Interview by Bryce Lewis ’16

Jennifer’s Bryn Mawr College Story:

I came to Bryn Mawr after spending three years at an international school in England. I am originally from China but moved to Singapore since I was 17. I really wanted a small intellectual community whereby I could have a close relationship with my professors and classmates and that’s why I applied to Bryn Mawr. I double major in mathematics and economics but I also took the Sustainability 360 second semester of junior year—a great experience in my 4-year Bryn Mawr career.

 What is your leadership involvement on campus (appointed positions, etc)?

I have been serving as the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program co-coordinator for the past two years, stepping up from a volunteer for freshmen and sophomore year. Other than this, I am also a peer mentor and a scheduling supervisor at Collier Science Library.

Sophomore year, I was a customs person and later on I became a member of the Customs Committee.

What caused you to step up to these leadership positions?

I think leadership emerges from every individual. One thing I realized is that to be a leader, you must have a high level of devotion in what you are leading. This means that you are passionate about the cause that you would like to be a leader for. For instance, the two-year experience of my volunteer experience with VITA reinforced my desire to contribute to the neighboring community. Moreover, it ignited my zeal to not only bring change by myself, but also to initiate change in others to keep that change more sustainable. Leaders are drivers for change.

How do you think LEAP has helped you become the leader you are today?

There are two aspects in which LEAP has helped me achieve what I do today.

First of all, it systematically trained me all aspects of leadership, including effective communication, conflict management, and budgeting. It really helped me to regard leadership more fully and discovered all facets of what makes a great leader. In fact, as I got more involved as a student coordinator for VITA, I experienced all of these little details of leadership that I already know about, allowing me to lead more effectively.

Secondly, LEAP taught me to reflect constantly. Leadership is continuous, both for the leaders themselves, as well as for the cause they believe in. There is always room to improve and there are always mistakes that we could learn from.  We evaluate our VITA program constantly and try to incorporate changes every year to make our training program more effective.

Which of your activities or involvements do you feel most proud of, or which do you think had the most impact?

I am really proud of VITA because of my commitment to it. I truly embrace the mission of the program and am glad to see all of our volunteers making such a big impact on the Norristown community—it is a really empowering volunteer opportunity. I am also very happy to see the accomplishment of our dedicated volunteers as they grew with VITA.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed or imbalanced by coursework and other responsibilities? How did you deal with it or prioritize what comes first?

Sometimes I do feel overwhelmed.Yet I also believe that the ability to be involved academically and in extracurricular activities could help me to see my potential. I needed to learn how to manage my time well given all these responsibilities. It actually helped me to be a more efficient person overall. In terms of prioritization, sometimes we need to realize that we cannot do everything to our best because we are doing so many—it’s great to try many things, but at the end of the day, one needs to find an optimal amount of activities that works for herself with her own academic load. There is no magic formula—everyone is just different.

 What advice would you give to an underclassman?

Sometimes, learning how to say “no” is an art. Do make sure to give yourself some downtime and stay fit physically.