Recent NYU Shanghai Alumni on Building Community on Campus and Beyond

June 15, 2024

The last few classes of graduates from NYU Shanghai, NYU’s third degree-granting campus, founded in 2012, have shown an outpouring of love for Chinese culture, language, and the country’s relationship with the rest of the world. During their time as students, many were so passionate about learning Chinese that they took the initiative to immerse themselves in cultural experiences and were leaders in their campus communities, looking to make a positive impact, and create spaces for other students to connect and thrive. Read on to learn more about some of these recent alumni, their experience as students in Shanghai, and their lives as alumni.

Bongani Ntsakani Musikavanhu (NYUSH ’22) and Celia Forster (NYUSH ’24) were both passionate about learning Chinese since middle school and chose NYU Shanghai as their first choice school. 

At NYU, Bongani was a learning assistant, providing academic support to students taking Chinese classes, and he also wrote stories, songs, and created YouTube vlogs that highlighted the Black experience in China. Bongani says, “Meeting with students allowed me to gain a better perspective of what fluency entails. I realized that confidence and humility is key to sounding fluent.” 

Celia was excited to learn about language, education, and technology. This fall, she will attend Harvard, with a goal of creating inclusive learning materials and experiences as part of their Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology program. “I became passionate about making sure assessments and curriculum are more responsive to students from different linguistic and educational backgrounds,” Celia says. “It's a very new and exciting topic that's changing every day and very relevant.”

Christina Bowllan (NYUSH ’22), a social science major, was so interested in China's food culture that she volunteered at a halal restaurant in a neighborhood near her dorm during her time at NYU Shanghai. Christina says, “I knew that in order to become fluent in Mandarin, I needed to engage with my surroundings, and volunteering at the halal restaurant was a perfect opportunity to immerse myself in the neighborhood and in the language.” She went on to complete a capstone research project on China’s expanding engagement in many sectors in Latin American countries and planned to work in one of these countries after graduation to understand China’s impact on the ground. 

Ariana Alvarez (NYUSH ’23), a computer science major and social science minor, always dreamed of visiting China. She studied Mandarin independently on top of her Italian lessons in high school. “NYU Shanghai was the perfect way to make it to China while still getting an American degree,” she says. “My family was excited for me because they knew how much I wanted it.” Ariana balanced her interests in technology with a passion for social issues and international relations. She was awarded the 2021 United States Foreign Affairs Information Technology (FAIT) Fellowship, which supported two internships in Washington, DC and abroad, and a full-time job after graduation as a Foreign Service Information Management Specialist.

Shreesh Tripathi (NYUSH '24) believes an invisible thread has connected him from his home country of Nepal to its neighbors, India and China. An economics major at NYU Shanghai, Shreesh says it was a humble cereal box that jump started his fascination with the interconnectedness of the global economy. “Economics adds a little bit of everything, and it's almost as if it's an introduction to the world,” he said. His passion for economics led him to co-found the Economics Society (+150 members and growing) in his second year. Additionally, Shreesh conducted research examining the fluctuations in poverty in the participating countries of the Belt and Road Initiative, exploring the impact of BRI on China's neighboring developing countries.

Kerry Zhang Yaqi (NYUSH ’23), a social science major, developed her capstone project in education. As she looked back on her own high school experience at a cram-focused, discipline-heavy boarding school, she noticed, “Everyone was in a rush there to save time for study. If you didn’t adapt to the pace, you were out.” Kerry says the support of her family in Xinjiang and her own sense of self-worth helped her survive while many others suffered in this kind of performance-obsessed culture. Now, Kerry is at Harvard pursuing a master's in Human Development and Education, focusing on secondary and higher education in the context of Asia from a psychological and anthropological perspective. 

Mia Trinh (NYUSH ’24) crossed the Vietnam-China border in Guangxi province on foot in October 2020 and was NYU Shanghai's first international student to arrive on campus after the start of the pandemic. “It was such an amazing moment,” she recalled. On campus, Mia was active with student programs that aimed to raise awareness of inclusion, diversity, and equity. She even organized an event to celebrate first-generation students, which led to the launch of a dedicated mentorship program to build a support network for first-generation students. 

Jack B. Du (NYUSH ’17) was part of the inaugural class at NYUSH and is now an Associate Arts Instructor of Interactive Media at NYU Abu Dhabi. He says, “I was captivated by how computational technologies were used to create fun, engaging, interactive experiences in Interactive Media Arts classes. I knew I would regret it if I did not pursue an IMA major. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I made at NYU Shanghai.” Today Jack teaches students, hosts workshops, posts computational sketches on social media, and encourages current students to keep an open mind and always stay curious.

Read more stories about NYU Shanghai alumni and alumni-related stories from the NYU Shanghai campus at shanghai.nyu.edu/stories.