Scholarship Recipients: Class of 2016

Smile: Chinese name is Wu Simei. Smile is Miao nationality, born September 1992. She is the first Chemistry major student to receive the Zimmer Scholarship. She lives Miao Songtao, Tongren prefecture, Guizhou. Her family is very poor because her mother was ill and blind. Her father works as a farmer. She has an older sister and younger brother. Smile is extremely "sunny girl", cheerful, generous, friendly, and patient. She wants to be a teacher. Smile understands the need to study hard and strives to do her best. She was inspired by her teacher to work hard and do her best.

Brenda: Chinese name is He Ming Fang. Brenda is from the Miao nationality from a small village in county of Si Nan, Tongren prefecture, Guizhou. The small village is surrounded by many mountains with terraced farmlands, forests, tea farms, a beautiful reservoir, and plenty of fresh air. She says the villagers are enthusiasm in my hometown, but most of them earn money in elsewhere. Brenda is very pleasant girl with easy going personality and big smile. She is very optimistic, energetic, humorous girl with numerous hobbies including listening to music, reading all kinds of books , climbing mountains and running. There are seven people in her family; her parents, three sisters, and one younger brother, five years old. Her parents are peasants, her father was disabled due to a traffic accident. Brenda knows that education will stop the poverty spiral and help her entire family. She is extremely helpful to her class peers as a league branch secretary.

Cherry: Chinese name is Li Xing, Cherry chose the English name Cherry because it is the name of her idol. Cherry was born on October 29, 1993. She is the first scholarship recipient from the department of Chinese language and literature. She has two older sisters. Cherry is an optimistic, outgoing, enthusiastic, active girl fond of listening to music, especially light music and lyric music. She enjoys singing English songs and "addicted in singer's world". Cherry studies English in her spare time on the internet. Her home, Song Tao is a beautiful area for there are many trees. Both her parents are peasants. Cherry knows she can change her destiny with a good education. Cherry has good aptitude for language and literature.

Dicey: Chinese name is Qin Yingfeng, Dicey is Miao nationality born on March 12, 1994. She is the first scholarship recipient from the physics department with major in physical sciences. Dicey comes from a small village in Sinan county, Tongren prefecture, Guizhou. There are five people in my family. Her father died of illness when she was young. Her mother is a famer and she has a younger sister and brother who studies in middle school. Dicey says, "life burden falls on my thin mother shoulders, she is often sick, so our life is rather difficult". Dicey is a top student in her classes. She is a very brave girl who often goes to library to read many kinds of books. She enjoys reading a variety of English newspapers and extracurricular books to improve her English.

Lily: Chinese name is Tanli. She was born in April 17, 1990. Lily is a member of the Dong nationality and lives in Tongren city, Tongren prefecture, Guizhou . Lily has a wonderful personality for she is out going, and enjoys helping others. She knows Tongren is a beautiful place, "people here are very friendly and helpful". Her father has three sisters and three brothers, so often she meets her aunts and uncles in Tongren. There are seven people in her family including parents, brother and his wife and his two sons. Lily's older brother is a worker in the phone shop. Her parents are farmers but cannot do much work in their older age. Lily enjoys outdoor activities, such as climbing mountains and swimming. Lily works very hard and has a part-time job on weekends. While Tongren is her home town, she lives in the dormitory with other roommates.

Briana: Chinese name is Xu Xiaoling, now 21 years old and comes from Guizhou Province. Briana is an outgoing, optimistic and easy-going girl. She chose English as her major after the College Entrance Examination because she likes English very much. Briana is in the top three students in her class. While taking part in numerous "rewarding extracurricular" activities, she also has a part-time job in order to reduce the burden of her parents. Briana is a diligent worker all the time. There are five people in her family; mother, father, and two younger sisters. Briana says, "My family is not rich, so in order to pay the high tuition I only can apply for loans. I know I have to work hard now so that after graduation I can find a good job to change my life."

Angela: Chinese name is Liu Ying. Angela was born in Tongren prefecture , located in Sinan County, Guizhou. Her parents divorced when she was only two years old. Since then, her mom had to migrate for work so that she could continue her education. Her mother visits her only during Spring Festival. In 2011, her mom and stepfather got married. One year later, she had a sister. The four live together in an apartment which is no more than 50 square meters. Her stepfather is the breadwinner of her family and earns a small salary as a carpenter and works all day long then comes home at night. She is touched as she sees how hard he works. Since then, she resolved to be a tutor to reduce her parents' burden. Anglea Honey is a confident and independent girl. She has many dreams and is striving to achieve them. She wishes to be a university English or Mandarin teacher or perhaps an announcer.

Emily: Chinese name is Wang Yuyu. Emily comes from Chongqing and has five brothers and sisters. Her oldest sister dropped out of school to help her mother take care Emily's twin brothers. Another sister is in high school, and three brothers are in primary school. Because there are no schools in her village her parents decide to move to a town to guarantee that my sisters and brothers could have access to education. Her father is a teacher in private middle school with a low salary. Her father cannot afford the university tuition fees, so an education loan from government was secured. With the increased economic burden, they owe several thousands dollars. In school, Emily always studies hard and has achieved top academic grades in her class. She gets along with her classmates and works part-time in the students to reduce her family's burden.

Arthur: Chinese name is Zhang Dong. Arthur is a very talented student who was taught by Nick Castle. Arthur is the recipient of the Nicklaus Castle Memorial Scholarship He is the number one in his class for the first year and he is extremely active in class and in extra-curricular activities. The University teachers consider Arthur as a model for English major, full of confidence, and never be afraid of making mistakes when speak English.