AUTUMN 2013
SCHOLARSHIPS CHALLENGE STUDENTS Discovery College is proud to have sixty scholarship students this year - just below 5 percent of the student body. The students are each talented and serve as leaders within the College. Here, three students share their stories about how their scholarships encourage them to be successful.
Mimi Ho
Jerry Lin
I had the honour of first receiving an athletic scholarship when I was in Year 9. As a former local school student, my passion for my sport had not been recognised and for many years my success in golf was not celebrated or appreciated. The first year that I entered DC, the supporting atmosphere for both education and sports overwhelmed me, and I was driven to succeed in both my academics and golf. Receiving a scholarship of any kind is a great honour, but receiving a scholarship for something that I love and am passionate about has given me even greater honour. During this year’s US Summer Tour, I earned second place in the Toyota Cup Championship and was the winner of the FCG Junior World Championship. The great achievement is that I shot two lowest career rounds, 3 under par. Also, in late August I had the honour of representing Hong Kong in the Asian Youth Games held in Nanjing, China. The greatest honour yet is that I have received a full athletic scholarship from California State University Fresno, USA. I will be competing in the NCAA Division I women’s golf. I am so happy to have the opportunity to be able to pursue both my academic and golfing career at the same time. As a scholarship student at DC, I’ve learned the importance in keeping the balance between my academics and golf, and I think this way of living will enable me to adapt to the life of a college athlete.
It is my pleasure to honour DC as an academic scholarship student with my academic ability and performance. During the past two years, I have been studying advanced level courses outside of DC at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in the areas of Mathematics and Physics. It was, of course, undeniably difficult at first, but once I got the hang of it, many things became clear and unravelled themselves. In my opinion, taking Physics based on Calculus-level Maths is more intricate and conceptual and takes more time to approach a single problem, unlike the straightforward and symmetric Maths problems, which are easier to understand.
Mimi Ho, Year 13 Athletic Scholarship
Momoko Ishii Being a Principal’s Scholar encouraged me to make and seek out opportunities to achieve my potential and live my life to the fullest. While leadership opportunities offered at school are extensive, I also like to explore paths different from those others take and find my own paths. Having contacted over 100 professors to pursue my interest in the sciences, I interned at the Department of Pathology at the University of Hong Kong last Christmas, and I researched the formation of blood vessels at the University of Cambridge this summer. This research has the potential to find alternative prevention and cures for cancer using herbal compounds. I am further interested in public health, and was fortunate to work as an assistant director in a health committee at Harvard Model United Nations (MUN) China in March. I have especially enjoyed being involved in MUN, and have been fortunate to serve as a member of the Academic Branch of the Chinese University MUN Club and Deputy Secretary General of HKMUN where I was honoured to receive Honorable Mention. In addition to MUN, I’ve enjoyed participating in the Hong Kong Aquathon Challenge & Duathlon Challenge, and performing as a solo harpist at the Annual Concert of Hong Kong Harp and Piano Academy. I recently won second place at the International Triathlon Union Asian Cup. Attaining a scholarship has challenged me to pursue new interests and step out of my comfort zone. Although I am not a natural athlete, I developed my liking for sports using the opportunities available in Hong Kong and have challenged myself to pursue my academic interests outside of school.
Albert Einstein once said, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” I agree with this quote. Life is fluctuating, full of ups and downs like when one is on a bicycle. Don’t expect it to be perfect, but on the contrary, life is not unmanageable either. If a person has the motivation to pursue his own dream or accomplish a goal, with enough resources, it is usually achievable. Once he has a motivated perspective on life, things become much less tedious. Even great people like Albert Einstein needed to work hard; what brought them to their levels were their motivations. With performance ahead of that of my chronological age, I have definitely been trying my best over the past years. This scholarship is meaningful to me and further encourages me to motivate myself in experiencing more advanced programmes in this fabulous world. Jerry Lin, Year 8 Academic Scholarship
Momoko Ishii, Year 13 Principal’s Scholarship SCHOLARSHIPS CHALLENGE STUDENTS
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