Yunjie "Shelley" Zhao, Class of 2010

Hometown: Nanjing, China
Citizenship: China (PRC)
High School: Nanjing Foreign Language School
Major: Physics

Hi! My name is Shelley, and I’m from China. I’m a sophomore in Lewis and Clark, majoring in physics and possibly minoring in math.

This has been a very busy semester for me. Academically, I am currently taking three science classes, two of which are with one of L&C’s toughest professors, plus a first-year seminar course (as an international student, I didn’t have to take it in my first year). The first-year seminar course is called Exploration & Discovery. Students read a lot of classic works from the past. Even though the reading and writing have been really hard for me (obviously my first language is not English), I truly enjoy the class, because I feel that by reading the works of great philosophers and by participating in class discussion, my ideas about life have been challenged a lot. I feel like I am really learning a lot. This is what I like about a liberal arts college--we are “forced” to take classes that we think we won’t like (because of the general requirements of the college), but by actually taking them, we will eventually love them and get a lot out of them.

Besides the heavy academic load, I am also participating in a lot of extra-curricular activities. Right now, I am a Campus Living Advisor, also known as an RA, in one of the residence halls. I love this job, because I like to help people. Even though it takes a lot of time, it has been really rewarding. Not only do I learn a lot about how to deal with people and different situations, I also become better at cooperating with others, organizing programs and managing my schedule. Besides being a CLA, I am also a board member of the International Student of Lewis & Clark (ISLC). This is a student government for international students. We work together with the L&C student government and with the International Students and Scholars Office to plan events for international students so that they can be more involved in college life, and to help them adjust to the new environment and culture. And speaking of helping students, the other wonderful program that I am part of is the LINCS program (Lewis & Clark Intercultural Network for Connecting Students). This program pairs incoming students with a mentor who either has a similar cultural background or has a similar academic interest. The new students can always ask their LINC partner if have questions about classes or some aspect of college life.

Besides all of the above, I am also working as a math tutor, a physics teaching assistant and co-editor for the foreign language journal. Yes, my life is as busy as it seems, but my hard work got paid off when I was invited to join The Pamplin Society of Fellows at the beginning of this year. Membership in the Pamplin Society is one of the highest honors a Lewis & Clark student can receive. I did not get involved in all of these activities simply because I wanted to be rewarded, however! I am really eager to learn and explore and Lewis & Clark is a great place for me to do that.

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Physics

Mathematics

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Exploration & Discovery

Campus Living

International Students of Lewis & Clark (ISLC)

LINCS

Pamplin Society of Fellows