Wang Zi, who has a fantasy name, is either dynamic or concentrated on studies. In SUSTech with dense academic atmosphere, he looks really handsome when staying concentrated on studies. When doing experiments, he is a dedicated knowledge seeker. However, he is most attractive when standing in the center of the stage in the spotlight. Each time when he steps onto the stage, shouts and screams would be heard. At that time, he is the prince in the hearts of girls.

The active dancer also has exceptional academic performance. Not long ago, Wang Zi, who is about to graduate from SUSTech Department of Chemistry in 2016, received the offer from Duke University in the USA and was given the full scholarship by the University.

Seek balance between dancing and learning

Wang Zi, who shows keen interest since his childhood, has learned ethnic dance, modern dance and street dance, etc. And he has received many awards of dance. “I think dancing can give me great joy beyond study. When I feel tired or bored by study, dancing soothes and releases my inner world. I love dancing and I am willing to spend most of my spare time dancing”, says Wang Zi. He tries best to find time to dance out of the busy academic schedule, find the time management suitable for him, and seek balance between dancing and learning. He says, “I want to become the best dancer among all chemistry learners.”

In SUSTech full of youth dynamics, Wang Zi, who seeks versatile development, establishes with other dancing lovers the Street Dance Club in SUSTech to gather many dancer lovers in SUSTech. Today, Street Dance Club has become one of the most representative societies in SUSTech. It is invited to perform in various activities, gaining praise from teachers and students. In 2015, SUSTech Dance Team established by students in the Club won gold prize in Guangdong Aerobics Championship for High School and College Students. Due to his passion for dance and persistence in his dream, Wang Zi, one of the leaders of SUSTech Street Dance Club, practices together with his fellow dancers though he has a busy schedule of study and experiment.

Wang Zi says, “SUSTech not only ensures my academic progress, but also helps me make friends with other dance lovers. We work together to pursue our common dream for dancing. And this is part of fun in our life.”

Get out of lost state with the help of tutor

Wang Zi, who has versatile development, also had his lost state in life and study.

“When just entering SUSTech, I couldn’t adapt to the campus life and new methods of learning college courses. I felt puzzled by the many courses. Even if I studied very hard every day, the final GPA was not satisfying enough. So my enthusiasm for study was undermined. For some time in the second semester in Year 1, my campus life was in a bad state”, says Wang Zi. His life tutor Wang Rui helped him out of the difficulty. “I reached my life tutor to talk with him and found where my problem was. He guided me to respond actively to the impact by the fresh campus life and encouraged me to adapt to the environment”. He also compares difficulties in life to activation energy, “It’s just like the activation energy in chemical reactions. By overcoming the difficulty, the academic performance will be much better and all problems will come to an end”. In Year 2, Wang Zi was again puzzled by his future major. He intended to achieve something in dance and also wished to make efforts in R&D. When he was hesitating, the experiment tutor Prof. Lu Wei told him, “There are many ways to spend the college life. I propose college students do more than one thing in this period. You can become the best dancer among chemistry learners and vice versa. It is possible to get 2 things done at the same time.” Wang Zi says probably he has t worker hard if he wants to excel in a few aspects. But the key point is that he enjoys the busy but meaningful state of life.

His personal experience helps Wang Zi understand the good points of tutorship system in SUSTech. He proposes younger students contact their tutors in an active way. Wang Zi says, “Most of the SUSTech tutors are professors, who are quite busy every day. So the students should contact tutors actively to make appointments. I propose setting the fixed time of appointment with tutors, which is good for student development and for tutors to arrange their time in the busy schedule.”

Each person has his own best life

In the eyes of other people, Wang Zi is more of a dancer and band member. But in fact, his academic performance is improving constantly. In the 4 years of college life, his GPA is improving. Different from those students who spend all their life on thesis and in laboratories, Wang Zi focuses more on fun of chemistry. “I don’t like those repeated experiment operations. I love observing the beautiful crystals, the luminous materials and the theoretical foundation behind these features. For a long time, I am not quite sure what I am going to do in the future. I only have a general target. Probably other people are excellent. But each person has his own choice and his best life”. In his opinion, all excellent people know what they want, but not just looking at others. What we need to do is to live our own life. And he feels he should be more determined and learn from excellent students and teachers. “The target is important. When you don’t understand new things, please never be sad at your inability to clearly plan the career life. And never worry about things that have not happened. The future is near and distant. Probably when the future arrives, your notion will be totally different because you know more things and become more mature. Life is fulfilled in a down-to-earth way”. Because Wang Zi knows the importance of doing things well for now, he has learned things and improved his ability, thus seeing the galaxy of his dream belonging to him.

Become a brilliant biz card of SUSTech as senior students do

Wang Zi, who received the offer full scholarship from Duke University , has contacted a professor in Duke University as his tutor. He expresses thanks to senior students first enrolled in the Education-reform Experiment Class. Due to their outstanding performance in first-class overseas universities, SUSTech, as a new university, has a good impression among these universities. Wang Zi says, “the excellent performance of senior SUSTech graduates have paved a way for students younger than them. I hope all SUSTech graduates can add glamour to SUSTech and function as brilliant biz cards of the university.”

When talking about future, Wang Zi says he does not have a clear orientation. Wang Zi believes one should have a general direction in each stage of his life. But the direction does not have to be definite. After all, the roads have to be taken by steps.

Contributed by SUSTech News

Script by: Lin Zhuowen & Li Chen; photograph by: Chen Lu