By Mu Jay Tai (Justine), ALC 2018 Participant
I was first motivated to join the ALC Program after seeing the drastic change in my classmate who was a participant in 2017. He used to be someone without a goal in life, but after the program, he became a lot more motivated and driven, which inspired me to participate in the program. I wanted to expand my horizons and experience a different culture from Taiwan, which I have now come to see is important to me as my goal is to pursue graduate studies in the US.
Something that I am proud to have overcome this past month is my fear of speaking English with strangers and giving a presentation to a group of people. I was able to overcome this by practicing more and encouraging myself to speak English all the time in the classroom, even when chatting with Taiwanese people. My Effective Communication (EC) discussion class has been very helpful in allowing me to build my confidence in speaking in class and I am constantly reminded to not be afraid to make mistakes. Getting the opportunity to participate in ALC while attending English classes at Stanford University has enabled me to not only gain the ability to speak English more confidently with strangers and my peers, it has also allowed me to acquire the skills needed to give presentations to a group of people in English.
One of the most memorable moments I have had at ALC is a Facebook Visit with my coordinator group. As a future woman in the Electric Engineering field, the visit to Facebook showed me what kind of workspace culture I want to be a part of, pushing me to want to continuously work hard towards my goal.
As my journey with ALC comes to a close, I know that what will stay within me is this motivation to keep trying new things and step out of my comfort zone to be able to grow. I have formed deep friendships with people from different backgrounds and I know that this isn’t the end for either of us. My future advice to any incoming ALC participant is: study hard and play hard! Focus on your homework but also make time to explore other things because they are just as important!
Thank you ALC!
