My Journey of Seeing

   For most of my childhood, I was a role model student. Serving as class monitor, I was granted merit awards every year and praised always as a good rule-follower. However, I often struggled to think whether being "good" really mean being myself. Such tension followed me into music. Fifteen years of choir training taught me beauty of harmony, which deeply rooted in my voice. Even after my solo performances, people often asked "were you in choir before", as if my individuality was invisible. 

   The university life was my first opportunity to redefine myself beyond "the good student". Various Interactive Media Arts programs encouraged creation over repetition. The study-away year provided me with more freedom to explore. In New York, I met classmates who poured their whole passions into photography or performance, demonstrating the power of living for interest. In Berlin, I spent nights in clubs with strangers—some refugees, some with serious illness—who enjoyed dance despite of sufferings. Their stories revealed how wonderful and resilient life could be.  

    These experiences propelled me to take a gap year to think about whom I wanted to become. With experiences that encouraged freedom and self-development, I started to serve as volunteer in a county middle school in mountains of Southern China. In this miniature of the traditional education, I tried to find out what I had lost in my previous education. To my surprise, students in this remote county were ambitious with dreams. One boy, who never stepped out of the mountain, could memorize the European map and discuss with me the cities I had traveled to. Another boy, eager to study bioengineering, begged to borrow my laptop to learn coding... Yet in conversations, I also sensed their doubts. Could the ambitions survive in reality? Could life be more than the cycle of job, marriage, children and watching the next generation repeat. Their mix of vigor and hesitation mirrored struggles I had once encountered.  

    All these peoples and conversations deepen my thinking: How many possibilities life can possess—and how a bigger world can change us. I am willing to keep my own path to stay open, and I want to help others achieve that openness too. Music starts this shift. After years of being recognized as "the choir-trained voice," I now step forward as a band's lead singer, enjoying my own sound being heard. Besides my personal exploration, I also bring new perspectives to the students who might otherwise never encounter them, believing that my small interventions may plant seeds of possibility. 

    I am on the journey to achieve the word I love most: "seeing". I see hidden parts of myself, see others' stories, and see the reflection of whom I have changed into in their eyes. I am willing to create more ways of "seeing" in this world. Today, as AI develops at a breathtaking pace, people are transferring more obligations to machines and hiding behind the screen. However, I still believe in the power of human connection. My goal is to make technology a tool for people to see each other better — rather than to erase the connection. 

    From rule-follower to creator, from choir voice to soloist—the ongoing transformation builds up my enthusiasm: exploration for well-being—the freedom to pursue one's own life—and a responsibility to make it possible for others.