Zhu Yuting: Learning is a Lifelong Proposition

Major: Finance   Future plan: Hong Kong

Because of a grade A given by a foreign teacher in her freshman year, she began to develop a strong interest in English speeches. From the speech contests of the school to the Chinese Youth Leader Competition of the “APEC Voice of the Future”, Zhu Yuting uses her own story to tell us that the youth can have unlimited possibilities.

The Lucky One out of a Thousand Competitors

In 2017, Zhu Yuting, who was still in the second semester in her freshman year, fearlessly registered for the Chinese Youth Leader Competition of the “APEC Voice of the Future”. This is an important competition connecting Chinese youth with APEC and leaders of political and business circles in the Asia-Pacific region. Every year, students from all major universities in China will compete with each other in the competition. Unfortunately, Zhu Yuting failed in the selection of the East China region.

However, she did not give up. In 2018, she submitted the application again after a year of study and accumulation. This time, she entered the final, becoming the “lucky one” out of one thousand competitors. She also participated in the GIC Innovator Conference and joined the Future Academy.

“The other 19 students selected were from top Chinese schools. We needed to compete in English speeches and Chinese debates. Each topic was closely related to the current hotspots. For example, the Chinese debate topic was “Should the One Belt and One Road initiatives be started from the One Belt or One Road”. And the English speech topic was about which model was more suitable for development from the periphery to inside.” Zhu Yuting recalled that both the debate and speech competitions required participants to be familiar with current hotspots, examined their spoken English skills, and paid much attention to their critical thinking skills and logic abilities. In the end, Zhu Yuting won the Outstanding Award in this final. This APEC experience allows her not only to make many new friends, but also to increase her knowledge and broaden her horizons.

But when it comes to the deepest feelings, Zhu Yuting bluntly said that when she stood on the stage of the APEC final and looked at so many judges sitting before her, she found that she did not feel nervous. “At that moment, I found the one who was too shy to speak to strangers had gone. In the classroom and daily activities of WKU, I could hold myself in this kind of occasions.”

A Story About an “A” Grade

During her university, Zhu Yuting won the first place in the Wenzhou-Kean English Speech Contest, the third prize of WKU Selection Competition of the 19th “FLTRP Cup” National English Debating Competition, the third prize and the Best Voice award of the 20th WKU Selection Competition of the 19th “FLTRP Cup” National English Debating Competition…

It’s hard to imagine that Zhu Yuting did not participate in any English speech or debate competition during high school. “For all of these achievements, I must thank my ESL professor Nikita during my first and second years in college, because he gave me the courage and opportunity to show myself and to grow myself,” said Zhu Yuting. At the ESL class then, Professor Nikita often asked students to read English materials and then write their reaction in English, and finally to share it with others in the form of a speech. When Zhu Yuting took the stage for the first time to give a speech, she made careful preparation and did not read her manuscript. After she came down, she saw that the teacher wrote an “A” on her homework. It is exactly this A which has always inspired her to go ahead.

Today, English is not just an interest of Zhu Yuting, but already an indispensable part of her daily life. She is used to reading original English papers and books.

In 2016, Zhu Yuting, as a Xiaoshan native, became the interpreter of Kuahuqiao Site Museum during the G20 Summit, introducing her hometown culture to tourists and foreign guests who came to Hangzhou. In the same year, she went to Sri Lanka for support education and won the title of “International Volunteer”.

Learning is a Lifelong Proposition

Now, looking back at her college years, Zhu Yuting believes that her biggest gain is critical thinking. She also hopes that her schoolmates can explore and think about it in the university.

“Critical thinking is an all-round thinking mode and ability. It is not about the number of answers to a question, but the process of learning the answers and the logic of thinking. I always believe that raising problems is more important than solving them. In WKU, teachers are not the answerers of questions, but the enlighteners of students. Sometimes they know that some questions have no answers, but they still let the students try. And this trains our ability to think critically and think independently. Not every question needs an answer.” Zhu Yuting said.

For the future, Zhu Yuting also has more thoughts than others. She wants to try the “996” working mode after graduation. And she knows that learning will be a proposition throughout her life. The girl smiled and said: “Whether you choose to be busy or easy, learning is the way that makes you have more choices in the future.”

Written by Fan Chen