tiff infomation

Sergely Steephen Bokounde

UWC attended: Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong
Class Year: Class of 2019

At the age of seven, I once heard my Dad and two of his relatives saying that I was an unusually quiet yet curious child. Although this didn’t make any sense to me, I assumed they were right, and I was right in making such a conclusion. As a teenager, I become very obsessed with documentaries about biodiversity and wildlife, especially the ones emphasizing the relationship between different species. I would spend hours and hours learning about how certain animals such as lions, tigers, and snakes (of any kind) hunt. But life in the wild was not the only thing that captured my attention; the concept of being an intellectual struck me more than what nature has to offer. And I always wonder if I could ever call myself an intellectual one day, as to me, one could only call himself such if he possess the ability to carry throughout his life a clear picture of what he has been learning in every step of life.

What my experience at Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong has taught me, which is most certainly alongside a group of things I really enjoyed, is that one doesn’t need to remember everything, nor does he need to be able to explain with precise details all acquired knowledge. Thanks to the openness and the genuinely kind personality of the many students I befriended as a UWC student, now I can borrow the ideas that we all assessed and say with confidence that ‘’being intellectual is first and foremost being critical in reasoning‘’ and it includes the recognition of an open-minded attitude (which I believe is knowing to embrace news ideas and cultures without necessarily adopting them).

One of my favorite activities at Li Po Chun was called Initiative for Peace (IFP) and it involved bringing together our team (IFP members) and other students from local schools in Hong Kong to discuss topics around the ideas of conflict management and resolution.

The way UWC shaped me as a learner both in classes and outside of the classroom, by challenging my learning skills as well as my ability to adapt to the new changes, only makes Lewis and Clark (L&C) the best next place to be.  For I was told (by visiting the college website and attending a talk about Lewis and Clark given at Li Po Chun) that the challenges I would have to go through here are far beyond what I have experienced in UWC.  Other reasons that made me choose Lewis and Clark are, of course, the awesome academic experience offered, and the fact that the campus is not just big but also beautiful (like really beautiful) and super environmentally friendly. I also heard from a Lewis and Clark student that people at L&C are very friendly.

As to what I intend to major in at Lewis and Clark, Biochemistry is the answer and the reason behind this choice is quiet simple: In high school, my biggest ambition was to become a member of a group of researchers aiming to solve problems relating to diseases that are killing many of our populations, especially in Africa.

My hobbies and interest outside of class are drawing (using pencils), reading articles published by the Economist and Euronews, and watching animation movies.  

I am open to anyone who wants to approach me and I was raised to not judge others on the basis of their decisions or cultural background. Rather than judging, I love learning from others, because my philosophy of life is that every second of life is a learning opportunity.

Some of my academic interests include: Knowing how different policies work, how they are made, why they are made and for whom are they intended to benefit (Economics) ; learning about how drug manufacturing works and how to reduce our dependency on them; critical writing and reading; and computer science and industrial chemistry.