Yuen Yin

Growing up, my parents always considered me a stubborn kid. But it was that stubbornness and determination to never let others affect my desire to achieve a specific goal that led me to be who I am today. I have always had a keen interest in STEM courses in secondary school and have always been a person who wanted to try out new things and challenge myself in every way possible. However, it was not the science classes, my love for designing or the various STEM competitions that led me to become an engineer. It was a series of short but meaningful interactions with the disabled community in Vietnam that motivated me on this path. From them, I realized that I wanted to become someone who can help others and develop technology that improves people’s quality of life. Thus, with the help of HKUST’s professors, resources and flexibility, I was able to have a taste of the different engineering disciplines within my first year and finally settled on Mechanical Engineering.

As a Hong Kong Vietnamese, I was worried that I could not fit in with the community. However, joining HKUST has been nothing but a unique and welcoming experience. I have formed many meaningful connections with amazing people from various backgrounds and joined different student societies and competitions such as the Electric Vehicle Racing Team, Robotics Team and the James Dyson Award (my teammates and I were the National Winners!). I am incredibly grateful for being part of such a diverse and hardworking community with  abundant support and resources from the university and my peers. Now that I will be a representative as an Engineering Student Ambassador, I hope my contributions can help other students pave their own engineering path.