‘I always take good
OPPORTUNITIES’ BY TERRI FINCH HAMILTON, ’83
When Aurora Chen, ’15, ’16, arrived at CMU from China, one question soon occurred to her: “Is the only thing Americans like sweets?” She could handle that. It was all the sudden freedom that threw her. “In China, the high school schedule is intense,” Chen said. School continued well into the evening. Free time? What free time? “Then at CMU, freedom came really fast,” she said. “It was hard to learn to manage my own time. I wasn’t the best student in undergrad until my last year.” It was then one of her friends gave her a kick and said, “Aurora, you have to work harder. Do your thing.” Chen did her thing and went on to earn her Master of Science degree in information systems. She’s an SAP software specialist at Dicastal North America in Greenville, Michigan. Why travel 6,000 miles for college? “My mom said, ‘I want to send you out to see the world. Let’s find another country where you can study so you’re not closed-minded,’” Chen said. “She said if we’re choosing a country let’s pick the world’s best, where there’s a broader range of cultures. “CMU sent me the best offer, and I took it,” she said. “I always take good opportunities.” The long journey was worth it, she said. “Everybody at CMU my first year was very welcoming and nice,” Chen said. “There was a lot of respect. I couldn’t speak English as well as I can now. With my bumpy speech, I had to try to explain things over and over. “People were very patient and tried to explain things in a way I could understand.”
When she struggled in a business law class and told the professor she’d have to drop it, he let her write extra papers to boost her grade. “I got a lot of second chances,” she said. She shares an unexpected highlight: working in the cafeteria at Herrig Hall. “It was my first time earning U.S. dollars,” Chen said. “It made me feel so accomplished. I made friends there. It was awesome.” The woman who loves opportunity was thrilled to visit Michigan companies on class trips to see how businesses use the SAP processes she studied. “I loved the group discussions in my classes and listening to all the different student opinions,” Chen said. “I use that experience now in my job. I had to set up a meeting this afternoon and it was a group discussion, just like in my classes.” When you’re an international student, people are watching you, Chen said. “International students are walking examples of their culture,” she said. “I didn’t talk about my culture all the time, but I told my friends things about it when they asked. I feel like I let my culture show. “I tell other Chinese students, ‘You have to behave. What people see in you is what they’ll think about China.’” She loved the mingling of cultures she experienced at CMU. “It’s human nature to be afraid of things you don’t understand,” Chen said. “When you go to school with students from other countries, there’s less fear or hate or misunderstanding about people who are different. “You have to see other people to understand the world around you.” •
Centralight Summer ‘22
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