Star volunteer lands spot at top university
Print Edition
Despite an offer to study at Harvard University this fall, Li Jiahao, an 18-year-old graduate of Shanghai High School, isn’t resting on his laurels this summer. Instead, he’s busy with a new venture: an online platform where young people can find volunteer opportunities.
Li, an enthusiastic and experienced volunteer in his own right, attributes his successful application with one of the world’s most prestigious universities to his rich history helping others. Of course, his impressive academic record and well-rounded character also helped.
“Fortunately, my parents never pushed me hard in my studies and my teachers also praised me for being an interesting and clever boy,” Li told Shanghai Daily.
Li describes himself as a mediocre student during his first few years of school. He began to show a serious interest in academics though after taking first-place in a fifth-grade exam.
He showed a particular talent for math and won the silver medal at the national Olympiad math competition at the beginning of his 11th grade year. This honor helped secure him an advanced spot at Tsinghua University, his original target school. But instead of taking this extraordinary opportunity, he made a surprising decision — he gave up his place at one of China’s best schools to apply for university overseas.
“I didn’t want to spend the rest of my high school years at leisure,” he said, “Instead, I like challenges.
“When I started to do some research about foreign universities, I found they were really attractive to me; with more opportunities for research, social activities and multicultural communication. Harvard was one of my new targets.”
Fortunately, his parents supported his choice. But while many Chinese students spend years preparing to go to university abroad, time was tight for Li to take the SATs and gather his application materials.
Eventually, he succeeded in completing his application. Along the way, he also managed to win a gold medal at the national math Olympiad, adding another entry to his already impressive list of honors.
But Li says his volunteer experience also gave him a leg up with Harvard.
Li told Shanghai Daily that his mother frequently took him to voluntary activities at community centers and nursing homes. During these visits, Li helped teach young children and sang to senior citizens. With time, he began to look for volunteer opportunities on his own.
After he entered Shanghai High School in 2012, he spent one hour each afternoon volunteering with autistic children, playing games and reading stories with them.
“When these children ... began to know me and communicate with me via simple verbal and body language, I felt a strong sense of achievement,” Li said.
He encouraged classmates and friends to join him, cooperated with other organizations and invited experienced teachers from Taiwan to teach these children how to communicate via typing.
Over the summer, he also organized his fellow math Olympiad winners to help 25 individuals with mild retardation prepare for a special college entrance exam.
“The entrance exam for adults was easy for us, but it was really difficult for them without training,” Li explained. “We were happy to see that 19 have passed this year’s exam and enrolled into colleges.”
The remaining six, he went on to say, are expected to receive additional tutoring.
Li also co-founded the Shanghai Student Volunteer Union in 2013, which now has about 3,000 high school student members. Among other noble pursuits, the group has helped create libraries for underprivileged children in rural areas who have been “left behind” by their migrant parents. It has also helped arrange summer classes and activities for such children, some of whom might otherwise be left alone.
“As a volunteer and organizer, you have the chance to contact different people, promote your own programs and persuade others to join your group or donate money. These are all invaluable treasures that you can not gain from books,” he said.
“My experiences have broadened my mind and developed me into the person I am now. I believe it is this caring high school student with a sense of responsibility who impressed enrollment officials at Harvard and the other universities that sent offers to me.”
Li was attending a math competition in Boston when he received his interview notice from Harvard. Throughout the interview, he explained, he shared his true personality with the admissions officers.
“I admitted that many students were more competitive than me, but I also told them that I enjoyed the process of doing things as well as possible, rather than defeating others,” Li said, recalling the interview. “In a word, I told them my strengths and my weaknesses — these are what make up the real me.”
Currently, Li says he intends to major in math, but would also consider computer science or business. In some ways, he has already combined these interests in his new volunteer platform aimed at young people. This online service is being developed by a company Li registered earlier in the summer.
“I know college students have many opportunities to volunteer, but there are few such chances for younger students,” he said. “Many people think that we should devote our time to academic studies and some believe we are not interested in such activities. But they’re wrong. Many of my classmates are interested, but they just lack opportunities.”
According to Li, the design and development of the website and its related app have been outsourced to computer science postgraduates at Fudan University. “We hope to build a platform where students can find interesting activities, charity organization can find volunteers and companies can easily find events and organizations worth sponsoring.”
“No matter what kind of work I do in the future, being a volunteer will definitely be part of my life.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
