To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing with great pride in this letter of endorsement for my student, R Wang, who I’ve had the privilege to be a counselor for at High School Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University (JDFZ). As the top student at our school, I hope my observations in this letter will help him achieve his future academic pursuits.
As a government-sponsored full-scholarship student (20 students across Shanghai every year), R had to stay in our school’s main campus, studying the national curriculum for his first-year high school. To my surprise, even though there’s no economics course in our national curriculum, and our school could only provide limited funds in terms of study materials. Still, he rebuilt the Economic Club with his own efforts. I always know that it won’t be easy for him to lead his peers to compete in the National Economics Challenge. The whole school is very thrilled to witness his team break from the regional round to the national final and eventually into the global finals. He broke the school record in that competition. And what I saw wasn’t just achievement but his unusual courage, determination, and perseverance.
With more achievements, honors, and titles R had obtained, I often felt ambivalent about seeing his ‘progressive’ moves in our school over time. He asked my help to open the IB center’s mock trial club to our main campus gaokao students. It’s very unconventional to introduce the western judicial system in a public school in China. Although it had been a huge burden for him to introduce and teach others about the complicated law system, seeing students at times laughing, other times disturbed, but always moved, I feel very proud that I supported him.
Also, R never fails to inspire, learn and do. When he was a 10th grader, as the youngest student council member, although the Principal and I often rejected his proposals, we saw his bold ideas, game-changing spirit, and tenacity. I recognized that it took him two years, from the class monitor to a council member to the student government’s Vice-President. During the time. He tried his best to conduct his duties. From the moment he failed to allocate funding to eventually became our school’s student representative—the R I know constantly strives to learn from obstacles and always commit to improving our community. I can’t see an end date to his thirst for a better community. From cleaning empty clubs and help rebuild them to change the student council’s election mechanism to offer students the mock trial: he’s an eternal engine. Each time I thought he found a solution, he’d already driven to the next problem to work on.
Recently, when I heard R finished spent his summer in the Leadership in the Business World program, I nervously asked him if he had changed his ambition of being a policy-maker to a business leader. To my surprise, he told me that it’s his duty to learn how to be a better leader and fit himself into the right position of any community. He also mentioned that at the YYGS summer program, he met many friends who shared the same level of passion for politics and philosophy. He told me that although there are some stereotypes of “Communist” China, he conveyed our country’s effort to transform into social democracy. While sharing these excitements, his flickered eyes seemed to contain wisdom beyond his age.
At this moment, it’s hard for me to define who R really is. I even started to doubt if I had ever known my student. He is an intelligent student who’s good at all academic disciplines in both the rigorous Gaokao curriculum and the flexible IB curriculum (even under 4 higher-level courses). He is a very grounded politician who’s willing to listen to every peers’ and teacher’s wants and needs, and even their complaints. He is also an environmentalist who endeavors to build a more sustainable green campus. And I like he is a philosopher, who thinks thoroughly and quietly. But whenever he stands up, often an insightful discussion would come. Sometimes, not just students, even his teachers, told me they have some good ‘aha’ experience. As the head of the school counselor, I asked the teacher’s committee, many of his classmates, and even the Principal how I should describe or ‘tag’ him in this letter. Interestingly, just as I list above, there are many R in our eyes, but I know they are merely our realizations, not his definition.
I think that R is truly unusual, unconventional, maybe even—I would put: “out of the ordinary.” But, I do know this: R has his own vision for what and how he wants to contribute to the place he chooses to go. He has demonstrated his relentless effort towards accomplishing whatsoever goals, duties, and commitments. He never fails to think, lead, and do. And I admire his observation, courage, and motivation to learn and grow. He might not be the most academically gifted student, the most contented club leader, or the most confident Student Council President in the history of JDFZ. But I can assure you that he is the most ‘interesting’ student in my whole counseling career. And today, while writing this letter, I’m not even sure it’s our school that granted him a transformative experience, or it’s him who somehow has changed our school.
I, along with the rest of the teacher’s committee, and the school Principal, want to give R Wang, our highest and most sincere recommendation. We hope you will consider his admission to your university.
Sincerely,
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