Outstanding Seniors: Meet Eileen Wu

Cornell is a private, Ivy League university and the land-grant university for New York state. Cornell aims, through public service, to enhance the lives and livelihoods of students, the people of New York and others around the world. Since its founding in 1865, with 150-year history. Cornell has been a leader in education, a driver of innovation and a force for the common good. Elvin Brooks White, author of the best-selling Charlotte's Web, and Hu Shih, one of the founders and leaders of the New Culture Movement in China, also attended the school.

Eileen Wu, a graduate of the class of '23, was attracted to this school and decided to attend Cornell University from the beginning of her early application process.

Eileen transferred to our school from Shanghai when she was in 9th grade. She said that her relatives and friends around her couldn't understand it at that time. Compared with Dalian, everyone must think that the international education in first-tier cities is more prominent and has more advantages. However, Eileen still insisted on her choice and did not waver because her parents said to her: "Trust your choice, child, gold always shines."

The beautiful natural environment and the community-like human environment made Eileen feel at home right away. "The teachers are like family, they not only pay attention to our academic performance, the community-style campus environment also allows the teachers to know each of our students' personalities very well, it is easier to establish an emotional connection, when there are emotional fluctuations, I will seek timely communication and guidance from the teachers, just like family." "The counselor gave me a lot of support during the school application process. I was still at home with the epidemic while the early application, but Ms. Carrie Sun, our counselor would reach out to me and offer help"

During her time at school, Eileen took 11 AP classes, participated in various events such as the MUN, soccer tournaments, and was actively involved in charity work. She used her soccer skills to raise money for local nursing homes and help autistic people.

"Global Citizen" as our school’s vision is evident in Eileen’s passion for science, environmental volunteering and sustainable development. “Science makes sense” She has participated in many STEM competitions and excelled in the British Physics Olympiad. She worked on a solar panel project at a summer camp at UC Berkeley and designed a complete health monitoring system for COSCO Shipping in Shanghai as part of her internship last year. She chose Cornell University as her engineering major and is motivated to work in environment-related engineering design after graduation to contribute to environmental sustainability!

"Thanks to the freedom that the school gives us, after trying all the possibilities, it is possible to understand ourselves better, to know what we really want and to have the ability to make the right choices"

Eileen gave our younger students a great piece of advice: “Stay positive and avoid overthinking since self-confidence is important”.