I am Shuyi Wang. My name comes from Chinese Classic of Poetry, “shu” which means pretty and “yi” which means “to be soft.” I came from Sichuan province, China. It is noted as the “Land of Abundance” and one of the major provinces full of beauties. Because of the high moisture, people from Sichuan have good skin and we always eat spicy food to adapt the humid climate. It is a province that belongs to hot pot, panda and mahjong. Compared to other big provinces, Sichuan has a slower and comfortable pace of life. You can always see people sitting in the tea house, playing mahjong and chatting.

I studied in Mianyang Dongchen International School for nine years. It is a school with primary, middle and high school departments. Our school motto is “cultivating students to become modern men with Chinese soul and world view.” It is a school accompanying a lot of unforgettable memories for me. I experienced 5.12 earthquake in the primary school, met my role model teacher Liu who taught me to “let excellence become a habit” in middle school, and finally got in the Sino-American class to prepare for study abroad in high school.

This year, I went to join CIEE program to study abroad in Tokyo to continuous open up of new and great prospects to get intellectual evolution, and take a step further in my studies. I want to explore more in this intercultural world and I think education is the most effective way for us to access equity and diversity by connecting our eyesight and insight together, so now I am trying to apply for the graduate schools in the United Kingdom.

What drew me to Arts Corps is, of course, art. Both of my sister and I started to learn art related to painting, dancing, and playing the instrument since young. To us, art is our enlightenment in learning. However, in China, schools do not focus on art subjects, and starting from fifth grade, those subjects will be substituted by main subjects such as math. Thus, as a student who majors in Education, I want to advocate for arts education. I agree with the idea that art is important for children’s education and promotes the skills that children need like critical thinking and problem solving.

Because I also major in Communication, that is why I chose an educational organization with a communication intern, where I can apply both of my majors’ knowledge and develop my professional skills. I hope I can have a better understanding about how art influences youth in a positive way and learn more about Communication skills such as video and picture editing.

 

Shuyi will be with Arts Corps as the Communications Intern through June 2019. We’re so happy to have her on board!