Sunny Lee Yang
Sunny Lee Yang is a graduate of the Davis United World College Scholars Program and now a sophomore at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations—Cornell Class of 2008. Sunny was born in California, then moved to Nevada, then Utah, and finally to Singapore, where she attended the United World College.
“The United World College is different than most programs in the U.S. We did two two-year programs. The first was General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). The second was the International Baccalaureate. GCSE is a two year program for grades 9 and 10. It covers a broad range of subjects and we each took twelve subjects. At the end, we had final exams that covered two years of material. What is different about the International Baccalaureate is that they had the CAS system—Creativity, Action and Service. You have to be involved in 50 hours of activity for each component. They emphasized more than academics. They made sure you incorporated other aspects of life into your school work.
“I think our school had students from 86 countries. I remember that every year, we had ‘United Nations Night.’ I remember being in charge of the United States exhibit one year and the Chinese exhibit the next year. We would do things like cooking hamburgers or egg rolls and we would serve them. We did that every year. We had other activities like Asian Night, Indian Night, Greek Night. The fact that we came from all different parts of the world was a huge part of my life. It has made me more adaptable to different cultures and situations. All of my friends are from different parts of the world—Europe, Australia. The fact that we still stay in touch illustrates that we have overcome the geographical barriers and distances.
“I had a lot of fun with the CAS system. Even though we only had to do 50 hours of activities for each area, I think I did a lot more than that for each of them separately. I think it gave us a chance to see that there were other things that were important beyond the academics.
“I think in the beginning, we were just trying to fulfill requirements—we thought it was going to be hard to fulfill the 50 hours. But, then we began to follow the momentum. It was a nice break from the stress of academics. We were waitresses at AIDS benefit dinners and we sold roses on the street and the money went to further AIDS research. We worked with older people. We did a lot of community social service work.
“I think it really prepared me for going to a university in a number of ways. For instance, once I arrived at Cornell, I noticed that a lot of students were struggling with time management. Some of my fellow students were struggling with having to write a five-page paper for the semester and I didn’t think that was too much. In the International Baccalaureate, we had to write 20-page reports. The program provided a good foundation for us.
“In our International Baccalaureate Program, I don’t think a day went by when a teacher didn’t stress the diversity of our student population, that we should be proud to be a part of the international community, and that we get along with each other.
“I enrolled in the ‘International Concentration’ at Cornell because it’s a part of my life plan to deal with issues between countries. My main target country is probably China so perhaps ‘negotiations’ could be an area I could pursue. I am not sure of a specific area but I do want to keep an ‘international perspective’ on what I do. I am hoping that after four years here, I will be able to make the link between my concentrations and my interests. I applied to the ILR School because it can open so many doors for me. You learn from a number of different areas—business, labor, social areas, diversity—a broad range of topics and knowledge. ILR will help me to do what I want to do after I graduate.”
