For CUHK’s Case Competition Team

I would like to render this meaningful opportunity to expedite my aptitude through the following piece which discusses one of the most (un)extraordinary moment in my life

me (in the middle) standing next to my harvard mentors in the university of tokyo for the harvard model congress asia conference

I met the prerequisites to enter Form 1 and accelerated to the grade without completing primary school. Despite this, I was actually more content sitting in an empty room with bland white walls and contemplating the endless entities of the vast world through the thousands of pixels that come to life when I put on a movie. This is what occupied me for most of middle school (and the consequences of it were reflected on my tragic academic transcripts).

It was not until three years ago, I vividly remember my teacher walking up to the podium of the school hall announcing that the scholarship application positions were open for all students to attend the annual Harvard Model Congress Asia (HMCA).

I leaned in to catch every word because, somehow, learning of this opportunity rekindled my curiosity. It had briefly filled a hole in my soul that I didn’t know existed. It sparked something within me — a hint of defiance, a refusal to accept complacency.

In that year, I applied for the scholarship and fully knowing this would come I was simply rejected. It was an abysmal feeling when I was informed of this decision however that’s when I had a self-conscious epiphany and became inspired by my own misadventure: although the world felt like it was crashing down on me, I must persevere, no matter how bleak things may be, and hopefully, one day I’ll succeed.

It was a paradigm shift, if you will. I was no longer content watching a movie within my white walls but was eager to share my ideas and hear others.

A year later, after frantically running past the many synonymous-looking buildings, and across the campus of Chinese University looking for the room where I was supposed to commence my opening speech for a debate, I sat across from a girl who was watching a movie and sifted through the debate without an ounce of interest.

She actually did not speak during the competitive discussion. I realised she was a reflection of my younger self, too apathetic to notice that the world was your avenue and filled with an infinite possibilities of triumph.

So I started the Speech and Debate Club for my school, for students like her to remind us all that we can shake mountains with our minds. How can we possibly hope to change the world if we do not have the confidence to share our ideas? By the end of the year, the club grew from a small group of 5 to a group of 30 passionate students who all came together because they knew that regardless of race, gender, or interests, knowledge is the great equaliser.

Eventually, the scholarship application for HMCA 2019 opened. A culmination of years long hard work has led up to this moment: I was actually given a full scholarship to attend the conference in Japan and received one of the two honourable mention awards for delegates.

The collection of adventures throughout the years has sustained my passion for learning and I remain determined to pursue this in my future endeavours which in this case is the CUHK’s CC team.

That seemingly unextraordinary day of a teacher’s school hall announcement set a lot of subsequent days in motion.

Days when I would push my limitations, jump a little higher, venture out of my comfort zone and into unfamiliar territory, days when I would fail over and over again only to succeed when I least expected it, days when I would build my dreams from scratch, watch them fall down, then build them back up again, and before I knew it, the days bled into years, and this was my life.

The following is a (laundry) list of my achievements in the past years that would hopefully propel you to allow me to have the honour to affiliate myself in the CUHK’s case competition team:

1. The HKFYG Moot Court Summer School Full Scholarship Awardee (July 2020)
2. The HKFYG Summer School for Global Leadership Full Scholarship Awardee (June 2020)
3. HKU Life Story Essay Award & Scholarship (May 2020)
4. Crimson Education Merit-Based Scholarship (May 2020)
5. Harvard Model Congress Asia Honourable Mention (January 2020)
6. Harvard Model Congress Asia Full Scholarship Awardee (January 2020)
7. ELCHK Lutheran Academy Sports Scholarship Awardee (December 2019)
8. ELCHK Lutheran Academy IB Scholarship Awardee (December 2019)
9. ELCHK Lutheran Academy Academic Scholarship Awardee (December 2018)