WKU Graduate | XIAO Xincen: A Devoted Volunteer? A Keen Learner? A Girl Majored in Accounting with Multiple Identities

“Colorfulness” indeed reveals Xiao Xincen’s four-year college life.

Volunteering in Gansu Qiaopo Primary School, Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games, activities themed on “Emphasized Infrastructure Development to Enhance Public Contentment and Happiness,” Cainiao’s “Ocean Protection – Plastic Reduction” Public Campaign…All these volunteer activities, on or off campus, large or small,
involved this passionate girl.

Graduate of 2024: Xiao Xincen
Major: Accounting
Graduate School: Cornell University
Origin: Chengdu, Sichuan Province

Frequent participation in volunteer activities has never hindered Xiao’s academic study. With a GPA of 3.97, she has received the Dean’s Scholarship and the Zhejiang Provincial Government Scholarship multiple times. Up to now, she has received master’s program offers from 7 world-renowned universities, including Cornell University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Edinburgh, and the San Diego State University.

The keenness of Xiao on volunteer activities since her childhood led her directly to the Youth Volunteers Association without a mere consideration of becoming part of so many other organizations and associations when she was admitted to Wenzhou-Kean University.

Henceforward, engagement in volunteer activities became a normal of her spending minor vacations on campus. During the pandemic, she was assigned to Wuma Street in Wenzhou, where she was charged with taking the temperature of incoming and outgoing people, making registrations, and reminding passers-by to put on masks. During the service, she was always stuck to her position, even on scorching hot days, without any complaint. “Helping others brings me great happiness and a sense of fulfillment,” she said.

Another profound experience of Xiao was her online volunteer teaching for Gansu Qiaopo Primary School when she was a freshman. With the interest and confidence in English teaching she had developed at WKU, she prepared different weekly topics for lessons in the hope that students could enjoy learning English. Through the experience, she recognized that balanced development of education is what educators should strive for.

Xiao sincerely thanked all WKU professors for their generous instruction and conducive role in her growth. Besides volunteer activities, Xiao is also an activist in varied scientific research activities with the assistance of professors. In her sophomore year, she participated in the ESG National College Students Innovation Competition sponsored by Ernst & Young and Golden Education, and her team was titled “Outstanding Team” in the semi-final.

In the first semester of her junior year, she took part in the S&P Global Corporate Valuation Challenge, in which she and her teammates downloaded original data from the official S&P website and applied multiple methods to intermediate valuation through the DCF model learned from class. This leap from classroom to practice inspired Xiao with steadfast belief and bravery, making her more determined to go further.

To gain more knowledge of the program she was applying for and better understand the profession she would step into, Xiao committed herself to market tests by joining different internship programs in consulting and financial companies.

In Deloitte, one of the Big Four accounting firms, and Mercer, the world’s largest human resources consulting firm, as well as the world’s largest institutional investment advisor, she played a part in different types of consulting projects, including financial consulting. In Manulife HK, she imitated how to gain the trust of high-net-worth individuals and made rational asset allocation schemes for them.

The colorful four-year life is a telling comment on Xiao Xincen’s pursuit of freedom from the restriction of boundaries. “Life is the wild, other than a track. There is no need to worry. Take it slow, and the results ensue.”