Uni alumni Wynee Bo gives advice to current students
Wynee Bo is a Uni Alumni who graduated from Northwestern University and is now working at Amazon as a business intelligence engineer. To Wynee, her several years at Uni felt difficult and busy at the moment, but the work ethic and independence she developed paid off later in life.
Wynee emphasizes the importance of staying accountable for the things that need to be done and self-motivation, especially as students go onto the next phase of their lives after high school.
“It gets a lot harder when it’s up to you, to have the freedom to determine whether or not you want to get up and go to class,” Wynee says.
Without the help of family members and friends, being responsible is a necessity. Make the most of the time there is, focus on goals, and keep working hard in all classes. Building a good work ethic early in high school years will be beneficial to prepare for college.
“I think that [keeping up with school] is really what’s within the students’ control. As time goes on, things become more ambiguous and vague, and it is harder to make the right decisions at crossroads, because you are the one who is making those decisions” Wynee explains. It is about making the best out of every situation.
Aside from being responsible academically, it is important to stay accountable for one’s physical health as well.
“I think some habits I got from PE were the most life-impacting,” Wynee states, as she has continued to maintain similar exercise habits on her own. The structured environment that made her do exercise every day, the 5K at the end of the year, and the consistent motivation from friends and teachers promote a healthy lifestyle outside of an academic setting.
Even though taking control of responsibilities independently is important, Wynee sends encouragement to reach out to other students or faculty members when in need of help. Stay connected to the Uni community. One benefit of Uni’s small class size is being able to go out into the world with a big network of close friends. Wynee says the thing she regrets the most after all this time is not keeping in touch with most of her classmates.
The counseling services and resources at Uni are also extremely helpful. Wynee vividly remembers talking to the counselors often, and they helped her with college applications and figuring out what colleges she should look out. However, college is not the “end all be all.” Wynee encourages students to stay open to other options as well, such as community college or taking a gap year.
