I've interviewed many students who have been accepted to Hayepsma in the past, but Jerry is definitely the most special one:
From Chengdu Chinese to UWC, and then from UWC to Harvard, those who can enter these super famous schools all the way are undoubtedly academic leaders;
And the things he "engaged" in are far more wonderful than the famous schools themselves.
16 years old
Leaving his hometown of Chengdu to become the only Chinese mainland student at the UWC in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which may be the closest school to the refugee camp in the world;
18 years old
After getting offers from Harvard, Stanford, Columbia and many other top universities in the United States, his graduation trip was not a seaside vacation, but a bicycle from Europe, along the Silk Road, across 8 Countries in Europe, after 80 days, a journey of more than 4,000 kilometers, back to China.
20 years old
That is, the year when the epidemic swept the world, after careful consideration, Jerry took a break from school to start a business, founded Ancestor Technology, and devoted himself to the energy-saving and carbon-reduction industry to help Chinese factories achieve zero-carbon transformation.
Nowadays, Ancestor Technology has set up companies in China, France, and the United States, and has received investment from Dr. Lu Qi, former president of Baidu, serving nearly 100 companies around the world, including Siemens and China National Building Materials, and Jerry himself was awarded the "National Chinese Under 30 Under 30 Years Old Elite" when he was 22 years old, which is well deserved.
I want to know what drives this teenager to "dare to dream, dare to achieve", but also want to know the value and significance of famous schools in his mind, what is the experience of studying at UWC and Harvard? Why did you choose to take a break from school to start a business? Wait a minute.
But what I never expected was that our interview began with the sentence: "Jerry, you have changed a lot now."
Rather than being a Harvard elite, Jerry, 22, is more like an old worker who has worked in a factory for several years. Jerry is very proud of his "factory man" status. The picture shows Jerry's 2021 Miracle World Roadshow
#01
Even today, UWC World Union College has long become a popular fairy school and climbing vine school in the circle of international education parents, but there are few parents who have the courage to send to the Campus of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It is a country located in the Balkan Peninsula, but it is remembered because of two wars, a gunshot in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1914, which directly triggered the First World War; In 1992, another wedding shot sparked the bloody Bosnian War, killing 300,000 people and turning more than 2.7 million into refugees...
"Why did you choose UWC Bosnia and Herzegovina at that time?" I asked.
"I had two clear interests at the time, computer programming and political history, so I chose Israel at the UWC summer camp, and Bosnia and Herzegovina was where I always wanted to go, and I wanted to see how the people here healed the divisions and conflicts that had come with the war, and I wanted to share the fate with the people in this land." Jerry's answer was far more mature than his peers.
The experience at UWC is unforgettable. To this day, Jerry remembers deciding with friends to help refugees in Serbia, raising a total of 3,000 euros with the support of the school, and then the principal himself acted as a driver, drove a 12-hour bus, sent 14 classmates to Serbia, built a lighting system for the refugees, and sent hygiene products.
"The whole camp is like a giant dump" (left), with Jerry installing wires for the camp (right)
"Our principal herself is also 40 or 50 years old, and my mother is a contemporary, and she not only said that I want to help the vulnerable, but also to support us in helping refugees. The impact of this experience on me was profound. In Jerry's view, a true teacher is not only teaching knowledge, but also educating people with his own actions and influencing every student with his own humanistic spirit.
"In fact, you see, from the first day of its establishment, our school has been saddled with the mission of 'helping Bosnia and Herzegovina rebuild after the war and building a bridge between people and culture with quality education'. Today, UWC is also the only school in Bosnia and Herzegovina where Bosnians, Serbs and Croats can live and go to school together. Jerry added. At UWC, dreams are made to be fulfilled.
UWC has 18 campuses on 5 continents and students from more than 150 countries. In addition, the school also provides students with bursaries based on real needs
Perhaps from that moment on, Jerry's heart planted the seed of "dare to think and dare to do".
#02
So there was the "Silk Road Ride" that amazed everyone, riding from Europe for more than 80 days, more than 4,000 kilometers, cycling back through eight Countries in Europe and Asia, and when the ride was over, the remaining 100,000 yuan of the raised funds were donated to UWC.
△ Jerry 2018 Eurasian Silk Road Cycling Route
When the Sichuan boy came to Harvard University, more dreams were realized one by one.
He still insisted on his cycling dreams, was the president of the school's cycling club, took computer science and statistics, minored in economics...
He also founded the first data science analysis society at Harvard.
It's not just a simple university society, it's more of a small and medium-sized business. The Data Analytics Agency not only provides data consulting services to large enterprises such as Schneider and Walmart, but also provides data support for the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), etc. during the pandemic, making practical contributions to society.
△ Member of Harvard University Data Analytics Organization
Jerry says that the founding of Ancestor Technology is more like a doomed "coincidence". Because of the epidemic online class, Jerry, like many people, chose Gap Year, hoping to explore what he wanted to do in the future through his career.
He interned at McKinsey and CICC, also worked at ByteDance, and then returned to the factory he was most familiar with, only to find that he had been abroad for so many years, but most of the factories in China were still high energy consumption, high pollution and low efficiency. The mature carbon emission management and carbon trading systems in Europe and the United States have just started in China.
So why not combine the digitalization and computers you are good at with the environmentally friendly factories you love and are most familiar with since childhood? Ancestor Technology came into being.
Left: Jerry is interviewed by the media; Right: The Ancestor Technology team inspects the customer's factory
Hearing this, I thought of a question that was most suitable for Jerry, "Now many children want to engage in activities, but they suffer from the fact that the school and family do not have enough resources, how do you raise so many resources?" ”
"Then we must have fewer resources in Bosnia and Herzegovina than China!" Jerry said bluntly. Moreover, many projects do not actually need too many additional "resources", and can rely on the team to solve many problems as much as possible. "If it doesn't work anymore, you can look at schools, relevant NGOs, or find some partner companies to support, if there are projects related to the low-carbon transformation of manufacturing and the digital transformation of green factories, you can also come to me for cooperation." Jerry said with a smile.
For example, at that time, refugees in Serbia wanted to spend the winter, where the winter was too cold, and the refugees did not have cotton jackets and other heating equipment, and many people froze to death every year. Then our team's first job is to find money and then transport the supplies.
But we are students and don't have that much money. So we raised funds through crowdfunding, each student donated 5 yuan, 10 yuan, and finally raised 3,000 euros (about 20,000 yuan), and then bought some blankets, shoes and hygiene products to send to the refugees.
Including in the process of founding the ancestor technology, it can be said that every day is very hard, "once very late in Taizhou, the next day must go back to Shanghai for a meeting, can only catch the last high-speed rail to Ningbo and colleagues to take a taxi back to Shanghai, three o'clock in the morning to get home." "But because I know that what I'm doing is meaningful, and I work hard with a group of motivated and excellent colleagues, every day is fulfilling and happy."
Jerry said that in the past, he did so many activities at UWC and Harvard, and now he has been in business for more than two years, and his biggest feeling is:
"A person is not omnipotent, we must rely on the strength of the team, let more excellent classmates and friends join, and work together for the team's goals";
△ Jerry in Bosnia and Herzegovina UWC
#03
From UWC to Harvard, Jerry, who has been at a famous school, chose to take a break from a famous school to start a business. So what is the meaning and value of famous schools?
Of course, first of all, there are the best educational resources in the world, and the best students.
For example, Harvard has too many very good professors. For example, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, such as former U.S. presidential adviser on climate change, taught at Harvard. At Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School, Harvard Kennedy School of Political Science, and so on, professors are not only leaders in each industry, but also very supportive of the development of students.
"And it's interesting that my professorial mentor at Harvard Computer School, who also happens to be an alumnus of UWC (he graduated from UWC in the UK), has been a great help in both my profession and in entrepreneurship." Jerry said.
There are also "the smartest brains in the world". "In our community, our CTO CTO is an International Olympiad Mathematics Gold Medal, and the CFO CFO now works at Goldman Sachs in San Francisco, and such a strong team configuration is very competitive in the market."
But in Jerry's view, Harvard and UWC actually have a lot of similarities, that is, there is no "only standard" for success. Success at UWC is not that you have a perfect IB score, or how many competition awards you have, and the same is true for Harvard, success is not your GPA full score, nor is it that you enter a glamorous career such as investment banking and consulting after graduating from college, or the company you founded is very good when it goes public.
They are what we call truly "diverse" schools. We can explore our true love here, to find our own point of interest in life, and then try to drill it deeper. I think that's what education is all about.
△ 2018 Jerry Silk Road riding
#04
About "Chicken Babies and Tuition"
ask
Now Chinese parents are getting more and more volumes in order to read famous schools, from primary school Olympiad, but also sports, art together "chicken", what do you think?
answer
When I was young, I also had a lot of extracurricular tutoring, to make up for the Olympic mathematics, English, but also to learn to practice words, piano, but also to prepare for various college exams. I think that in the case of limited resources, trying to go to a good school, enter a good class, and enter a good university is a very clear path.
However, my parents may still be a little "loose", leaving me a lot of time and space to "do things", such as doing some volunteer teaching and cycling in Chengdu, and they also fully supported me when I was studying UWC.
How does time management work?
ask
Whether at UWC or Harvard, your learning, activities, and entrepreneurship are excellent, and you have to spend energy and time on everything, how to do time management well?
answer
Things must be systematized and prioritized in order to manage time effectively. But I personally think there is a very important point, that is, to leave some "unplanned" room, such as doing something other than traditional, or taking a vacation, exploring new things, can better recharge themselves, feel the beauty of life.
In addition to studying hard at Harvard and doing clubs, I also like to cook with my classmates, play guitar and enjoy the moon together, and life is not just about completing tasks, but continuing to cultivate on the road I love.
How to determine the major? Is the environmental profession really a sinkhole?
ask
You majored in computer science in college and are now engaged in green energy related, do you think that the profession and career are related? How do you determine your major at high school?
answer
This is a complex issue. Experience tells us that there is often a gap between the majors we study and the jobs of the future, but for some industries, professional knowledge is also very important.
I divide the industry into two types. One is a more general industry, such as consulting, investment banking, they may have to face building materials customers today, tomorrow to do the consumer goods market, this affirmation is more about a person's learning ability, can quickly learn things in the work, find the law.
Another possibility is a more specialized industry, such as biochemistry, such as programmers, which can not be cultivated in a day, or even require several years of accumulation.
In addition, very few people can predict a career after college 4-6 years ago. Therefore, if you have the opportunity to explore your interests as much as possible in college, try and choose as much as possible, and then gradually find your own professional direction, it may be more ideal.
Once it is selected, it will be deepened and become the top level in the industry. I believe that it is this "depth" that finally determines life.
And about the environmental profession is not a pit question. In fact, the scope of environment-related majors is also very wide, ranging from science-oriented majors such as earth sciences, biology, and energy majors to social sciences such as environmental policy.
But we must be aware that with the development of a certain industry (such as climate change and energy issues as the primary task in all countries), it must require the participation of all dimensions of society, such as theoretical research, environmental policy, and like we do computer programming, big data, finance, finance people need to participate.
What kind of students does UWC like? As well as survival recommendations at UWC
ask
Now that UWC is really getting hotter, what would you recommend for students who want to enter UWC? And what abilities do you need to have to study and live at UWC in the future?
answer
As a UWC alumni interviewer, I have interviewed new students for 4 years and can still answer this question. First of all, you must fully show yourself, and secondly, you must think about what you are interested in, the thinking behind your interest, and your efforts and investment; The second is to fully express and express yourself.
This is somewhat similar to university applications, all the top universities talk about "diversity", but this diversity is not general, but everyone has their own ideas and thinking in a certain area/field, and is relatively professional.
As for the advice for living and studying at UWC, I think it is necessary to be brave enough to challenge your comfort zone, make friends with different people, and really explore more unknown areas.
I remember last year, the "Daddy Awesome" live broadcast room had the honor to invite Mr. Wang Yi, co-founder of UWC Changshu World Union College and executive director of Harvard Center (Shanghai), to make a dialogue, and there was a question: What kind of people does UWC want to recruit? What kind of people do you want to train?
He put it bluntly: "We want to cultivate a sense of idealism, which is one of the core values of UWC."
“
In high school, we can only plant a spark or a seed.
These students who graduated from UWC Changshu may be like Jerry in their early 20s who can start chasing dreams, or they may not start to slowly exert their strength until they are thirty or forty years old, maybe we did not succeed the first time, and the second, third, and fourth times finally did it.
But eventually, these seeds will always germinate. When more and more people do what they want to do, especially meaningful things, I believe that our society will get better and better in the future. ”
As Jerry said: The breadth of life may depend on vision, and the depth depends on effort. Isn't his story along the way the best embodiment of the spirit of UWC?