, as well as product management, venture capital, and design consulting. In her personal life, she is passionate about music, travelling, sports and loves challenges. Cindy is now working at Netflix in the US.
Earlier this week our EIM group broadcasted Cindy’s interview with our Dulwich High School Zhuhai student Stephanie G through the PonsTalk series. It was immensely inspiring to listen to the interview.
What truly stands out is that she took internships in various organisations and in different countries, such as different departments within her university, as well as Datadog in the US, and EIC Education Group in China. It is a super experience and anyone listening to her story will be amazed by her level of energy and dedication. But Cindy says the dedication simply would not sustain if you do not have passion.
During her eight - year time in Dulwich College Suzhou, Cindy developed her passion for charity and leadership program participation and that directly influenced her capabilities in leadership in her career later. The idea of entrepreneurship has also been deeply rooted in her mind from then on. She developed one of our signature charity project at that time —the Crescendo Project, and dedicated to that project for a long time.
“Cindy is a student that you will be impressed even if she is not your student. As a teacher, you will definitely know this girl since you may see Cindy reading her own poems at an assembly; you may enjoy the graduation songs created by Cindy on social media and you may be inspired by her passion for serving the local community. Thus, I was invited to participate in the Crescendo Project, initiated and led by her to teach music for local school students.
With her outstanding leadership skills, her meticulous organization skills, and the resilience to face challenges, she made the Crescendo Project one of the most influential service community projects in Suzhou at that time. Many local students joined this project and it led to a close cooperation with other schools, becoming a model of cross-grade, cross-school, and student-led activities. After her graduation, the Crescendo Project did not end. Instead, it becomes a traditional DCSZ student-led project, continuing offering meaningful music education to the students in need in local community.”
---Yuki Tang,Head of SS Mandarin
So here is the life advice from Cindy:
“Whatever you do, do something you are really passionate about,” she said, “I spent almost every weekend working on the Crescendo Project, put in a lot of energy and dedication. If I was not passionate about it, it was just important to continue.”
With passion from bottom of her heart, Cindy proceeded to the next level of her life. She successfully obtained the offer from Princeton University at the end of her DCSZ journey.
"Cindy was always so committed to her passions and was living in the moment of those experiences. It never felt, as her counselor, that she was doing anything simply to get into university. It was about her interests and the impact she wanted to make on her immediate community. This allowed her to go through the application process in just the right way. Cindy’s applications were very well thought out, completely authentic to who she was as a person, and, in the end, that is what most stood out for Princeton and the other universities that made offers to her."
-Lucien Giordano, Group Director of International Outreach and Alumni Engagement, Cindy’s University Counsellor during her time in DCSZ
In Dulwich College Suzhou, finding your passion is the theme weaved in every single detail of our curriculum design as well as education delivery. Our DUCKS children discover their passion to leadership when they are enabled to interview our College Leadership Team right there in the headmaster’s office; our Junior School students continue their passionate exploration on historical affairs when they are taken to the Titanic Ship on Jinji Lake as part of their Topic lessons; students from Senior School attentively reflect themselves well enough when they coach those curious little ones in Junior School about how to obtain DNA from strawberries during the Society Day. What is more, our University Counselling Office endeavours to make sure students continue to be loyal to their passion when they apply for the next step of their life journey.
That is exactly what Dulwich Difference is about, which is shining in our Worldwise alumni.
Let us congratulate Cindy H for such amazing experience and wish her all the best in her career.
